Thursday, May 07, 2015

Children's Day?

Japan & Korea celebrated Children's Day on 5th May.

Dedicating a national holiday to children is nice, but children's lives are often tough though surrounded by plenty.

Both Korea and Japan are highly competitive, and from infancy most kids are pushed to fight for advantage and grades. Children are forced to memorize large amounts of useless data, seeking to show one is slightly better than others. You compete with your peers instead of playing with them.

In Japan, the keyword is 偏差値, hensachi or deviation-value.

Koreans focus on 스펙, spec, or personal specifications.

It's a grim kind of hell from a kid's perspective.

Children's Day, central Seoul, demonstrating against excessive study & competition