9 in 10 teachers encounter hate speech, historical distortion at school, survey finds

Nine in 10 teachers have encountered hate speech, discriminatory language or historical distortion at school, a new survey shows — findings that come amid a controversy over a high school baseball team's use of a chant mocking the May 18 pro-democracy uprising.

The Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union, known by its Korean acronym KTU, released the results Tuesday morning at a press briefing. The survey covered 1,109 elementary, middle and high school teachers nationwide, as well as 1,636 students from sixth grade through 12th grade.

Among teachers, 73.9 percent said they had directly witnessed hate speech, discriminatory expressions, historical distortion or statements rejecting democratic values in students' words, assignments or presentations over the past year. An additional 15.4 percent said they had heard of such incidents through colleagues or other students, bringing the total share of teachers exposed to such expressions at school to 89.3 percent. Middle school teachers reported the highest rate of direct exposure, at 81.7 percent.

The most common setting in which students used such expressions was informal conversation during breaks or lunch, cited by 77.3 percent of teachers. In-class remarks accounted for 52.6 percent, while assignments and presentation materials were cited by 20.8 percent. The KTU said hate speech and mockery circulating online have moved beyond students' private conversations and into formal learning spaces such as lessons and coursework.

The most frequently encountered type of expression involved mocking the deaths or tragedies of politicians or historical figures, with 88.9 percent of teachers saying they had come across such content. Of those, 58.2 percent said they encountered it "repeatedly and often."

The student survey also revealed a degree of awareness. Some 62.5 percent of young respondents said they were aware of the recent controversy over hate-filled chants at a high school baseball event. A total of 80.6 percent said expressions mocking other people, regions or historical suffering — even in the form of cheers or jokes — were problematic. By contrast, only 2.9 percent said such language was not a serious issue if used among friends.

Some 44.8 percent of student respondents said they or someone around them had been hurt or upset by hate speech, discriminatory language or mockery. The platforms where students most often encountered such content were YouTube at 53.1 percent, Instagram at 51.6 percent and TikTok at 33.6 percent.

Teachers also described difficulties in addressing the issue with students. The most common reason cited for struggling to provide educational guidance on hate speech, discrimination and historical distortion was concern about being accused of violating political neutrality, at 69.9 percent. Fears of complaints from parents or outside criticism were cited by 60.1 percent.

Students, meanwhile, said schools should address the issue more directly. The most popular proposed measure, cited by 55.3 percent, was properly teaching students about hate speech and historical distortion in school.

Based on the survey results, the KTU urged schools to include explicit grounds for educational intervention against hate speech, discrimination and historical distortion in their school conduct codes, and called for protective measures to ensure teachers can teach constitutional values and historical facts without fear of reprisal.