한 국가의 교육은 공적 가치의 구현과 사적 자유의 신장에 의해서 유형이 만들어진다. 공적 필요는 국가적 재원의 확대와 공유로 수렴되며, 사적 욕구는 개인적 이익의 극대화에 치중한다. 개인들의 욕구는 다양하고 무한하므로, 공적 필요는 그 욕구들을 조절하는 양상을 띠게 된다. 이 때문에 공적 필요와 사적 욕구는 조화되기 어렵다. 국가에서 시행되는 어떠한 종류의 교육정책도 각기 다른 현실에 처한 국민들의 다양하고 무한한 교육 욕구를 충족시킬 수는 없다. 당연한 결과로서, 그 정책들은 어떤 사람들에게 유리하고 다른 사람들에게 불리하게 작용하게 된다. 그리고 교육정책들이 국가의 이름 아래 구상되고 집행되지만, 실제로는 어떤 개인들 또는 집단들의 소산물일 수밖에 없기 때문에 사적 주관의 개입을 의심받게 된다. 한국사회에 만연되어 있는 교육정책에 대한 불신은 정책들이 직감, 일시적 생각, 즉각적 필요 등에 의해서 조급하게 구상되고 일방적인 강요처럼 집행되는 데 기인한다. 그리고 시행되는 정책들은 시공간적으로 제약을 받을 수 있음을 무시하고 보편타당성을 강조할 뿐만 아니라 모든 문제들을 말끔히 해결할 수 있다는 식으로 홍보함으로써 비판·비난의 소지를 자초하기도 한다. 최근에는 신자유주의에 입각한 수월성주의 교육정책이 선진국의 사례를 준거로 삼아, 한국사회의 현실을 고려하지 않고, 거스를 수 없는 대세처럼 강조되고 있다. 이러한 흐름을 타고 교육에서의 부모주의가 지배집단에 의해서 강력하게 전파되면서 교육불평등을 심화시키고 사회를 양극화하고 있다. 결과적으로 공적 가치를 실현하기 위해 마련된 자유주의 교육정책에 의해, 경제·사회·문화적 자본을 보유한 지배집단과 박탈된 피지배집단 간의 학력·학벌 격차가 더욱 벌어질 것이다.

A nation's education is shaped by the interaction of public value and private freedom. Public value is achieved through affluent expansion and equal distribution of national resources. Private freedom is fulfilled through the maximization of personal desire. Public value seems to control over unlimited personal desire.. In this reason public value frequently conflicts with private freedom. Any educational policy cannot satisfy everyone because of his/her various educational desire according to situation. An educational policy can give some advantage to one person and disadvantage to other person at the same time. Any educational policy, even being decided in the name of the state, is inevitably the product of any individuals or groups. As a result, any policy is dubious of its universality. Many educational policies enacted in Korea have been seriously criticized and sometimes rejected because they might be motivated by a hunch, whim, or immediate need, designed without a full investigation and theoretically-oriented research, and published and enforced obedience. Korean government has usually emphasized the educational policies as panacea to solve the long-pending problems and issues. However, panacea should be inevitably claimed its remedial result. Nowadays, neo-liberal educational proposals are flooding in Korea. Excellence-oriented educational policies are amplified through many scholars arguing the neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism as worldwide universal trend, that we cannot ignore. Parentocracy in education, eagering to take advantage of the trend, is dominating all over the Korean society. Parentocracy in Korea is so strong that educational inequality between the have and the have-not is reproduced systematically and, as its result, social inequality is also structurally and legitimately reproduced. Korean society is now transforming to a polarized class society.

A nation's education is shaped by the interaction of public value and private freedom. Public value is achieved through affluent expansion and equal distribution of national resources. Private freedom is fulfilled through the maximization of personal desire. Public value seems to control over unlimited personal desire.. In this reason public value frequently conflicts with private freedom. Any educational policy cannot satisfy everyone because of his/her various educational desire according to situation. An educational policy can give some advantage to one person and disadvantage to other person at the same time. Any educational policy, even being decided in the name of the state, is inevitably the product of any individuals or groups. As a result, any policy is dubious of its universality. Many educational policies enacted in Korea have been seriously criticized and sometimes rejected because they might be motivated by a hunch, whim, or immediate need, designed without a full investigation and theoretically-oriented research, and published and enforced obedience. Korean government has usually emphasized the educational policies as panacea to solve the long-pending problems and issues. However, panacea should be inevitably claimed its remedial result. Nowadays, neo-liberal educational proposals are flooding in Korea. Excellence-oriented educational policies are amplified through many scholars arguing the neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism as worldwide universal trend, that we cannot ignore. Parentocracy in education, eagering to take advantage of the trend, is dominating all over the Korean society. Parentocracy in Korea is so strong that educational inequality between the have and the have-not is reproduced systematically and, as its result, social inequality is also structurally and legitimately reproduced. Korean society is now transforming to a polarized class society.

public need, private desire, excellence, (in)equality, parentocracy