By Kim See-bong

A man can be characterized by the discipline which he applies to monitor his behavior. Whatever it is that he wants to do, eat or say, he knows when and how to hold back his desire according to the command of his own reasoning. When that reasoning fails, he has the wisdom to obey the discipline, self-imposed or caused by external influence. From the idea of building up such discipline starts education.

Looking up the meaning of the word ``discipline," one of its meanings is a branch of learning like a discipline of economy. This means that the consequence of learning a subject is manifested by discipline.

For that purpose, a system was established in modern times and we call it a school. In this school the children are educated to discipline themselves and thus they know how to adjust to life after school.

However, the principal meaning of the word discipline is training to act in accordance with rules. Rules should be, when required, enforced and to enforce something entails punishment. In other words, the success of learning depends upon how much punishment or self-criticism we inflict upon ourselves in order to learn.

Today it is commonly accepted by parents that to study well means to learn well and this learning is measured by how much knowledge is acquired and this is verified by the transcript issued by the school concerned. So a good student is a student with high marks on their transcript. Therefore, in Korea to all primary and secondary school students, the most common greetings from adults are ``Study hard" and ``Get good grades."

The ultimate purpose of education, which is most often replaced by studying well in my country, is to lead humans to the way in which they can live in the most humane way and to teach them how to practice self-control and discipline to prepare themselves for that way. For a person should be a being, disciplined as well as rational.

Nevertheless, today's young mothers in Korea, though not all, are making great mistakes in educating their children.

First, they suffer from a ``prince/princess complex." Their children should be treated like a prince or princess by others. Anyone or anything that dents their pride becomes their enemy to be kept away or beaten.

However, psychologically this is a subconscious display of an inferiority complex. In the deepest part of their subconsciousness perhaps lies a sense of failure or jealousy stemming from not achieving what they desired when they were young. A longing for their unaccomplished dreams or unrelieved attachments to the past in addition to their new wishes for their offspring is reflected in the education of their children though in most cases it is for their own vicarious satisfaction.

Second, in their eyes their children should all be geniuses. So they like the title ``gifted" before their children's names. They regard their children as especially talented. Otherwise, they think they can make them so. However, men are all spiritually gifted by birth. Regrettably, what they mean by ``gifted or talented" is to achieve a better score on a test or better grades on a transcript.

Third, they don't command the respect from their kids by pampering or spoiling them excessively. So their children don't respect their parents, teachers or the social norms they should follow to live in their community. They don't even know what respecting others is. All they care about are the grades they get on tests they have to take and, in other areas, they insist on having their own way.

In this highly competitive modern society, parents are becoming enslaved by their children's academic achievements and forget the true purpose of education, led by the delusion that transcripts mean everything to them and to their children. They are either super moms or inferior women depending on how well their children do.

Man distinguishes himself from common animals in that he is gifted with reason and education, and the most secure fence to guard them is discipline. Any encroachment on discipline by overemphasizing grades or scores at school will produce only freaks of nature or cyborgs.

However, freaks are aberrant offspring of nature and cyborgs are manufactured, not educated. First and foremost is the truth that we are humans and education is to create a human. For this discipline is a desideratum.

The writer is the principal of Polyglot Day School in Bundang, Gyegonggi Province. He can be reached at glsacademy@dreamwiz.com.