Seoul: Candidate registration for the June 3 local elections will take place over two days beginning Thursday. On Tuesday, so-called progressive superintendent candidates from 15 metropolitan and provincial education offices - including Seoul superintendent candidate Jung Keun-sik - gathered to unveil a set of joint campaign pledges.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the candidates proposed a plan to "normalize" public education by introducing absolute grading for both the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and high school transcripts. They also suggested abolishing autonomous private high schools, foreign language, and international high schools for local students, collectively known as specialized high schools. While these measures are framed as efforts to reduce educational inequality, they have raised concerns about potentially rejecting academic competition and promoting a leveling down of education standards.

Critics argue that the proposals overstep the legal authority of provincial and metropolitan superintendents, as changes to the college admissions system are legally determined by the presidentially-affiliated National Education Commission through a process of long-term social consensus. Furthermore, the criteria for the abolition of autonomous private and specialized high schools are stipulated in the enforcement decree of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which are not within the superintendents' purview to alter unilaterally.

The logic behind weakening the discriminatory function of admissions exams through absolute grading is also questioned, particularly as no credible alternative has been presented. The practicality of such a system is challenged by the reality that competition and differentiation in admissions cannot be easily dismissed unless universities resort to admitting students by lottery. The Moon Jae-in administration initially pledged to adopt absolute grading for the CSAT during the 2017 presidential campaign but later retreated to a more cautious stance. In light of the admissions scandal involving the children of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, the administration increased the share of regular admissions based on standardized test scores.

While the candidates' emphasis on restoring public education is commendable, it must not compromise educational excellence. The Moon administration's attempt to dismantle autonomous private high schools faced legal challenges and sparked social division, illustrating the complexities and potential costs of such reforms.

In a rapidly changing world driven by AI, a uniform education system may no longer be progressive but regressive. As a Korean saying aptly puts it, education is "a project for a hundred years." Thus, the design of the education system should prioritize a long-term and stable vision for the nation's future, uncolored by ideological or political inclinations.