One's early twenties is the period when one plans one's future through diverse forms of learning and experience. By the time a man completes his military service and graduates from university he is 24 or 25. It is sad that some people have to face discrimination and inhospitality simply for not having attended university during that precious period in life.
Approximately 110,000 of Korea's 580,000 high school graduates did not advance to college last year, so 19 percent are "non-college students." There are more diverse colleges than there used to be, so these are people who in today's conditions are clearly disadvantaged in our society. The reason most of them are unable to become college students is most likely because of difficult family circumstances. Some try and cannot keep up their grades, and some go straight to finding vocations in search of their dreams. The Korea National Center for Education Statistics and Information estimates such high school graduates to number 2.25 million.
Such young people are subjected to various forms of discrimination when it comes to deferments on induction into the military and receiving discounts. They have to receive more military reserve training for not being college students, and they are excluded from participation in various events and programs. They are classified as working people, so when they cannot find jobs the sense of defeat is more serious. It makes you think once more again about how brutal it can be in a society dominated by school cliques. How awful the mental agony must be for those who have to face social prejudice and discrimination in their early twenties, when they should instead be living on dreams.
There urgently needs to be benefits and aid from the government. A considerable number of the young people who give up going to college and instead search for work receive training at government job training centers around the country, but the quality of that training is very insufficient, both in terms of quantity and quality. There needs to be diverse programs and detailed guidance to satisfy the ambitions of young people who seek jobs or want to start their own businesses. Society has a responsibility to protect these alienated and disadvantaged individuals.
The Hankyoreh, 25 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] When You Don't Go to College |
