The Real Culprit

By Anonymous / Summer 2022

Dear Me,

I know you have gone through many stressful situations, but one of the most traumatic ordeals that still affects me to this day is our experience in the Korean education system. It began during our High School years when we could not understand why our parents put so much stress on getting the best grades. We harbored so much anger against them for putting us through years of stress. When I look back, I know that the anger was misplaced. Our parents believed in a school system that was built on problematic foundations. It did not consider the socioeconomic background of the students and endorsed competitive individualism, which supported the belief that being poor was a personal shortcoming. You must be confused about these terms, but they have enlightened me about an issue that goes beyond the confines of our home. This issue has created a systematic problem in the Korean education system, which influences people to behave in a certain way. Looking back, I feel as if all the resentment I harbored against my parents was unwarranted, given the real culprit was someone else. You must be curious by now. Let me show you how we were blind to the crimes conducted against us by this culprit. Let me enlighten you on this issue so you may make better choices in the future.

During our initial years of schooling in Korea, we were often told that success and good grades go hand in hand. Our parents and school endorsed this idea by demanding that we get the highest grades so we could succeed in life. You internalized this belief and made it your duty to be the perfect student. For this reason, you were always stressed out about achieving academic excellence. You woke up early so you could reach school on time on your bicycle. You studied late so you could achieve success and overcome your shortcomings. You harbored resentment against your parents since they did not see that you were exhausted due to school work and lack of proper transportation. When you started going to the academy, you insisted that your parents drop you off at your school and later the academy. They refused but never explained why. Did you ever notice how your father worked double shifts just so you and your sisters could get the best education? If you did, you probably realized that we were not rich and had some financial trouble. It was one of the reasons why your parents could not pick and drop you from school and the academy. You saw a clear contrast between your life and the other students who breezed through many experiences with no financial distress. Where you had to work part-time jobs to have enough money for extracurricular trips, many students just asked their parents to give them the money. You did not have this opportunity. The teachers at your school never realized how the different socioeconomic statuses of students would alienate students with less fortunate backgrounds. For this reason, you never went on trips and were always stressed about your studies. On the other hand, students from wealthy families felt refreshed after enjoying these trips and often outperformed you academically. Do you see how this culture of competitiveness among students was a problem? It was not your parent’s fault but rather a misconception endorsed by society, including the Korean school system. Let me explain it further.

This culture of individual competitiveness reared its ugly head when you started applying for different colleges. Your parents expected you to perform the best so you could achieve success. Thankfully, you could afford academies to improve your academic skills. However, many of your friends could not avail the same opportunities. You were unaware of the financial differences between you and your friends, some of which barely survived due to financial issues. You even offered to coach some of your friends academically since you were going to academies that taught tips and tricks to pass the national college entrance exam. When they refused your offer, you considered them lazy. When they opted not to take the CSAT, you admonished them for making the wrong choices. You did not consider that your friends might be facing financial issues. You were just parroting what you had been taught by your school, your parents, and society. You believed that if you worked hard enough and got the best grades, you would succeed in society. However, you were blinded to the ills of competitive individualism, which equated success and wealth with hard work. Did you ever wonder why your friends did not pursue further education? It was because they did not have money to go to academies. They did not have the same opportunities as you. I understand now that this is how the hegemonic rule endorses social inequality by keeping the masses blind to systematic issues. The ideology of competitive individualism is one of these systematic problems. It blinds our society and locks them in unequal socioeconomic statuses.

In one way or another, we are all part of the problem because we have internalized this ideology. I wanted to show you how all of us are being manipulated by a toxic culture of individual competitiveness. I wanted you to see how class differences are not created due to laziness or educational background; rather, there are many variables that force people to remain in poverty. The rich remain rich because they have access to better resources. On the other hand, the poor struggle to meet even the basic necessities. In such an environment, individual competitiveness promotes the misconception that success can be achieved through hard work. However, there are many other variables that affect an individual’s chances of achieving success. People with a financially unstable background might find it hard to compete with people who have everything at their disposal. For this reason, I have come to the conclusion that if an education system endorses individual competitiveness, its society will continue to consciously or unconsciously advocate for a system of social hierarchy. You have experienced this in school when you could not enjoy the same experiences in school as other students. You also saw how this ideology constructed a false narrative around people from lower social strata and categorized them as lazy. I hope my letter will help you navigate your life better and allow you to sympathize with people from different backgrounds. I hope it motivates you to stand in solidarity with other students to speak out against the flawed ideology of individual competitiveness, be it in Korea, America, or any other country

Sincerely,

Future You