Suicide in Korea - Page 12

On May 25 2011 11:24 jackblack2323 wrote:


I totally agree man.

Nothing against Koreans though, I just don't show any sympathy for anyone weak enough to just give up and commit suicide; Korean or not.

I think humans are messing up natural selection by telling everyone what to do, and trying to convince the weak to be stronger.

just my 2 minerals~

On May 24 2011 08:37 Nothingtosay wrote:
This reminds me of the German school system in the late 19th century. Suicide was rampant because of all the pressure put on the students. This is unfortunately not rare in countries that are trying to or have recently attempted to revolutionize themselves academically.Similar occurrences used to happen more frequently in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The price of industrialization can be steep when it is sought quickly.

On May 25 2011 23:20 Robinsa wrote:

Well Japan went to a softer more westernized way of teaching in the 90's. Something that just proved to lower the results of the students. I think the Japanese school system is WAY superior to the western model and they preform at much higher levels.

On May 24 2011 08:11 RobbybabyDTF wrote:
And he're I am sitting on my ass when I should be studying, I take my easy life for granted.

On May 24 2011 08:06 GG.NoRe wrote:
I'm sorry this is personally heartbreaking for me and I can get emotional as I had a classmate once who also committed suicide due to school pressure.

This is not really something new, but it has grown in frequency and intensity lately. As many know, academic excellence is held with very high regard in Korea. We are a country of extreme diligence and discipline. From childhood, children are taught to be respectful and to be successful in life. Most of the success is determined by how well one performs in school, starting with the schools, especially universities, a person goes to. It is a matter literally of life and death. From someone looking from the outside, this may seem strange and excessive, sometimes younger Koreans thank of that also, but it is an idea so embedded that it has become culture.

Recently, with final exams looming, 3 students committed suicide. Like most suicides in Korea, this is caused mainly by academic pressure. I will not discuss the details of the unfortunate events, but I just want to bring to light how vicious this culture/notion could be. For sure, this attitude has brought Korea to rapid success, from being a sleepy Asian backwater country in the 70s and 80s, to a truly modern country it is now.

On May 26 2011 00:30 Skilledblob wrote:


I wouldnt feel so superior when the highest cause of death in my country for students and pupils would be suicide.
You guys pretty much do the same stuff the koreans do with the exception that, as far as I know, after you got into a japanese university the rest is a cakewalk.

Someone posted the site of the PISA tests. From my experience in german schoolsystem i would advice everyone not to take these tests too seriously. There is a big difference between the countries how these tests are approached. In germany for example noone is learning for them and they just randomly pick some students to take these tests.
So the results can vary a lot between the countries.

On May 25 2011 23:20 Robinsa wrote:

Well Japan went to a softer more westernized way of teaching in the 90's. Something that just proved to lower the results of the students. I think the Japanese school system is WAY superior to the western model and they preform at much higher levels.

On May 26 2011 02:13 xarthaz wrote:

To what end? What exactly is the use of academic success? Is it related to higher ability to produce consumer goods(which is the end goal of economic activity)? No! It is only the higher ability to obey the pedantic demands of professors, to work in the name of work unlike work in the name of consumer appreciation which is the case of financial incentivisation. The ends are completely different.

I would in fact venture to say that the academic system is like the soviet "economy". Which had an anecdote among workers saying "We pretend to do work for them, and they pretend to pay us".

On May 26 2011 02:07 xarthaz wrote:
This is the thing that intrigues me. Look at South Korea's GDP. Its 20k $ per capita per year. If education is really that important for economic success, how come South Korea with its crushingly hard education tradition and at least half a century of relatively deregulated capitalism still has the same GDP as the Eastern Bloc of ex-soviet countries who started from practically zero in the early 90s and have only medium difficulty education.

On May 25 2011 08:58 ZiegFeld wrote:
It's survival of the fittest in a world of limited resources. Nature's natural selection at work, there really isn't anything to be done about it.

On May 25 2011 22:15 ipx wrote:
And what does South Korea achieve by putting that much emphasis on these tests? Some will succeed some will fail, but this is poor measure of a person's ability.

All you are doing is manufacturing an army of worker drone robots with the same ability to repeat other people's ideas.

