November 10th, the day your whole life is decided.

and it's true if you are a Korean grade 12 student writing the CSAT, or College Scolastic Ability Test. Also known as the Suneung (수능) it's THE test that determines what school you get in to and so, by extension, your entie future. You can read all about it here. It's impossible to explain to someone not here what it's like. All government workers go to work an hour late so as to not clog up the roads and subways for the kids. Construction work is barred so the noise will not bother the kids. Police escort students running late to the test and, believe it or not, most airports are shut down so as to cut down on noise pollution. Of course Incheon is still open (and I think Gimhae would be as well) but no other planes, private, commercial or military, can be used before 4pm.

Well needless to say this is a big deal. Kids begin preparing for this as early as grade one or two. It really does consume their childhood. From anywhere from grade 1-3 you will begin going to a host of after school and Saturday academies (hagwon's) to study Math, Science, Korean and English (the four mandatory subjects) and later a choice of history, literature, a specific science, hanja (Chinese characters in Korean) etc etc etc. This runs through elementary and middle school (grades 1-9) before they enter high school. By grade 11 and 12 most students are up at 6 or 7 am to go to school, which runs until 9pm. They then go to study halls to cram until around midnight when they finally go home/to sleep. Averaging 4-5 hours a night of sleep they do this for two years before they write their big test, which is all over in 6 hours.

For the student who aces the test, a bright future at Seoul National, Korea National or Yonsei University followed by a top position at LG, Samsung, major banks etc. begins. For students who fail, they can accept their losses or spend a year 13 repeating their year 12 and cramming like they have never crammed before to write it again. This usually entails another year like the one they just did in grade 12. For anyone in between, it's a degree from a lesser University, which may still be a good school, (Kyungpook University in Daegu for example, is considered a top school) but it probably promises middle management at the afore mentioned companies or high management in a smaller company. For graduates of even lesser universities small, less formal employment with less secure pensions and no real chance to get to the top awaits them. They too can do the 13th year (in fact any student can) but if you do well enough just to get in most students accept it and begin to plan their life accordingly.

It's hard to say much that I see as positive about this system. The best I can come up with as many teen social problems that are prevalent in the west such as teen pregnancy, alcoholism and drug use are virtually unknown here. In fact sex-ed isn't taught. It simply isn't needed before University (where it is taught). I mean, with that sort of a schedule I'd be too tired for sex and drinking too. While that sounds like a positive I hardly think it's worth it. Korea has the highest suicide rate in the OECD, second in the world and the second highest among people under the age of 20 (Japan having the highest in that demographic). Students get virtually no time to play, which is a serious factor in developing personality. There's also the minimal second chance factor. I know that if my future had been sealed when I was 16 or 18 I'd have been in a LOT of trouble, and I think many people from the west would feel the same way. You get a year of cram school if you fail the test, but that's the extent of the "second chance". Malnutrition is also prevalent with 33% of High Schools girls registering as anemic in at least one major Korean city. I mean if you are at school that long when do you eat a real meal (ddok bokki and ramen don't count).

Well either way, I was especially nice to my students today.