COULD BE NO. 2 : High School Special

SeMa Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2016 2 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 3

COULD BE NO.2: High school special SeMA Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2016—directed Dear High School Students, And, I Remember, by Beck Jee-sook, hosted by Seoul Museum of Art, This Period Was a Painful One. Contributors: Yurim Do (Pooyo), Yohan Joo (Ami), titled NERIRI KIRURU HARARA, and held from Dahyang Oh (Yani), Junghye Park (Junghye), September 1 to November 20, 2016—is publishing Whilst I am writing this, you must be study- I Was in Much Pain. Keiko Sei, Jiyun Sung (Zziru) four volumes of the non-periodical publication ing, as you usually do, day and night. You COULD BE starting in April 2016 and up until the study hard. You do it because this is what you To be a high school student is to be in pain. Guest Editor: Keiko Sei opening of the Biennale. are expected to do at your age and because Most of you are officially out of the compul- Series Editor: Yumi Kang Translators (Korean to English): Hayun Kim The publications will contain well-timed issues you are told over and over again by almost sory education system, and therefore, again (“Hate Comment,” “Our Voice,” “Something discovered by various contributors with different everybody, from your parents to teachers, officially, you are free and responsible for New”), Kyounghee Lee (“Apartment Game”), characteristics and viewpoints standing at that studying diligently leads to success. I making your own life choices. But society Gabriel Moon (“Homosexuality,” “Discrimination the crossroads of the Biennale and multiple am sure that you have many other things you continues to treat you as not fully grown-up against . . . Teenagers Outside School”) contemporary art languages. The guest editors Translator (Japanese to English): Naoki of COULD BE are Yekyung Kil (Korea, editor want to do instead—you may want to watch and puts restrictions on many aspects of your Matsuyama (“Scene 11: That Day”) and translator), Keiko Sei (Thailand/Myanmar/ your favorite star or sports on TV, chat with life—from fashion and where you can hang Proofreaders: Varsha Nair, Esther Yu Japan, writer and curator), Chimurenga (South friends on social media, play games, or just out, to forbidding alcohol, drugs, and sex. Design: Moon Jung Jang, Seung-Ah Jang Africa, publishing and exhibition project team), and Miguel A. López (Costa Rica/Peru, writer and hang out with friends in your favorite spots. This is also a time when you start to receive a Thanks to Norimizu Ameya, Parit Chiwarak, curator). Moon Jung Jang (US/Korea, graphic You may be giving all that up in the name of lot of new information, all of which you must Sachio Ichimura, Yekyung Kil, Hyunah Kim (Haja designer) collaborates for COULD BE as an art studying, which is supposed to put you on the process and try to understand. Nonetheless Center), Seunghyo Lee, Jung-Yeon Ma, Keita director and design advisor. path to success. you are still fresh, naive, and new to this Murano (Shueisha Inc.), Haecheon Park, and Khasoad English That is true, I agree, to a certain extent world, and much of that information hurts and I expect there are different interpreta- you within and stings painfully at times. You Publication Date: May 2016 tions of the meaning of studying as well as have a dream, maybe a big dream, and you Published by Director of success. This is an art occasion and the fact have worries, lots and lots of worries about Seoul Museum of Art, Kim Hong-hee Publisher: Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) that you are reading this means you are some- the unknown world. You want to change 61 Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, what interested in art; hence I can talk about the world, save the world, or lead the world, Seoul, Korea 04515 studying and success from an artistic point and you think you can do it. You feel you are T. +82 2 2124 8800 [email protected] of view. In art, social norms, standards, or invincible. Or, some of you may think you conventions do not mean much, if they mean were born in the wrong place or at the wrong mediacityseoul.kr anything at all. Our job as art practitioners is time and feel confused, so confused that you sema.seoul.go.kr not to follow conventions but to break them, may decide to withdraw from the world com-

All texts and images published in this volume are go beyond them, and bring a fresh perspective pletely; or you think if you could ever end your subject to the copyright of each copyright holder. to a thing or matter. We are experts at doing life, now would be the right moment since you No part of this publication may be reproduced just that and therefore we love failure—that do not yet have substantial responsibilities. without the permission of the authors and the is, failure to meet norms and standards—be- Seoul Museum of Art. cause failure and mistakes provide a much Have You Realized, However, ©2016 Seoul Museum of Art. All rights reserved. deeper insight into a person than success, That Your Pain Has Been Developed and this becomes crucial to understanding into a New Spectacle? ourselves as human beings. I remember when I was in high school I made a lot of mistakes, Again, almost every one of us experiences this and thinking back on them, some still make pain. It’s troubling and you hope it goes away my face turn red. Perhaps everybody has had soon, and most of us hope that this period this kind of experience. passes without any major consequences. 4 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 5

