1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 77



Only Krnovel

Episode 77

Of course, not all private education was banned at once.

In the case of academies such as Taekwondo academies and piano academies that are responsible for the concept of some childcare facilities, there were exceptions, and in the case of existing cram schools or private tutoring, a two-year grace period was given.

But even so, the backlash against the ban on private education was greater than expected.

In particular, the current Republic of Korea has experienced a period of rapid growth that may seem a bit excessive.

According to the original history of Korea, the problem of private education really began to surface a little later than this.

But as the economy developed much faster than before and people’s pockets gradually became more comfortable, more and more people began to appear who were determined to send their children to good universities and get good jobs.

Of course, this in itself is not wrong, but the problem was the overheated private education market from an excessively young age.

We have entered an era where children start receiving private education, starting from elementary school or even kindergarten, and spend over a million won a month on English kindergartens.

If you live in a small house, it has become commonplace to attend 3-4 academies starting in elementary school.

The opposition from parents was more severe than expected.

At Gwanghwamun Square, protests against the ban on private education began to take place.

“I have always respected President Kim, but I really think this policy is wrong! In a free democratic country, what is the problem with paying for my children’s education with my own money?”

“President Kim must immediately withdraw this policy! Can you say right now that the children of the Blue House and ministers are not receiving any private education?”

The reporter interviews each of the protesters and gives closing remarks.

“Today, tens of thousands of parents gathered at Gwanghwamun Square to protest the ban on private education. Even within the ruling party that passed the bill, there are voices saying that the president should step back due to stronger opposition than expected. In addition, the opposition party’s representative, Yeo Dong-guk, strongly argued that doing things this way is close to dictatorial behavior and that the president should immediately withdraw the policy. This was MBS News reporter Lee Jin-gu.”

* * *

As time passed, the backlash did not subside, and the government’s approval rating began to drop little by little.

The approval rating, which had been hovering around 90%, suddenly dropped by about 15%, dropping to the mid-70% range.

“Mr. President, are you really going to continue with this policy?”

Representative Min Jeong-gi asks during lunch.

He was elected as the leader of the Liberty Korea Party after Representative Choi Hyun retired, and has continued to serve as the leader to this day.

“I thought there would be this much backlash. It takes a lot of pain to heal an old wound.”

I made it clear that I have absolutely no intention of going back on this policy.

“Thank goodness. In fact, I was worried that the President might overturn this policy because of public opinion.”

It was unexpected.

Since becoming the leader, he has shown an opposing stance on many policies to the point that he can be called the opposition party within the ruling party.

Of course, most of these objections were reasonable and understandable, so I called him often, met him, and listened to his opinions.

That’s why his attitude now was a little unexpected.

“That’s unexpected. I thought Representative Min would be against it.”

“Haha. Have I been opposing the President’s policies too much lately?”

Representative Min smiles and jokes.

Then he continues speaking in a serious voice.

“I feel the same way, but the cost of education is too much to bear when raising children these days. Even if the government eliminates high school tuition and provides loans or support for college tuition, the cost of private education is still too high.”

“That’s right. I don’t have children so I can’t really relate to that, but when I look at the Blue House staff around me recently, they seem to be getting so much private education that they’re even taking out loans.”

Representative Min nods and says.

“The same goes for our members of the National Assembly. They all say that their backs are breaking because of the private education expenses for their children. As the President said, I think there are some things that can’t be helped in high schools, but private education in elementary and middle schools is too much. I also think that the best way to solve this is to root it out all at once.”

“Thank you for your understanding. However, I am worried because the parents’ opposition is stronger than I thought.”

The reason I invited Representative Min today was for consultation.

The position of the president is not one where one judges and decides everything on one’s own.

The position of the President is one where one must seek the opinions and advice of those around one when there is a problem with the policies one is implementing or planning.

I cautiously asked his opinion.

“Representative Min, do you have any good ideas?”

Representative Min thought for a moment and then said.

“There are two reasons why we invest so much in private education, right? One is the collapse of trust in public education, and the other is the desire of parents to see their children live a better life than they did.”

“That’s right. Those two are the biggest.”

It was a correct answer.

The reason so much money is spent on private education is because public education is not trustworthy and because they want their children to live a slightly better life than the one they lived.

“Ultimately, isn’t it about restoring trust in public education and persuading parents? Restoring trust in public education requires investing in improving quality from now on, and persuading parents… I think it really depends on what the president does.”

It wasn’t anything particularly great, but it was a valid argument.

The reason I trust this person, even though he is the leader of the ruling party and despite his frequent opposition to government policies, is because he is a man who does not take paths that deviate from the norm.

“Whew, this won’t be easy.”

It will certainly not be an easy road.

Even in the original history, there were many governments that messed with this education system and suffered a sharp decline in approval ratings.

There was no way I couldn’t become one of those two.

Representative Min comforts me.

“Don’t worry too much, Mr. President. What you have done so far is an achievement that no other leader in this Republic of Korea has ever achieved. I am sure you will do well in this task as well.”

I smiled and returned his compliment.

“Haha. Thank you. But, didn’t Representative Min not like me that much? But today he’s being particularly kind.”

