Forced academic leveling a disturbing phenomenon
Published: 10 Mar. 2025, 00:00
Mike Sluchinski
It was nice to wake up with my morning cup of coffee and enjoy Professor Oh Se-jung’s recent column, “The new global order: Survival of the fittest in the age of Trump.”
Of course, there’s little to argue with and much to learn from Professor Oh’s thoughts. His concerns about “heading toward a dangerous downward equalization” in relation to education are well founded. I was disturbed and concerned that Korean students are actually being forced to hide their academic accomplishments, as in the math score controversy mentioned. Sadly, George Orwell prognosticated many of these dangers in his novel “Animal Farm” where forced equality can lead to certain groups being ‘more equal’ than others.
Since the Joseon dynasty times, Korea has struggled to replace societal social leveling practices with more merit-based systems in all areas of society ― but there are still plenty of areas where individual ability and merit are ignored due to politics and cultural practices. So, thank you to Professor Oh and many others who worked hard to rise to the top and help Korea develop and succeed.
I agree that these days, it seems to have become a more dog-eat-dog world. But at the end of the day, I really feel President Donald Trump is pursuing his policies because the dire and dangerous actions of Russia and China have forced his hand. Given being told what to do by Mr. Trump or the leaders of China or Russia, I’ll choose the American choice every day of the week.
It was nice to wake up with my morning cup of coffee and enjoy Professor Oh Se-jung’s recent column, “The new global order: Survival of the fittest in the age of Trump.”
Of course, there’s little to argue with and much to learn from Professor Oh’s thoughts. His concerns about “heading toward a dangerous downward equalization” in relation to education are well founded. I was disturbed and concerned that Korean students are actually being forced to hide their academic accomplishments, as in the math score controversy mentioned. Sadly, George Orwell prognosticated many of these dangers in his novel “Animal Farm” where forced equality can lead to certain groups being ‘more equal’ than others.
Since the Joseon dynasty times, Korea has struggled to replace societal social leveling practices with more merit-based systems in all areas of society ― but there are still plenty of areas where individual ability and merit are ignored due to politics and cultural practices. So, thank you to Professor Oh and many others who worked hard to rise to the top and help Korea develop and succeed.
I agree that these days, it seems to have become a more dog-eat-dog world. But at the end of the day, I really feel President Donald Trump is pursuing his policies because the dire and dangerous actions of Russia and China have forced his hand. Given being told what to do by Mr. Trump or the leaders of China or Russia, I’ll choose the American choice every day of the week.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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