What we are not aware of however is that manga is no exception and there are many often shown us there is no problem that can’t to these situations are more complex and when we are in actual pain, this seemingly productions about girls and guns. The differ- be solved if you throw enough Japanese high numerous such situations and dilemmas are trifle passage of our lives is the very condition ence though in manga/anime, compared to school girls at it.” This is in stark contrast presented throughout the play. This not only that not only generates millions of dollars in Hollywood and other Western commercial to American-style comic heroes who are all convinces us that the main characters had business, but also becomes a point of inspi- productions, is that high school students adult men and women—from Superman and to be high school students but also gives us a ration for artists and the source of numerous play the main role in the spectacles. You are Superwoman to Spider-Man. hint as to why artists like Ameya are drawn to creative works. the protagonists. In Western culture, as you the minds and bodies of high school students. Take a look at manga/anime productions. might have studied at school already, there You Say You Are No Hero? Productions that are either based on a high is a genre called “Bildungsroman” or the Ordinary High School Students Are an In another scene, students present their school or feature high school students like you “coming-of-age” story. These stories deal with Artistic Inspiration. ordinary lives on a blue tarp. This blue tarp are in high demand. For example, among the the psychological and cultural growth and represents everything related to an emer- fifty best manga, as ranked by mangare.net, development of youth. The genre has always While the girls in Coppelion are busy saving gency situation, including temporary housing almost half fall into this “high school story” existed and is well represented but it has people in radiation-contaminated Tokyo, as well as the sea and the blue sky they saw on category, including Melancholy of Haruhi never been perceived as a major genre. But in veteran playwright and artist Norimizu the fateful day. Suzumiya and Death Note.i When I told a anime/manga, you are everything. You are Ameya thinks that ordinary high school Thai film expert about the vast number of the main players in all kinds of settings and students, not super heroes with extraordinary “She turned on a florescent light,” “. . . and took high school stories in manga/anime he said, stories—either you possess extraordinary abilities, best represent the sorrow of the off her backpack,” “. . . and took off her uni- “In the case of manga and anime, all you need powers or are given extraordinary weapons entire nation after the 2011 tsunami/earth- form,” “. . . and took out her mobile phone from to make a film is a high school girl and a gun.” and decide to save the world from destruction quake/nuclear disaster. As you know, a large the pocket,” “. . . and she played a guitar. . . .” He was alluding to the famous phrase, “All (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Valvrave the Lib- number of people died and/or lost families, you need to make a film is a girl and a gun,” erator, Charlotte, Bleach, etc.), or you expose homes, and land in this series of disasters and These are ordinary things that she does, by Jean-Luc Godard, the revered Swiss- a vice or vicious system of society (K, Guilty many from Fukushima still live in temporary just like anybody anywhere in the world. French film director who experimented with Crown, Suicide Circle, etc.), or you symbolize housing. Ameya’s recent play Blue Tarp, in The only difference is that she does all these film to break cinema traditions in the 1960s. something about society, whether it is hope or which all actors are real high school students things on a blue tarp. The scene was over- Godard’s phrase was actually taken from despair. from Fukushima, features the ordinary lives whelming and made me feel like a heavy “What filmgoers want is a girl and a gun” by The recent sci-fi anime/mangaCoppelion of ordinary students who experienced this stone was pulling me down to the ground. D. W. Griffith, an American film director and takes place in Tokyo in 2046, thirty years extraordinary event. At the same time, I thought, if this scene had producer who pioneered modern Hollywood after the meltdown of a nuclear power station In the play, for instance, students talk depicted the ordinary life of somebody older filmmaking in the 1910s;G riffith was talk- and subsequent banning of people from the about a creature-like thing they have seen. or younger, it would have evoked another ing about a spectacle that most audiences city by the government. Tokyo is presented as They do not know what “it” is and are scared emotion in me such as sadness. Perhaps this would want to see. As a pioneer, his ideas and a ghost town but some people still live there of “it.” They say, “If the creature is weaker is because, like most of us, I remember all the phrases carried a lot of weight in Hollywood for various reasons. Three genetically engi- than me I have a chance of winning but if things I did when I was a student and, like and many Hollywood films that you see now neered “persons” (who are immune to radi- it is stronger than me, I could be beaten.” most of us, I did these things under com- follow this tradition. That is why you always ation) are sent by the defense force to search But then, they cannot help but talk to “it.” pletely normal circumstances. A theatergoer see beautiful actresses and battles and fights for survivors. The story seems quite real after If the characters were older, their sense of shared my sentiments on his blog after seeing in Hollywood productions. And, as Hollywood the Fukushima meltdown incident but, again, responsibility would cause them to try to the play. Referring to the scene of a male is a major influence on commercial cinema those who are sent on this rescue mission are save “it” or protect others from “it,” and they student running in place and shouting “Run throughout the world (we call this influence high school girls dressed in school uniforms. would not have so easily admitted they were away! Run away! Run away!” he wrote the “soft power”), film producers in many other The plot has to be this way, as one foreign scared. And, if they were younger they would following: countries also follow this model. Anime/ blogger observes, “because as anime has so not think of talking to “it.” So your reactions 6 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 7

