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Mental health - a topic that is viewed with much importance in the United States and something that is addressed openly, is acknowledged as a problem that needs to be solved by medical professionals and accepted by working professionals as a legitimate handicap. However, the same cannot be said with many other countries around the world, more specifically, a lot of Asian countries. To many, it is considered a weakness to admit to having mental health issues. According to Dr. Noh Gyu-shik, a well-known psychiatrist in South Korea, there is a perception that it is considered “weak hearted”, “weak willed” to admit to having mental illness. But it is also considered that some one who is openly seeing a psychiatrist is labeled as “completely insane”. Because of this prejudice and the lack of open discussion regarding mental health, South Korea’s suicide rate is one of the highest out of all developed country. In 2017, it was reported that 1 out of 4 individuals suffer from mental disorders but only 1 out 10 receive relevant treatment. In such a competition-oriented society where there is great importance placed on one’s family values, educational class, appearances and connections define who you are as an individual, students are forced to work hard to achieve a somewhat impossible goal set for them. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health & Welfare, 43.2% of Korean adolescents are faced with severe stress while the corresponding number for adults is 28.9%. With such numbers like this, many question why nothing has been done to lower the numbers. **It is very important to note that this work will have attention paid specifically to young adolescents from the ages 12 to 18 as this is considered a critical age of development. This does not mean that we are leaving out the mental health statistics put forth for other age groups.
Education is placed as such an important part of one’s life that one is then equally defined by one’s educational background, rank within the class or school or district and then, subsequently, what university/college they get accepted to. So much pressure is put onto adolescents to receive excellent grades and to finally test into the Top 3 university in Korea - The S.K.Y Universities:
These three universities are labeled as the elite universities of South Korea - getting admittance into one of these institutions is considered one of the highest honors and subsequently, setting one up for a bright future. From a young age, South Koreans are fed this ideal and that only extreme forms of hard work will get the desired results. An example of extreme would be starting with the expected schedule of South Korean students. When one takes a look at the schedule of an average student in South Korea, it can be seen that a student dedicates a lot of their time to just studying. From a school day that starts from 8AM with classes that last up to 50 minutes each, the day ends at 4 or 4:30PM. High school students are also expected to be arriving at school and start studying even school starts. Even after a full school day, a student does not stop studying. They continue by going to a Hagwon, an academy, or cram school which can last until 10pm or even midnight. This kind of schedule is considered the “average” schedule. It is even recommended that students study more after they come home from the Hagwons. With a schedule as packed as this, where does one find time to relax or unwind? The answer is barely - while there does seem to be a rigorous schedule, students do have a 50-minute lunch break, a mid-morning and mid-afternoon break during their school days. After the school day ends, students get another break to either go home to grab dinner with their families or grab dinners out before heading to their Hagwons. If a student’s family cannot afford for them to attend a Hagwon, some students choose to either hire a personal tutor or go back to the school library to study or. It's believed that the average Korean student will dedicate 12 to 18 hours of their day to their studies. However, many students will study more than that to stay ahead of the class. It has been reported that on average, a student would only sleep a total of 8 hours a week in order to properly keep up with their studies. Many students report being exhausted both physically and mentally. As if there wasn’t enough pressure to do well in their classes, students are expected to score high on national exams - no matter what the grade year. The pressure builds more as students enter their high school years and even more so as they approach the times for college testing exams -labeled as the most important time in a student’s life - the College Scholastic Ability Test or CSAT.
Much like how the United States has the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the American College Testing (ACT), Korea has the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). These exams will take place during the month of November on the first Tuesday or Thursday of the month. This exam will last a total of eight hours with a 1 hour break in between. Students will be tasked to complete six sections of the test and will be broken down as following: National Language (considered one of the most difficult sections as it comprises of the following)