Education: Giving Back What You have Received
The intersection of people, or their commonality of experience, always eases tension. Simply by discovering common subjects of interest, people are already comfortable with each other. There is a gap of 25 years between the two people below, but they have something in common, namely their participation in college education programs, as Choi has taught at night schools and Lee has volunteered as a student-teacher for JUMP. They also resemble each other in that they have used such teaching experience to provide impetus for their current careers. The similarities between the two are more than enough to break the ice on their first meeting.
Choi:How did you start working at JUMP?
Lee:I volunteered as a tutor for two years as an undergraduate, which led me to my current position as the program manager.
Choi:What are your responsibilities?
Lee:I connect resources and people. If there are teenagers who need educational opportunities, I introduce them to those who can provide services that fit their needs. At the moment, I am working at the KU-JUMP Seongbuk Future-Sharing School. Through the program, KU students teach underprivileged teenagers living in Seongbuk and seek to provide them with better studying environments. KU offers scholarships to outstanding student-teachers, Seongbuk-gu Office supports the infrastructure and provides financial aid, and JUMP coordinates the entire program.
Choi:I admire your work!
Lee:Now, I have some questions for you. You were a high profile lecturer in social studies, and in 2015, you set up Oh My School all of a sudden. What was your motivation?
Choi:After I gained a reputation as a lecturer in the necessary subject matter for the college entrance exam, I asked myself ‘What should I do now?’ The only reason I became well known was because of the students who chose to attend my lectures. I wanted to repay the debt I owed them, but I just couldn’t think of how. In the end, I concluded that the answer was through continuing to lecture, which is what I am good at. Then, I realized that the study of humanities has remained in the Ivory Tower for such a long time, and that it just had to be made more welcoming and easily accessible to the general public. My idea started out with the simple hope of helping individuals to feel happier in their everyday lives, not with the huge goal of making a contribution to society.
Lee:What were your challenges over the past three years?
Choi:I am still struggling through challenges (Laughs). Normally, humanities lectures are only available either through support from the government or in a college setting. I wanted to test if I could survive by giving humanities lectures in this capitalist market we live in. It has indeed been difficult.
Hardly any individual consumers pay for a humanities course and spread the word about it.
It was not easy to introduce my lectures to the public without government support or independent of a college. Still, it has been a meaningful experience and I have no regrets.
Lee:Is there anything like Oh My School in other countries?
Choi:No. Oh My School is an on-line lecture provider, and no other country in the world has advanced network systems like Korea. The establishment of Oh My School was possible thanks to the listeners of on-line lectures, the generation who took on-line courses for the college entrance exam.
Paths Toward the Educational Vocation
Lee:I heard you worked at a large company after graduating from university. Is there a special reason why you changed your career path to teach at a private institute?
Choi:I was a regular office worker when the country faced the IMF economic crisis. It was sometime after I quit work that I realized there was not much I could do. At first, I started teaching to earn a living, and it turned out that teaching was actually the job for me. I had taught at night schools as an undergraduate and I knew well the joy of teaching.
Lee:Was there a particular reason for teaching at night schools when you could have earned a lot of money through private tutoring?
Choi:Have you seen the movie 1987? I entered university in 1987. As the movie shows, college students at that time were vigorously protesting against the social structure. I guess I wasn’t brave enough to stand out, so I participated in night schools instead.
Lee:Please tell me more about your school life.
Choi:Teaching at night schools led me to join an activist group. I spent most of my time at Minju Square or in the student hall. It is a memory that I am neither proud nor ashamed of. I’d say that our sentiments back then could be described on the plus side as “debt consciousness” and on the minus side as “elitism”. My generation was somewhat patriarchal and authoritarian, as the recently revealed examples of the Me Too movement demonstrate.
Lee:I saw you on the TV show Torondaecheop (Debate Battle), and I noticed the debate was between different generations. Do you want to give any tips to students in their 20s about how they can understand their parents?
Choi:There's no need to try to understand your parents (Laughs). Probably the generation gap between my parents and I is greater than the gap between students in their 20s and their parents. I think the best course is to respect the differences instead of making efforts to understand each other.
Lee:Why are the humanities so important for the younger generation?
Choi:Among applications to attend lectures, I never reject the ones from new recruits. Most of them like me because they know me from online lectures (Laughs). There is something I always tell them. Try not to pursue certain personal ties as soon as you join a company. Personal ties at work are similar to affiliation with political parties in a country. Spontaneously pursuing them would be like joining a political party without knowing whether you are progressive or conservative. This is why you need knowledge of the humanities. If you have a grounding in them, you can easily distinguish good relationships from bad ones.
Lee:Speaking of new recruits, that reminds me of my early years at JUMP. I had worked there for a year, and I was involved in all kinds of work because it was a start-up company. It was very challenging for me at first, but now I appreciate such experiences. I don’t think I would have learned so much if I had joined a large company.
Choi:If you work there for another year, you will be able to learn more useful and interesting things than in your first year. Usually the first year at work is too confusing and hectic, and what you learn after that is more important. I'm sure you will develop in leaps and bounds.
Lee:Thank you. And I will always be rooting for you in your work too.
