Youths, be ambitious!

Now is the season of high school final term exams. Exams have never been easy to students, and many of them tend to be cramming for tests. After the exams, freedom comes at last. I hope all students enjoy the freedom though it will not last long.

Certain schools invite parents to supervise tests along with teachers to give parents a chance to experience the field of school education. Parents who want to see how the school of their children runs apply for the role.

A mother who participated in overseeing three classes of the seventh grade said she was shocked from the experience.

Before going to classes, a short guide was given. At that time, she was curious why teachers had to give a warning before going into class.

She thought students must take each exam seriously and do their best until they finish it. This thought, however, soon proved to be wrong. In the beginning of an exam, about 10 students in the back row began to sleep down on their desks, meaning one third of the class gave up taking the test.

Feeling wrong leaving them asleep, she asked a teacher, “Shouldn’t we wake them up?” The teacher answered, “They rarely listen to teachers. Though we wake them up, they would soon sleep again. But sometimes they listen when the moms are the parents of their friends.”

The students were not even high school students who are tired of studying for college entrance preparation. They were just seventh graders who have potential. But the kids gave up study so prematurely. About five to 10 minutes before the end of the test, students in the back row woke up, took answer sheets and began marking answers roughly not to be punished for turning in blank answer sheets. The mother said she felt sad looking at them.

Students at another class the mother attended for observing were very much distracted. After handing out answer sheets, the teacher gave an instruction on how to mark answers on the sheet. The teacher said, “You’ll have to mark answers all over again on a new answer sheet if you make a mistake with a black pen. So, you need to mark your answers with a red pen first and after finishing marking, mark with a black pen.”

A student in the front row ignored the instruction and made mistakes repeatedly, asking for a new answer sheet three times. At last, the teacher said, “That’s why you should mark with a red pen!” But the student did not listen to the teacher and began marking with a black pen. The teacher said in an angry voice, “You are so tenaciously naughty!” and turned around.

Suddenly, a student in a back row shouted, “Teacher! Don’t give him a new card!” At this, other kids began giggling. The class was distracted continuously. Some kids even chatted, which was met with a warning from the teacher. But before one minute passed, the same kids began chatting again.

Talking about this experience, the mother said, “Kids will become more rebellious as they grow up, so I’m very concerned.” Hearing this experience another parent said, “That’s because the school is in the northern Seoul. At schools in the southern Seoul, such things don’t happen. That’s why parents try so hard to move to the southern Seoul. How can we expect students study and learn at classes in which one third of kids are sleeping? When it comes to education, environment is important.”

People hear a lot recently about strengthening national history class in high school. President Park Geun-hye also urged to include the national history subject in the college entrance exam. However, if students do not concentrate on teaching and even refuse to take exams, efforts to let them know the country’s history will be pointless. It will only mean one more subject for the college entrance exam. The class environment should be fixed first.

It is too early for seventh graders to give up study. If the society turns a blind eye to such kids, it might be dereliction of duty. The society should not give up on such students.