Last Thursday, I had first discussion with my classmates in Mr. Wayne’s English writing class. We were supposed to talk about a newspaper article that the presenter had chosen. After talking about China’s food crisis and necessity of international aid, we also talked about North Korea’s food crisis. About half of the class asserted to aid North Korea while the other half did not. Because I was a lot interested in North Korea matter, I really had a lot of things to say in my mind. However, whenever I tried to raise my hand to get a chance to say, my arms were frozen. It felt as if someone was pulling my arm so strongly that I could not even raise it about an inch. This personal trauma of not willing to present political position in front of others comes from my freshman year in KMLA.
It was a month after the beginning of the life in KMLA. I took a casual conversation with my friends as usual. However, one of my friend’s words hurt me seriously while talking about social issues at that time. The topic went so far to the Korean Teachers & Educational Worker’s Union (KTU). About KTU, he scornfully treated it as an organization of Commies. When I asked him, “Are members of KTU Reds?” and he answered immediately “Yes, of course! What else unless they are Reds?” Because I was so shocked about his biased perspective and other friends who also make the same responses, I contributed writing about the experience in KMLA and my political stance or perspective to The Hankyoreh, a daily newspaper.
It was a month after the beginning of the life in KMLA. I took a casual conversation with my friends as usual. However, one of my friend’s words hurt me seriously while talking about social issues at that time. The topic went so far to the Korean Teachers & Educational Worker’s Union (KTU). About KTU, he scornfully treated it as an organization of Commies. When I asked him, “Are members of KTU Reds?” and he answered immediately “Yes, of course! What else unless they are Reds?” Because I was so shocked about his biased perspective and other friends who also make the same responses, I contributed writing about the experience in KMLA and my political stance or perspective to The Hankyoreh, a daily newspaper.
click here to see the article (of course in Korean..)
Just as expected, my contribution aroused huge impact both in and out of KMLA. There were about two hundreds comments on my writing on the website, and KMLA students used to talk about my writing. The reaction of the students was mostly negative. I even heard my friends talking about the possibility of my withdrawal. They said I dishonored KMLA. Listening to the talk behind my back and seeing people who swear me were common daily schedules. As a result, I had to post a writing of apology in KMLA Online. I had to be sorry for presenting political position in daily newspaper especially about the delicate social issue.
→ writing of apology on KMLA Online
Based on my experience, I strongly feel that political freedom of high school students in Korea is suppressed almost thoroughly. Of course, my case might be somewhat special because KMLA culture is more exclusive than other schools–because we emphasize strict relationship between seniors and freshman, because we are living in a dormitory isolated from the city by ourselves… etc. However, it is solely truth that high school student’s political action is not as free as it should be. For example, when high school students joined the Candlelight Vigil in 2008, most teachers and schools tried to suppress their action by punishing the participants or sending a mail to parents. There is a case which even a police officer visited a high school and investigated one of the students who planned to organize the participants.
In adult’s point of view, to study might be the most important duty for us to do. However, it is not only to study what we have to do. We have to learn to be a proper citizen in democratic society. We should own our freedom to speak whatever we have in mind. Therefore, I believe that Moore’s suggestion on the High School Newspaper is appropriate. Even though there might be some inappropriate writing, it is also our job to learn how to self-moderate ourselves. In this process of struggle, teenagers will be able to grow as genuine young-adults in our society.
P.S. I know my writing today is not logical or critical as it should be. However, I just wanted to share my personal experience with others. I believe it might be O.K. as well...
<Debating Motion>
THB It should be allowed for high school students to present political position in school freely.
THB Teachers should be encouraging students’ freedom of thought during the class.
THS Assembly by students toward student-related political issue
Good work and I have no qualms regarding what you've written. Personal touches and perspectives are welcome, and I specifically asked for that in the post. I'm curious about the situation you found yourself in, as I only know a bit about that issue. But one thing I will say - landing in hot water once in a while isn't a bad thing. Unpopular opinions are often the ones that create the changes society needs to make. KMLA is a school designed to create leadership, and leaders tend to be people who rock the boat. Hopefully they do so for the right reasons. If we don't rock the boat, is it really smooth sailing?
답글삭제I'm not sure what your opinion is regarding those candlelight vigils, but I think it was right to try and deny them. The Mad Cow threat was invented, sensationalized, and an international embarrassment. Sometimes protesters protest for the sake of protesting, and I believe this was such an instance.
Good work on this blog. Keep it up, and feel free to use it for more than just our class.
More detailed situation I was in...? Maybe we would have time to talk about this later... and I hope so.. :)
답글삭제About the candlelight vigil you mentioned, I support the vigil as one of the participants. I remeber the day. The very first day of the vigil was April 30th, 2008. It was a day when the midterm was over, so I went to the CheongGye Plaza right after the exam. There, I could find out so many people freely expressing their opinions....!
I admit there were some exaggerations regarding the madcow disease issue on the Internet. The rumors were produced and spreaded. However, the candlelight vigil was not totally about the madcow disease itself. Even though some media and people criticize the vigil by arguing people were politically instigated with those rumors, it is actually not. People came to the Palaza, first surprised by the horrible description on the madcow disease, but later demanded what they had in my mind.
Especially for students, they were not mad at madcows. They were mad at current educational systems - which treated them as parrots in the cages. People were outraged at the government's unilateral attitude toward socially sensitive issues - Construction of Korean Canal, Issues regarding National Health Insurance... (Of course KORUS FTA, too)
So, if you view the situation in a surface level as a by-stander, you might suppose the vigil as somewhat foolish. But people were not thoughtlessly utilized by evil-purposed politicians. Though the surface issue was Madcow Disease, the real core of the resistance was people's dissatisfaction deep inside.