By Choi Hyeun-sun
According to research by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) last year, Korean students aged 15, ranked top in education and reading comprehension, second in mathematics and seventh in science.
But unfortunately this does not match with students' appreciation of their schools or their environment. In fact, the student suicide rate is the highest among OECD member countries. Also the number of students who get private education is skyrocketing year by year. At this point, we should look at what causes the students to kill themselves and try to find out how society can prevent this.
The major reason why students commit suicide is because of poor scores in their exams. Every year, after the Korea's College Scholastic Ability Test, we hear of many students committing suicide after they don't get satisfactory results. The single numbers on a sheet of paper decide whether they will live or not.
I am not saying that the test itself is wrong; it can evaluate students' educational status objectively and fairly, and give them a better idea of whom studied harder. Also, we cannot deny that highly educated students contribute a lot to our economic growth.
But the problem comes when people and students regard the results of their studying as everything. Truly, in this hyper-competitive country, the scores seem to reflect students' entire life and will to live.
To them, their grades and their would-be universities seem to be everything not only to make them rich but also make them happy.
``Happiness is in the order of grades.'' ``If you sleep now, you can dream but if don't sleep now you can make your dream come true.'' These phrases are often quoted when students are studying, they write them down on their study planners or calendars to give them inspiration. Some are really inspiring for students to study harder, but if we look these phrases a little more closely, we can easily see students feel their study and results are everything for their future. The way of their thinking is not their fault but adults and society. Parents keep telling their students to study and buy a lot of extra textbooks for them even when they are merely in elementary school. They don't realize the most satisfying result of studying comes from their self-study with strong motivation. They just push them to study, study and study more even though poor students finally reach the edge of a cliff, standing there riskily and thinking they were born to be a studying robot.
Students run like racehorses only running for the ultimate goal, their scores and universities, beating their best friends in order to succeed. But when the game is over, they find out there is no one clapping for them. They might have given up their friendships and experiences only when they can have a student's life but it has just turned out to be a failure.
So, what can we do about this? Will just making a less competitive atmosphere and showing less respect for studying do? I don't think that would be the right answer for this developing country. We need to raise great elite students who will contribute to our country while preventing them from killing themselves. But how?
Being a high school student myself, I wanted to commit suicide not once, but many times. I also suffered when I couldn't get my desired results from tests and when I had trouble with my friends. What I needed at those times were not special lessons to recover my scores nor harsh scolding, but people or even a person who could understand and share my feelings. I believe that's what other students need as well. Students are merely adolescents, not fully mentally matured and sometimes can make rough impulsive decisions, such as committing suicide.
Nobody was born an adult, as everyone passes through childhood. Then why can't adults try to remember how they felt when they were students?
Students are considered as growing trees for they will lead society in the near future. Just understanding how students feel because of the invisible pressure that they are under, or even listening to their hard times will definitely be of great help to them and might prevent their suicides.
Choi Hyeun-sun is a senior student at Suwon Foreign Language High School in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.