Importance of Academic Excellence
By Shin Chul-ho
Two weeks ago, I went to the wedding of a relative. There, I met up with my elder brother and a man who is a distant relative. We were having a wedding lunch together next to the wedding hall. The bride's father, who is my age, is my cousin's son.
Over lunch, we talked mainly about the bride's father. The distant relative began talking about the bride's father and me. I said, "Coincidently, we took our university entrance exams in the same year. I succeeded but he failed. So he went to a low-ranking university. I felt very sorry for him at the time."
While I was talking, I never meant to brag about myself. However, all of a sudden, the relative cut in on me and said angrily, "Being good at one's studies is of no use. One of my friends was a very poor student at school. So he studied at a third-class university in a province. After his graduation he worked for a construction company there. Later, he got promoted to the position of executive and remained an executive until he retired." He continued his argument against the uselessness of academic excellence.
Regrettably, he was totally unaware of how irrational his argument was. Studying hard means that we are open to more opportunities to do what we want to do. Studying hard requires diligence, perseverance and in-depth thinking.
I have been teaching at high schools and at elementary schools for over 20 years. Most students who studied hard and entered prestigious universities behaved themselves and abided by social rules and regulations. I even saw them do their best to keep the classroom clean.
It is quite natural that students of this type become the social leadership. They have been the driving force of this nation's economic development. We all know that most high-ranking officials and researchers or executives in big firms studied at famous universities. This social phenomenon occurs in advanced countries as well as less advanced countries.
As a few soy beans manage to sprout in a severe drought, a few men from poor academic backgrounds do achieve success once in a while. But this cannot justify the stupid argument that being good at one's study is of no use.
Why do Korean parents wage a frantic war to make their kids go to distinguished universities? I confirmed the existence of the crazy war in Japan and China, too. Are they all fools? From some Westerners' viewpoint it could be so. However, no one has the right to ban them from trying to give their offspring a better education. Meanwhile, the government should devise a system to support talented students in financial difficulty.
There are many more students who are poor at studying, though. Are they all social stragglers? Absolutely not. They have their own aptitudes for other lines of work, albeit not for academic work. That is the road to their success. The question is whether or not they are doing it hard, systematically and continuously.
Coming back home from the wedding on the subway, I dwelled on why he got so indignant. Now I know his inferiority complex prompted him to be oversensitive because he and his children are not so well educated.
I reflected on my words at the wedding lunch and said to myself, ``Even though I happen to praise myself unintentionally, that could have hurt others." 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 4, in the Bible says, ``Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast, it is not proud." I am not a Christian but the verse assures me of its truth.
The writer teaches English at an elementary school in Gyeonggi Province. He can be reached at heemy123@hanmail.net.