The title of this topic comes from Japan, but it’s a
well-understood term here. About two weeks ago, high school seniors took the
test for which they may have been preparing since they were five years old.
Think SAT on steroids, and then on steroids again.
The nine-hour-long test is ALL-important; it pretty much
sets one’s course in life, at least publicly … which universities you
can/cannot attend, and thus the sort of folks with whom you will, for the rest
of your life, associate:
1.
Marriage choices
2.
Career choices
3.
Life status
One may take this test but once a year. With one’s scores,
one may then apply to but three universities. Choose well! Strategy is intricate; rewards and risks are both high. What if one
has a score in the 95th percentile, and you apply to a school known
to be slightly above your “level,” or you apply to a school that is at your
level, but may be full of already-qualified applicants before yours gets
considered?
Preparation for this exam begins, for some, very early in
life, and very early in the morning. By the time the person is in high school,
they are regularly getting up before 6:00 AM, warming a seat at a “hak-won”
(private teaching institute) to bone up on math, or science, or English. After
a few hours, they find themselves at their regular seat at middle or high
school. After school, a return to a “hak-won” - or two, or three - until 11:00 at
night.
Next day, rinse and repeat.
One can go to many parts of Seoul, take a random picture of the buildings, and you can see signs for a score, or more, of these “hak-wons” within the buildings. The Exam is a big business.
And no small pressure for 18-year olds. I have heard that one
person in seven in Korea has actively considered suicide. Studies indicate that
such early habits in pressure-cooker academics creates depressed people.
Parents and society often wonder what they are doing to their young, but it is difficult to maintain such thoughts in light of an
overwhelming cultural habit.
So yesterday, I was STUNNED when I attended a
Presbyterian (similar to the PCUSA) service in which the young people got up in front
of the worship service, and publicly pledged never to attend a “hak-won,”
unless it was to learn cooking or a hobby. Here they are making that pledge:
That took A LOT of counter-cultural energy, many parents saying "NO" to the Exam Hell, and risking their kids' futures. I am still saying to myself, "Wow! That's major!"
Ewha is one of the top-ten universities here, Korea’s top choice
for a women’s university. My students have been through Exam Hell, have made
their careful strategic choices about Ewha, and are now living on the other
side of all that. I wonder who they would be otherwise. I wonder if they ever wonder.
I do not report this to be critical of this wonderful place.
As one who tries to report the Normal and the Everyday, I thought you’d like to
see things as I do. Your comments are welcome.
If Koreans could do with less, American students & parents could use some more of the Hak-won attitude.
ReplyDeleteI tell my students here, and there, that being a student is a 10-12 hour a day job. At 8:00 PM, you can have your internet back. Most disagree that they need this, but agree to its wisdom.
ReplyDeleteThe test must be doing something for the leaders of the country. I'm wondering what they are giving up and gaining and how they think and feel about it.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting. I don't beleive ANYTHING is important "enough" to take your own life over. Grant it is a strict dicipline & those who survive it "might" be life changing, but is it worth it?!
ReplyDeleteI gave this example of the young people (picture above) in my undergraduate class. They were in shock! They felt the young people were either crazy, or lying, or would soon want to forget this promise.
ReplyDelete