“[The student shouts] to confront the situation students for film workshops and in Korea, Czech filmFair Play (2014), which succeeded Thai media, Hormone encouraged people to that is so enormous and also that he cannot do Kim Ki-duk ingeniously uses high school girls in placing hormonal change at the forefront to listen to nature’s message within their own anything about. The scene hit me. Hit me hard. as a motif in his filmSamaritan Girl (2004) initiate wider social and political discussions bodies rather than rational or external in- As a Tokyo resident who had long benefited to contemplate dominant aspects of life such on the sensitive issue of state orchestrated formation and teachings. And, together with from electricity supplied by the Fukushima as capitalism, religiosity, and family relation- doping. In the film, a female athlete from the all the accompanying comments, feedback, nuclear power station, I felt this cry of a young ships in Korea and elsewhere. The film also former communist Czechoslovakia shaves and discussions on social media, the show student pierce deeply within my body.”ii hints as to why high school girls are so popu- her breasts and legs. She has been given a has given young adults a tremendous sense lar in the mainstream cultural industries by performance-enhancing drug without her of liberty and freedom with its influence In the play the students repeatedly count showing that adult men are willing to hand knowledge, and the hair growing on these spreading far and wide in all aspects of their numbers. They do so throughout in various over hefty wads of cash to them. parts of her body bother her. For the audience lives, including, it seems, even their attitudes forms— sometimes answering a roll call or members, who know that the state is secretly toward political participation. In Thailand sometimes playing musical chairs—as if to Hormones and Moratorium, Which injecting her with the drug, the tiny bits of where the current military dictatorship has make sure that all of them are there. Experi- You Represent hair represent the enormous crime the state started to interfere with school curriculum encing this repeated head count makes our is committing against her as well as against and textbooks, these “Hormone” generation hearts sink even further as it leads us to think A sexologist once told me that adolescence the spirit of sports; it also signifies the power high school students are standing up and about the ones who have gone missing. is one of the most interesting times of life of the state and the implications of the Cold raising their voices. One student talks to somebody on the for scientists like her, as it is the time when War on the human body. Yes, it is a tiny bit. A Sociologically and psychologically this phone—“Why don’t you erase my address? hormones are active and many changes take tiny bit that signifies something huge. A tiny hormonally active period is also called the Just forget about me. Good bye.” It is not only place in the body. This phenomenon, how- bit can change people, change things, explode time of “moratorium.” This is when both that the audience becomes emotional think- ever, has been long neglected particularly like a bomb, and may change the course of freedom and social responsibilities are ing about the ones who have vanished due to in the West with its Cartesian tradition of history—and that bit is the hormone. suspended until one establishes his/her own the accident but also because we all remem- rationality. Hormones, which even in the A Thai high school student-activist who identity. It is considered a necessary period in ber that this is the time in our lives when we tiniest amounts can influence our thoughts recently gained nationwide fame by standing life marked by trial and error as one explores realize we will vanish one day; we realize and behaviors to an enormous degree, have up to Thailand’s military dictator is a studi- different things to fully grow up eventually. that we may also be able to erase ourselves found no place in the history of Western ous young man with plenty of curiosity. He But the term might also be used negatively, from any record, any memory, or simply from philosophy, which began with logos and spends his spare time reading history books particularly in modern times as so many this world by ourselves if we want to do so. ideas and then dived straight into a quest for and loves writing about local Thai history. He youths refuse to step out of this period, afraid The realization is horrible, frightening, and cybernetic co-ordinates of the body and mind. already commands a scholar’s status and his of or averse to bearing responsibilities. But devastating, but at the same time, the idea can The Christian world too has long neglected writings have started to appear in university then, isn’t the present East Asian education be refreshing. or even suppressed knowledge of the very ex- journals. When I asked him what his biggest system also at fault by only encouraging This complex state of mind of an ordinary istence of hormones fearing it could promote influence was when he started his political students to passively memorize information student has inspired numerous cultural undesirable sexual behavior. activism, to my surprise, he mentioned, in- and data without debate and promoting practitioners: the playwright of Blue Tarp, Depicting anything related to hormones stead of books or influential people, a local TV competition, betraying every psychological Ameya, has worked with high school students in the cultural arena is not easy either, drama