Korea is well known for being a highly competitive society. They say that in Korea, competition begins from the cradle and continues until the grave.
Korea is well known for being a highly competitive society. They say that in Korea, competition begins from the cradle and continues until the grave.
In Korea, you must go through stiff competition even from childhood -- it is not easy to be admitted to nursery school, kindergarten, secondary school or college. Unless you have outstanding abilities or extraordinary competence, it is difficult to win every competition. Naturally, you are likely to be under tremendous stress all throughout your life.
Recently, Instagram carried the story of a Korean middle school girl and her mother residing in the UK. They could not make up their minds whether to continue to study abroad or return to their homeland. Numerous people uploaded comments and none of them recommended they come back to Korea. Instead, all the commentators warned of the unbearable, cutthroat competition of schools in Korea.
The above anecdote tells us that heated competition makes our society inhumane and turns school into a war zone.
Every morning we send our children to a battlefield where they must fight to survive. At school and in the private academies known as hagwon, students think of their peers not as friends, but as competitors to overcome. It is no wonder that the Korean people want to live in a competition-free society.
However, the problem is that a zero-competition society is possible only in socialist or formerly communist countries. Some competition is unavoidable and even necessary in capitalist countries. Thus, we cannot eliminate competition from our society. Besides, healthy competition is mutually beneficial.
For example, there are two big supermarkets near my apartment: Hannaford and Shaw’s. Initially, Hannaford was more popular and offered more advantages than Shaw’s due to its convenient location. These days, however, things have changed. As Shaw’s now offers a variety of discounts for quality groceries, it has suddenly become crowded with customers. Then, to keep up with the competition, Hannaford made changes, too: It now offers a wide variety of price-reduced items. Naturally, customers benefit from the competition between the two supermarkets.
Likewise, a long time ago, when Korean Airlines was the only airline in Korea, its customer service was not particularly good. When Asiana Airlines was launched, however, Korean Airlines turned into an exceptionally nice and friendly airline to compete with its competitor. Thanks to its rivalry with Asiana Airlines, the in-flight service of Korean Airlines has become internationally acclaimed. That was why some people were concerned about the news of the merger of Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines, because it might affect Korean Airlines’ excellent in-flight service.
Recently, Korean Airlines announced that it would change its airline code from KAL to KE. Rumor has it that Korean Air decided on the name change to consider Asiana Airlines after the merger. But it is not certain what KE stands for because it is the name attached to Korean Airlines’ flight numbers given by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Perhaps Korean Air may also consider other options, such as KAAL, KASIANA or KALSIANA.
Competition is mutually beneficial unless it is too fierce. For example, Samsung vs. LG, Sony vs. Panasonic and GE vs. Whirlpool come to mind. SNU Hospital vs. Yonsei Severance Hospital is another good example, and so is Samsung Hospital vs. Hyundai Asan Hospital. In academia, Yonsei University vs. Korea University is a similar case.
A society without competition can easily become stagnant. The ruling party, without the opposition party, too, can easily become tyrannical and totalitarian. Competition often brings forth vitality and vibrancy. Rivalry is not always bad.
In Korean society, however, competition is too intense and rivalry too extreme. The inevitable outcomes are depression, anger and high suicide rates. Young Koreans are especially obsessed with winning or surviving the ubiquitous competition and are thus under relentless stress all the time. As a result, Korean students are forced to live in an inhumane society where people see each other as competitors to step on and crush mercilessly.
Recently, a foreign national characterized the Korean people as those who seek perfection. To put it another way, Koreans compare themselves to others, regard them as rivals and want to defeat them in competition.
Usually, competition and rivalry occur between those who have similar abilities and conditions. However, Koreans tend to compare themselves to others who excel in many respects, try to compete with them and thus end up becoming frustrated and depressed. Surely, that is not a wise thing to do.
Healthy, moderate competition is necessary and even desirable, but inhumane, severe competition or hostile rivalry is not. We should neutralize immoderate competition in our society. Most especially, we should change our schools from an arena of life and death competition to a communal place of learning, socializing, sharing and caring so that our children will remember their academic years with sweet memories.
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Kim Seong-kon
Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed
khnews@heraldcorp.com
