고3우대석 "Reserved Seating for High School Senior"
"Study one more hour, and I will get a better-looking husband."
"You played while others studied - please leave."
"The drool of today will turn into the tears of tomorrow."
Here is a subway ad from a women's university.
The seat below the ad is marked by the ad as "reserved seating for high school senior." And being a high school senior is enough of a nightmare that it does deserve reserved subway seating, and a lot more, in return.
South Korea's college entrance examination hell is legendary. A single examination, held in November of the senior year (Korean academic year starts in March and ends in February), pretty much is the decisive factor in determining whether it is possible for the student to apply to, and be accepted at, the university of choice. Going to the right university (preferably a Seoul-based one, and ideally the cream of the crop - Seoul National, Korea University, and Yonsei University) is the key to a cushy corporate job, respectability, meeting respectable spouses, and a comfortable life. Because of the overwhelming importance of the college entrance examination in determining one's future, preparation means giving up all semblance of a sane life for the entire junior and senior years of high school. (The misery may be extended by an additional year or two, for repeat(s) of the examination, if the scores are too low to allow admission to a semi-acceptable university.) Forget about proms, forget about teeny bopper crushes on rock stars, forget about anything else. (That is to be remedied once in college.)
Korean and other Asian immigrant parents have turned the US college admissions process into a less holistic, more exam cram-based one as well. They will forcibly march their kids to tutors and exam cram academies so that they can get a perfect SAT score and get into Harvard (while neglecting extracurricular activities and other semblance of being a human being that Harvard admissions committee wants to see also). I am NOT happy about that at all.
고3우대석 "Reserved Seating for High School Senior"
"Study one more hour, and I will get a better-looking husband."
"You played while others studied - please leave."
"The drool of today will turn into the tears of tomorrow."
Here is a subway ad from a women's university.
The seat below the ad is marked by the ad as "reserved seating for high school senior." And being a high school senior is enough of a nightmare that it does deserve reserved subway seating, and a lot more, in return.
South Korea's college entrance examination hell is legendary. A single examination, held in November of the senior year (Korean academic year starts in March and ends in February), pretty much is the decisive factor in determining whether it is possible for the student to apply to, and be accepted at, the university of choice. Going to the right university (preferably a Seoul-based one, and ideally the cream of the crop - Seoul National, Korea University, and Yonsei University) is the key to a cushy corporate job, respectability, meeting respectable spouses, and a comfortable life. Because of the overwhelming importance of the college entrance examination in determining one's future, preparation means giving up all semblance of a sane life for the entire junior and senior years of high school. (The misery may be extended by an additional year or two, for repeat(s) of the examination, if the scores are too low to allow admission to a semi-acceptable university.) Forget about proms, forget about teeny bopper crushes on rock stars, forget about anything else. (That is to be remedied once in college.)
Korean and other Asian immigrant parents have turned the US college admissions process into a less holistic, more exam cram-based one as well. They will forcibly march their kids to tutors and exam cram academies so that they can get a perfect SAT score and get into Harvard (while neglecting extracurricular activities and other semblance of being a human being that Harvard admissions committee wants to see also). I am NOT happy about that at all.