Difficulty of Transgression in South Korea

Seongjong Lee

Many statistics prove that South Korean society is a depressing society. South Korea already has the world's lowest fertility rate. The happiness index of Korean children and teenagers recorded the lowest degree among OECD countries in 2021. Also, suicide has been the greatest cause of death among Korean teenagers over the last 10 years. Furthermore, In the question of ‘What makes life meaningful?’, Korea is the only country that ranks first in material abundance. Many people claim that the rapid development of the Korean economy made it difficult for society to consider various values in balance. In this atmosphere, Korean education also underwent an epistemic wave of development. In Korean education, university entrance exam (Suneung) is one of most crucial factors that decide a student’s future. Assessment, curriculum, teachers’ and parents’ interest, even the goals of students are all set to Suneung. This caused detrimental effects in terms of individuals, families, and society. For example, the private academy business (Hakwon) is enormous. Hakwon demands students to stay in Hakwon until very late at night, forces households to spend extra money on education, and devalues the national education system by teaching every subject in advance so that Hakwon students have better grades than others. Most of all, inclusive relationships and community have disappeared in South Korean education and society. However, there are some people- like Seongong, who think community education is really needed to tackle this situation.
Seongjong would therefore like to introduce his practices, thoughts, and direction of future research to you.