This semester, my language partner, classmates, and I watched SKY Castle (SKY 캐슬), a Korean satirical drama about the cutthroat nature of the Korean education system. It mainly focuses on the wealthy, high class parents’ roles in their children’s education and the lengths the parents go to in order to ensure their children are admitted into the top universities. The name SKY Castle is based on the popular acronym SKY, which is used to refer to the three most prestigious universities in Korea: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. In the drama, SKY Castle is also the name of the neighborhood that the characters live in. It is literally a castle, and each family has a very large property. In order to live in SKY Castle, someone in the family has to have a prestigious profession, such as doctor or law professor. SKY Castle is a more recent drama, having aired in 2018-2019. It is the second highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history. I believe one of the reasons SKY Castle is so popular is that it reflects the emphasis in Korean society for academic perfection. Students study nonstop to achieve perfect scores. A single point deducted from exam could be considered a failure. Unlike many American colleges, some Korean universities do not use a holistic admission process. Therefore, a student’s test score could be the one factor that gets them accepted or rejected into an elite university and ultimately have a “successful” life.
One similarity between the characters who are extremely focused on their children’s education is that they use the people around them for their personal gain. For example, some of the housewives put on an act and pretend to be nice to each other, but they only do so in order to hear each other’s tips for their children’s success. They will even harm others in order to secure their children’s and family’s success. One of the most intriguing characters to me was the private tutor that the main character hired to get her daughter admitted into Seoul National University Medical School. The tutor’s fees were so expensive that the wealthy family still had to ask their extended family for money. In return, the tutor guaranteed that she could get the daughter admitted. However, like the housewives, his tutor would use any means necessary to get her accepted.
One common belief among these characters and Korean society is that the children’s success is the parent’s success. I see this mindset even among some of my Korean American friends. However, it becomes dangerous when the children think of it on the flipside: if I fail to achieve academic or professional success, it means that my parents have failed. This is certainly not the case, ever.
I believe one of the morals of SKY Castle is that there are so many more important things to life than which university one attends. It may sound silly, but many people in Korean society are so focused on this one goal. The important things in life that SKY Castle highlighted are family, friends, and helping others. It is not the richest, smartest, or most powerful people who are necessarily the most successful or happy. It is those who value their family and friends and help others without expecting anything in return who are truly happy and fulfilled.
Comments
I personally haven't watched this show, but man, do I want to now after reading your post! I agree with Abhishek that this mentality is shared with a lot of people, especially Asians and it's slowly becoming more and more common for many that parent's are so focused with their kids' success. The prestige, the greed and the mentality of needing to be the best, even at the risk of harming others and themselves along the way, show the strife in Korea's modern society and how stringently the kids are raised and how suffocating it truly is. I have family members, cousins, in Korea and though not at the level of SKY's intensity and toxicity of wanting success, there is that tension that exists for most families.
Wow this sounds like some of the mentality that is shared among a lot of communities, especially ones throughout the Asian communities. Although I have never seen this, it sounds like something that would totally be relatable and is reaching for a deeper meaning. Although I only lived in Asia for around 9 years, this was definitely the mentality that was shared in Nepal and examinations and grades were definitely stressed excessively by both students and parents in the schools I attended. I think the idea of putting so much pressure and putting the whole burden of making the family name proud is such an unfair thing to do to people, especially in years where they should be focusing on learning and growing rather than pushing themselves to the breaking point.
I have heard of SKY Castle before, but I was unaware of the plot and the fact that it deals with such a deep societal issue. I have also heard about the intense nature and pressure of the Korean education system, so using a drama as the medium for such commentary is fascinating. I think the moral you learned from this drama was a valuable one, and I can only hope that others learned from it as well. I will put SKY Castle on my watch list for this summer!
Yes!! We love SKY Castle haha!! Eden, I remember you telling me about how intense the Korean education system before I took this course and watching this K-drama really helped me understand it more. Of course with a drama some things are exaggerated, the emphasis on the amount of time spent studying outside of school, parents going to great lengths to find tutors for their children, and the extremely competitive higher education admission process is true to reality. I remember Jannette (our language partner) explaining how many families immigrate to the United States so their children don't go through the rigorous education system and have a better chance being admitted to colleges in the U.S. After learning more about the history of the social classes in Korea, I think the stigma of not being considered "successful" has perpetuated this competitive education system, which is sad since not everyone wants to pursue higher education.
Hi Eden, SKY Castle sounds super intense but interesting (I’ll have to check it out). I feel like there are some similarities between Korean society and parts of American in terms of success and prestige. Both my family and childhood community strongly emphasized the dire need to attend college and get a valuable degree. There seems to be this idea that a person is worthless/less than their peers without a college degree and a good job. I also hope that in both Korean and American society, people will realize that their worth is not determined by their wealth, education level or career path.