[Opinion] Home Scholarship

Writer Choi In-ho, who debuted with works of urban sensitivity, said that two cultures exist in Korean writers. One is a “refugee culture” like Hwang Soon-won and Lee Ho-chul, and the other is a “boarder culture” consisting of students from the Province of Gyeongsang, Jeonla and Choongchung. Choi, whose father is from Pyeongyang, is a descendant of a refugee, however, his first works were “Seoulish” for example, “The Home Town of the Stars.” For examples of the boarder culture, Choi gave us Lee Chung-joon, who was born in Jangheong, Jeonnam and graduated from Seoul National University.

Boarder culture is known to be the “settling into” Seoul of countryside-born writers. Countrymen, who graduated from universities in Seoul while living in Seoul, start their city life in university areas. There are still a lot of lodging houses around Shinlim near SNU, in Shinchon near Yonsei, Sogang, Ewha and Hongik University and in Anahm around Korea University. Presently there is an abundance of one room flats around SNU, however, in the past, there only existed old detached houses as the model for boarding house.

For students who study in Seoul, monthly allowance is sent to them from their parents. They bring their school fee with them when they initially come to Seoul, however, their rent money and spending money is sent to them every month. The boarders call it “home scholarship,” which means that it is the money earned by their parents by selling cows and rice. Due to the tight finances, a part-time job is often necessary to add on to the scholarship.

There were times when universities in Seoul were called “cow bone towers,” which meant that they were built with the money from selling the cows. Although “cow born tower” has a negative connotation, home scholarship is now intertwined with the memories of studying in Seoul. Ahn Hee-jung said that he thought of the 400 million won he received from businessmen as home scholarship. Ahn graduated middle school from Nonsan, Choongnam and then went to a Seoul university. However, can the money he received really be called home scholarship, when it comes from businesses? His sentence attenuates the affectionate memory of the words “home scholarship.”

Editorial Writer Hwang Ho-taek hthwang@donga.com