Representative Min shakes his head and says, “What are you talking about?”

“What are you talking about? I usually respect the President so much, how can you say something like that? However, no matter how much I respect him, it is not the case that he is not a good person, depending on his policies.”

“Haha. I’m joking, Representative Min. It was a great help today. Now, I think I should think more about strengthening public education, as Representative Min said.”

* * *

After a process of about a month, the first policy to strengthen public education was announced.

The first policy announced was support for teachers’ administration so that they could focus solely on teaching.

While teachers in private education settings could only focus on how to provide quality classes, the reality was that teachers in public education settings were burdened with miscellaneous tasks such as various administrative tasks in addition to classes.

As a result, the quality of classes was bound to naturally become lower than private education.

To solve this problem, the size of the school administration office was significantly increased, and most of the administrative work that teachers were responsible for was moved to the administration office.

The second is to eliminate the gap between local and Seoul schools.

Regardless of the job, the more talented people there are, the more they prefer Seoul.

And this was the same for teachers.

The qualitative difference between teachers in Sinuiju or Mokpo and those in Seoul was more serious than expected.

That is why we decided to implement a teaching competency evaluation and provide incentives to top teachers when they are transferred to local areas, to the point where it may seem a bit excessive.

As a result, many teachers in Seoul began to hope to be transferred to local areas.

The educational gap between the provinces and Seoul is slowly beginning to narrow.

Third, a significant increase in the teaching workforce.

It was a policy linked to the original policy.

Because the current Republic of Korea is different from the original Republic of Korea in that its population continues to grow, the number of students in each class has become excessively large, with more than 60 students per class.

In some ways, it could be seen as a side effect of the increasing birth rate.

To address this, the number of teachers was drastically increased, reducing the number of students per class from 20 to 25 per homeroom teacher.

This allows each teacher to pay a little more attention to each student.

And when these policies were announced, public opinion began to diverge considerably.

“So you’re saying we’ll hire twice as many teachers as we do now?”

Parents of Bae Wang Middle School students gather at the home of the PTA president to discuss the recently announced public education policy.

The PTA president sighs and says.

“Ha, but if we end up hiring so many teachers, isn’t it inevitable that the quality will drop?”

Some parents nod in agreement.

But one of the parents shakes his head and says,

“But I heard that they are going to raise the standards for things like the teacher certification exam this time. I heard that even after the teacher certification exam, they provide training for quite a long time before teachers are assigned.”

“If you raise the level of the teacher certification exam that much, who would want to be a teacher who is already receiving a low salary?”

The PTA president once again voices a negative opinion, but the school affairs director immediately refutes it.

“So, I heard that this time, they are going to significantly increase the teachers’ salaries, both the base pay and incentives.”

“Is that true?”

The PTA president’s mind wavers a little.

Although she was against the ban on private education, she has actually been feeling quite burdened by it recently.

I still had a lot of loans left, and it was quite a burden to send my three children to five different academies.

“But wouldn’t that cost a lot of money? Would the government be able to cover it all?”

The girl who most recently joined the PTA looks at the people and asks.

And only then did everyone understand.

‘Oh, now that I think about it… … .’

Ultimately, the biggest problem with all these policies is funding.

These policies require a lot of money to be properly implemented.

and…….

This government has, crucially, too much money.

The success of the government’s sovereign wealth fund investments was something the entire nation knew, to the point that it was reported countless times in the news.

[The Korean government has decided to keep the yields for the past six months confidential. The reason is that the yields are excessively high.]

[The U.S. government recently launched an investigation into the absurd returns that South Korea’s sovereign wealth fund is posting.]

[A large amount of underground resources and mines have been discovered in a South American country where the Korean government invested about 10 years ago. It is expected that the return on investment will be more than 10 times the amount previously invested.]

[The world’s leading investment firms are making countless contacts with the Korean government to somehow obtain investment information from the Korean government.]

The PTA president speaks.

“I don’t know if it’s really possible. Our government has so much money… … .”

Another parent also spoke out.

“That’s right. Well, there’s even been talk recently that he has more money than the Saudi royal family. It’s not like that level of investment is impossible… … .”

The PTA president speaks while thinking of his children studying at the academy.

“Is it really okay not to send my child to the academy anymore… … .”

* * *

“Generally, public opinion is positive about the policy of strengthening public education.”

The Chief of Staff talks about public opinion trends regarding the announcement of this public education reinforcement policy.

“If this public opinion is to be maintained, it is important to implement it properly. Tell them not to spare any resources and to invest properly.”

“all right.”

“Oh, and are you ready for your speech to the nation?”

“Yes. Tomorrow at 8 o’clock.”

The policy of strengthening public education was implemented, and about half of people liked it, but the other half still did not believe it, and there were people who said that they still wanted to send their children to private education.

That’s why it was necessary to convince them.

There may have been a way to persuade parents through discussion, but in this case, I decided that a public address would be more appropriate, so I chose a live broadcast public address.

And two days later at 8pm.

The cameras started rolling and I started addressing the nation.

“Citizens, this is President Kim Jong-guk.”