공교육의 의미와 교육의 공공성 문제

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyse the concept of “public education” and the “publicness of education.” Generally, “public education” means the state runs public schools. In a wider sense, it means education system is controlled, managed, and supported by government in accord with related legislation. Most widely, we can call all education public no matter who provides and no matter where it occurs because education is achieved in the public realm with public language and knowledge. That is the reason why the publicness is demanded in both public and private education. “Publicness,” a quality or state of being public, describes what the government officially does. Further, it connotes value judgements: fairness and public goodness. The publicness of education can be actualized by state-running school system. How to achieve and improve it depends on what “public education” connotes: state-running, publicly funding, open to the public, common curriculum based on knowledge-education, and aiming at the public goodness. Pursuing for public values and raising students as the public who can participate in rational discourse in a democratic society are the normative dimension of publicness imbedded in education. Also, the publicness of private schools is and should be demanded in their characteristics as educating institutions.