| The present study started with concerns about both enhancing understandings of the possibilities for improving Korean schooling and fostering the democratization of Korean educational policy-making. To this end, this study attempted to apply critical theory, specifically Jurgen Habermas's critical theory, to educational policy-making in Korea.;Habermas has been preoccupied with the effects of increasing state intervention and the growth of science and technology on the human life-world in the individual society. After analyzing politics by considering the relations of citizens, experts, and politicians, Habermas suggested a pragmatistic model that emphasizes the public as a political institution which determines the goals and directions of public policy. This model is grounded in a system of participatory democracy which offers the opportunity for discourse will-formation.;This study examines Korean educational policy-making with respect to Habermas's critical theory. The results reveal problems of rationality, legitimacy, and communication in educational policy-making. To remove these problems, the present study seeks to develop and specify Habermas's pragmatistic model of politics. In addition, this study attempts to develop critical standards for measuring whether rationality, legitimacy, and democratic communication are substantially satisfied in the educational policy-making process. These critical criteria are expected to play an important role in fostering the democratization of policy-making processes and schooling in Korea. |