I think the application process for universities should be way more general and seek to find well rounded individuals with original ideas not just those who can regurgitate stuff from books with efficiency.

On May 25 2011 23:06 Vargarr wrote:


There is no such thing as survival of the fittest, well not as long as there is government that is. For example look a look at the programs set by the South Korean government to help prevent depression. At the expense of the tax payers those in power set out to do what's best for them (which is either maintain a good political standing, or feel good for helping the unfortunate), and by doing what's best for them they are supporting the incompetent (society), is that not a contradiction?

As for being "weak" and committing suicide, let's remember that depression is a disease, not something that is just learned and can be controlled. It's not as simple as that, hell depression can even be genetic, it runs in my family. Does getting a disease make you weak? Does a disease supported by society and at times cannot even be helped make someone weak?

On May 26 2011 02:07 xarthaz wrote:
This is the thing that intrigues me. Look at South Korea's GDP. Its 20k $ per capita per year. If education is really that important for economic success, how come South Korea with its crushingly hard education tradition and at least half a century of relatively deregulated capitalism still has the same GDP as the Eastern Bloc of ex-soviet countries who started from practically zero in the early 90s and have only medium difficulty education.

On May 24 2011 09:08 thisisSSK wrote:


This is the typical "Western" response to Asian academic competition, and its quite ignorant. Korean parents do show love, but in a much more subtle and indirect way than do Western parents. For example, often times, "Did you eat?" is an expression of love and care because before Korea modernized and was dirt poor, it was important to know if the kids ate or not. On a similar note, one can say that Korean parents want their children to be successful because success -> stability -> no hunger. They simply do what every parent should do: have some level of expectations, although, for korean parents, to an almost-extreme degree.

I understand the foreign perspective on the incredible focus on academic success. In fact, not a couple weeks ago, my mom and I fought because I dropped from rank 10 to rank 11 in my class of about 640 students. Despite the fact that I'm going to an ivy league school, we still fought and I felt like a failure. I think situations like this are generally more detrimental than beneficial.

Although this suicide issue is a very serious problem, I cringe every time I see anything related to the asian stereotype regarding parents and academic success. Outsiders judge without enough experience and understanding and it is simply too difficult to explain our (or atleast my) situation with one post. Maybe I'll write a book one day

On May 26 2011 04:34 UFO wrote:



I`m sorry if the statements I made in my post appear unfair or are biased.

Indeed, I do not have experience with this culture.

However, what I said was a generalization, as clarified in the post.

I didn`t mean the complete lack of love. There are many types of love. I meant love that is rooted in compassion and understanding, a love that is uniting and liberating.

Such love and it`s expression is greatly diminished when there is ambition, especially this much of an ambition, where there is proclamation of survival-based, high-competition, separatist beliefs/culture.

You could say that your mother and you fought about dropping rank because she cared about you, out of love - and I wouldn`t disagree with you.

However, I would disagree that this was an expression of compassion and understanding.

I would because - how can you have a fight about this ? What about others ? What about those at the bottom ? What about the 640th rank ? Also, what about respecting the autonomy that is your birthright ?

If your mother made you feel like a failure just because you dropped 1 place in ranks, what about those who drop out of school ? What about those who didn`t even get to any good school ?


"Did you eat?" is an expression of love and care because before Korea modernized and was dirt poor, it was important to know if the kids ate or not. On a similar note, one can say that Korean parents want their children to be successful because success -> stability -> no hunger."

Again, what about others ? What about those who lose ? Where is compassion in this ?

Its very understandable that Korean parents want their children to be succesful. I didn`t mean to criticise them. They are not to be blamed.

Nonetheless, in such approach, they support the dysfunctional construct of winners/losers. When they do this, even though it is out of care and love for their children, they do not express authentic compassion and understanding. They contribute to and fuel this dysfunctional construct and social structure and their children are taught to do the same.

Thats why it prevails.

On May 26 2011 04:41 dreamsmasher wrote:


certain social inequalities are actually greater in the U.S. for example, income disparity between the richest/poor, or treatment of elderly. if anything i would argue that the west favors a winner take all mentality much more than any eastern country (on a social level).

On May 26 2011 05:05 Skilledblob wrote:


I highly doubt that there is any difference. Just look at China.