Private school reform.

(From The Korea Herald)

Extreme critics of the revision bill to the Private Schools Law now being promoted by the administration and the ruling party call it "communistic" legislation. Such a severe denunciation of the reform move designed to restrict the influence of owners in school operations was in a symposium last week sponsored by the council of private university presidents and the association of private school foundations. These same organizations foiled similar reform three years ago pushed by the Kim Dae-jung administration. Again, they are out to scrap the reintroduced bill in a "life and death" struggle. For them, any attempt to reduce the power of foundation boards and their chairmen in private schools is tantamount to a leftist revolution. They claim "a political force that attempts to turn Korea into a socialist system" has now chosen private school foundations as its first target. The revision bill contains provisions that could certainly be disadvantageous to school owners. It gives private university presidents and high school headmasters the right to appoint faculty members, excluding owners from personnel affairs, restricts the number of board members who have special relations with owners, and extends the period during which foundation operators punished for irregularities cannot be reinstated.

These measures have been long ...