Education, an elusive equation.

A 15-year-old boy committed suicide a few months ago in Korea. He wanted to apply for an Art Highschool, but his family couldn't afford the expansive education. When the deadline for the application was over, he felt his dream, hope for future vanished. Committing suicide was not the right choice, ascribing everything to his indigent family. Entering the art school is no guarantee of success, or being an artist. Is his act, however, merely his individual fault? Is his frame or reference of thought solely his creation? His artistic talent was not enough. It needed to be sustained by wealth.

Korean society, in particular, is an education-oriented society. Your social status is usually constructed on the basis of the academic background. People say the society is changing, attempting to eradicate the elitism and facilitate the principle "talent first", not "school first". People, however, still like to rank the schools and compare them. The power of public education is shadowed, tainted by the heat of private education, which intensifies the sense of deprivation and alienation of the middle or lower class. Money leads to better education and better education to prestigious schools, good schools to higher social or economical status. A documentary showed the statistics which illustrate students' national exam scores are directly proportional to the household incomes. Of course, we've seen this, heard this and we admit this. Of course, this cannot be applied to every case, but in many cases, it can be.

Learning is one of the most important human activities. Education should be the right for everybody. Education should not be a privilege for wealthy people.
Just like Marshall McLuhan said, education has become huge business. Education is commodified, and students are commodities themselves. Constructive competition is good. It will enhance the quality of education. It's hard to deny education is used as a tool for the success. The problem is the accessibility to the tool, education. If the circular relationship of money, education and success exists, without money, people can never get in that circle. People cannot escape from the poverty and the poverty is inherited. You cannot continue your education because you don't have enough money, and since you couldn't receive the education required, you might have less chance in the society. And education, especially higher education is becoming more and more expansive.

My parents worked hard to provide me and my brother with a good education. I cannot say that I tried my best in my studies, but I do know what learning or knowledge means to me. Some might say it is just an ideal and a romantic idea that everybody should be provided with the education that they want or need.

The reward of education cannot be equal. Of course, everybody has different interests and abilities. Some work harder than others, some are smarter than others and some are luckier than others. What should be equal is the chance to receive an education. Whether you are smart or not, wealthy or not, you need a chance to learn.