Rigorous workload - illjin

Undoubtedly, the rigor of South Korea’s education system and process is known for eclipsing almost the entire world. The Korean SAT, an 8-hour-long college-level exam that tests students on six different subjects, seems especially harsh when compared to the likes of American standardized testing such as the SAT. To prepare for such tests and a highly-pressurizing academic environment, on average, a study shows that Korean students aged 15-24 study from 12-16 hours per day. Out of the many mental and physical health questions this norm raises, it for one greatly exceeds the OECD recommended amount and average. 

Adding to the academic burden of Korea, several rigorous accommodations have been established to aid students in achieving academic excellence. For example, hagwons, specialized classrooms for students to receive extra academic help after school, are usually brimming with students of all ages. These hagwons are especially prevalent in areas with a large student population such as Da-chi or Apgu, with parents who enroll their children in countless hagwons even dubbed “Daechi-moms”. To help students stay on track with the unreasonable workload, study cafes, notable for having a quiet and undisturbing environment, have become widespread. According to a survey in 2023, 8 out of 10 students reported spending most of their time in a study cafe after school. 

It is important to note that Korean parents, like many other countries, uphold strong expectations for their children. Becoming a doctor is viewed as the epitome of a successful life, and it is often the end goal for many students. Though the consensus is generally shifting nowadays, the ideology is fairly simple: you go to a good school or…you are deemed a failure. Undoubtedly, this creates extreme stress and pressure for students, as they believe that studying and competing with their classmates to get into the top universities is the only way to succeed in life, something that is so far from the truth. Students following this narrow and constricted path to success often find themselves in the pit of failure, as others would call it, and the disappointment and shame that follow lead them to experience something called “burnout”, where the motivation to perform academically simply disappears. This common experience can affect students ranging from elementary to high school, even transcending to college. 

While the formal definition of burnout is “a state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” this definition does encompass the full scope of the burnout that the rigor of the Korean education system causes. In a nutshell, with the system requiring countless hours of work and dedication every day, there is simply not enough time to “manage” this overwhelming stress. Thus, students tend to rely on methods that provide bursts of dopamine in a short amount of time: alcohol and nicotine-providing materials. These items are usually associated with someone that would be labeled as an “illjin”. Otherwise, the students who strive to fit through the narrow filter of success in Korea tend to disregard stress management entirely, making themselves slaves to the system. Either way, it is hard to decide who the true winner is: those who waste their youth for an unknown future, or those who enjoy the present for the cost of the future. 

While the aforementioned transformation from a student to an illjin may not always be only due to academic pressures, the problem lies in the fact that these cases do exist. How difficult and inhumane must the education system be to turn innocent students into ones that steal this innocence from others? This sadistic education system is also the reason why Korea has remained a country with one of the highest suicide rates among young adults aged 15-24. Researchers believe that this high suicide rate is connected to the fiercely competitive academic environment and the proliferation of bullying behaviors in South Korean schools. 

It seems as though the consensus is that the harsh education system leeches the joy of youth from students, and with the narrow-minded citizens proclaiming a singular path as the path to “success”, there seems to be no room available for amelioration. This is exactly how the students feel. No matter how much they flip and flap, they end up in the same place, as the only escape is to dive into the dark world of becoming an illjin.