A high school senior died in an apparent suicide Saturday, two days after taking the college entrance exam. Police in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, said that the student, 18-year-old Park, was found dead in the parking lot of an apartment complex around 1:50 p.m.
Park's schoolbag was found on the top of the 40-meter-high apartment building and police suspect he jumped off it. No suicide note was found. His family and friends said that Park, who used to do well at school, was disappointed by the test result.
On Sunday, a 14-year-old boy committed suicide in his room in Daegu around 6 p.m. His mother reported it to police.
The mother testified that she and the son had a quarrel over allowances for a school trip. The boy went to his room and later was found hanging.
. . .
Separately, a 15-year-old girl was found unconscious after a drinking binge near the guardhouse of an apartment in north of Seoul at 11:30 p.m. Saturday. The girl was transferred to a hospital but died.
Small story in Korean here, with more to follow today I'm sure. Suicide rates in Korea are always high, the highest in the OECD in fact, and the intense pressures of exams makes this a particularly dangerous time. It's truly a shame this test culture continues. I'll leave it at that.
2 comments:
What a shame... I wonder if the system will ever change, or if teachers and students around the world will continue to value test scores over human life and true knowledge and learning.
Humans, like all animal species, are products of their environments and the series of choices they make given their experiences. We are the only race however to have manipulated our environment to measure our own ability of using a certain set of cognitive skills, which aren't even aligned with the necessary skills for the resulting tasks (university success and then a professional career). How can we blame individuals for seeing no purpose to carry on when we limit their options for happiness and social success to a single and ruthless examination. It is sick and the blame rests solely on the system of education and the top down decision making process which it has been founded upon in Korea.
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Cheers,
Rob
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