entitled Hormone. The drama, which expectation of youth by denying them the in his previous projects and another play- whether in literature, art, theater, or film, but depicts high school students who behave and chance to learn from “trial and error” at wright, Oriza Hirata, conducts more theater exceptions can be found in works by LGBT act according to the natural command of their different things? When we think about this, it workshops for high school students than cultural practitioners who are masters of hormones instead of the commands of their becomes more and more obvious why so many any other age group. Filmmaker Hirokazu controlling hormonal levels and turning the teachers, parents, and social norms, became a manga/anime focus on high school students. Koreeda always features young and fresh experience into both creative energy and ac- social phenomenon after it aired on cable TV Perhaps the stories of students flying around, actors in his films and likes to work with tual creative works. Also, take for example the and online. For the first time in conservative jumping over valleys and rivers, hunting 8 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 9 down monsters and bad guys, and saving lives And, as news spread of the store’s imminent its due to our weak minds. We all experience Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang and What? stem from the desire of students to do exactly closure, more and more people flocked to the this when we are young.” “The author dreams You Lemon Bombs . . . that—experiment and get into the trial and shop to place lemons on books.iv about escaping from reality, which is unreal, error of different things. One thing is clear: by The novel, especially its motif of “the sin- unrealistic and imaginative; and this is the American film critic Pauline Kael used the restricting so much of students’ freedom and ister lump,” can be and has been interpreted very essence of youth. That means, students, phrase “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” for one of her free time, society itself is producing young in numerous different ways.S ome argue it is because they are free from responsibilities, film review books after seeing it on an Italian adults who are afraid of going beyond the about social anxiety during a time of uncer- they are more conceptual, imaginative, unre- movie poster. According to Kael the phrase is moratorium. On the other hand, is it really tainty, or general melancholy of youth, while alistic—all in all, they are immature and that’s “perhaps the briefest statement imaginable necessary to move past the moratorium others argue the book is about the author’s the essence of youth.”v of the basic appeal of movies.”viii Using it for as quickly as society expects, especially in own anxiety as he was gravely ill at the time According to Akira Koga, the author of a title, however, reflects her hope that movies modern times when doing so means mainly and had no job, had accumulated debt, and Face of Novel, the short story “Lemon” had can be more than that. Suppressing students contributing to the economic activities of the so on. Whatever it was, because of the lump, been included in over thirteen versions of during a time when they are supposed to be state? Also, in any case what can be done to in his imagination he decided to become a high school textbooks on Japanese literature experimenting has created all the fantasies maximize the benefits of the state of morato- terrorist who would blow up a building. From by the time of his own book’s publication and imaginings of students’ desire, as we see rium? a conservative standpoint, the author Kajii in 2004.vi (The novel is included in junior in manga/anime. And, it has become a specta- was a total failure. He remained financially high school textbooks as well.) To illustrate cle. You are potentially an explosive hormonal A Lemon Bomb dependent on his mother until his death at the how high school students are affected by the bomb, a lemon bomb, and a bomb that can be age of thirty-one, failed school many times, novel, Koga quotes a high school student’s culturally and artistically or politically ex- In October 2005, when a bookstore in Kyoto never got married, never got a real job, and award-winning essay: “Every time I read this plosive too. In her poem, entitled “Teenage,” called Maruzen was about to permanently loved indulging in extravagances, including novel I feel like I can have hope. . . . I feel that Canadian artist and poet Alexis O’Hara thus close its doors, a strange but widely expected alcohol and women. Knowing that his life- the protagonist, Kajii, is willing to live. . . . describes the potential: thing happened. People started leaving style had caused trouble for his hard-working Those things that I get from the novel are nec- lemons on top of books in the store. The mother made him cry. As he died young, in essary for me as I want to change my boring i know you want to tell me you love me bookshop is famous as the setting of a well- the end, he never left the “moratorium” phase. daily life and myself.”vii when you fold forward sweet and sweaty wet known short story entitled “Lemon” (1925) by Out of guilt or as an act of revenge on society Crucial to the success of this novel is the but hold your tongue, i ’m still young Motojiro Kajii.iii In the story, the protagonist he even thought of becoming a terrorist. What choice of a lemon as the key object. It is fra- i ’ve got some running around to do yet (the author) feels a constant pressure against a deviant, what a disaster! Protagonists of grant, bright yellow, fresh and sour—a symbol let’s keep it simple sweetheart his heart caused by “an indefinable, sinister most Bildungsromans usually do grow up. But of youth and then also a symbol of big Ameri- have some fun, hon, and when we’re done lump.” He wanders around the streets of in Kajii’s case the only thing that develops is can capitalism. