[Letters] Education and morality

Teenagers nowadays are required to excel in academics rather than morals. Due to such guidance, high school students inadvertently lack concepts concerning ethics, respect and honor. This phenomenon can be considered an anomaly.

A while ago, I saw my friend taking an online math course. The teacher was said to be a famous Internet lecturer. As I overheard the teacher’s lesson, I noticed that he used explicit language. Yet, no one who listened to his lectures seemed to care or mind. The general students’ opinion was that it did not matter since he is an excellent math teacher. Moreover, they asserted that he is not an ethics teacher.

Nevertheless, students would not be so accommodating if public school teachers spoke with such profane language. As the Internet lecturer is also a teacher and a vast number of students listen to his lectures, he should not be using abusive language in his lessons. Students should also recognize that the teacher’s actions are wrong.

Korean students are hardworking. Adults, namely parents and teachers, often tell high school students that the years in high school determine one’s entire life. Hence they tell the future leaders of Korea not to think of themselves as human beings. However, I believe that this is not a good idea. Students should at least preserve their morality.

Many high school students buy and watch the aforementioned Internet lecturer’s lessons because the lecturer is a competent math teacher and helps improve the students’ mathematics abilities. Nonetheless, the prodigious ability to teach academic techniques and knowledge to students cannot be an excuse to act unethically in front of them.

The elders of Korea should emphasize the importance of morality that has been deficient in the youth of late. Concurrently, teenagers should seek to be more humane than at present.

With the high academic level of current high school students and their remarkable will to study, the addition of morality may be the true key for students to succeed in the future.

Ryu Dong-sun,

Cheong-shim International Academy