"Don't Send Your Kids to School": Jung Hyungdon Explains His Conviction

"If All You Want Is Education, Try Homeschooling," States Jeong Hyeongdon

TV personality Jung Hyungdon delivered a stern message regarding malicious complaints from some parents.

Appearing on the YouTube channel 'From Today, Emperor Seong' on the 11th, Jung Hyungdon addressed the issue of parental complaints, stating, "I cannot disclose the source." He explained, "For example, suppose you have Squid Peanut and Jjanggu snacks. There may be times when Jjanggu runs out while distributing them. However, if a child goes home and says, 'I actually wanted Jjanggu,' the parents immediately call. They say, 'My child prefers Jjanggu. Why did you give Squid Peanut and cause my child to choke?'"

He continued, "Sometimes, teachers recommend that younger students try a bit of everything, like encouraging them to taste kimchi. But even for things like that, reports of child abuse get filed right away." Jung Hyungdon added, "I'm not saying 'the past was better and now is worse.' What I'm saying is, if things have reached a point where this is a social issue, maybe we need to think about it at least once." He then expressed his conviction, saying, "If you worry that much, just don't send your kids to school. Try homeschooling instead."

Jung Hyungdon further emphasized, "School is not just a place for education. It's a place for children to grow up as decent people. If all you want is education, don't send your kids to school—just keep them at home," he remarked pointedly.

Meanwhile, since the death in the line of duty of a teacher at Seoi Elementary School in 2023, teacher rights protection policies have been implemented for three years, but criticism persists that these policies are not being felt on the ground. The number of educational activity protection centers has increased from 17 to 84, teacher rights protection committees have been transferred to local education offices, and the rate of installing complaint consultation rooms reached 99.72%.

However, according to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2024), the stress experienced by elementary school teachers in responding to parents' complaints rose from 48.6% in 2018 to 69.1%. Additionally, stress caused by violence, verbal abuse, and threats increased from 21.3% to 34.6%.

According to the 'Education Policy Forum' published by the Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI) on September 4, the number of cases reviewed by the Teacher Rights Protection Committee for the 2025 school year totaled 4,034. This figure is 3.4 times higher than the 1,197 cases recorded in the 2020 school year. In particular, in elementary schools, out of a total of 704 cases, 211 cases—30.0%—involved violations by guardians.

The types of violations by guardians were as follows: repeated and unjust interference in legitimate educational activities (24.1%), insults and defamation (13.0%), disruption of work (9.3%), and threats (6.5%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.