Friday, February 27, 2009

Not getting the message

I have to admit my knowledge of USFK is mostly informed by AFKN, so I don't know how different bases operate, or, well, much of anything about their services.

Still, these two reports, three weeks apart, seem to be quite contradictory.

On Feb. 10, GIKorea described how "Long time ROK Drop reader and commenter Mark has decided to take on USFK authorities over not being able to enroll his daughter into school at Yongsan..." It seems that so many Korean children were enrolled at the schools that servicemen (for example, US Army Major Gardner), for whom the schools were built, couldn't get their own kids in.

Today I learned that "USFK Wants Korean Students to Attend Base Schools":
The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) made an official proposal to the Korean education ministry Thursday to allow Korean students to attend schools at its camp in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

The plan was unveiled when USFK Commander Gen. Walter Sharp met Education, Science and Technology Minister Ahn Byong-man in Seoul, ministry officials said.

Again, the latter article is about Pyeongtaek and I don't know about the former. Perhaps it is a different region, or catering to a different age group. Anyway, it sure looks like there is confusion.

1 comment:

Brian said...

The way DoD schools and international schools seem to fill up with Koreans---employing all kinds of tricks and scams---is disheartening. I guess enrollment is low, but wouldn't a better answer be to scale down the schools, rather than allowing Koreans to buy residency in foreign countries, or allow them to be "adopted" by Americans, or other such tricks? When Koreans use these schools as English practice or as a way to get in to better universities down the line, it seems like it'd cheapen the quality of education for those who actually need it.

I couldn't really follow what was up with Mark's issue; reading the comments, though, it seemed like he wasn't in the right jurisdiction to be guaranteed admittence. However, yeah, an American should get priority over a Korean in DoD schools.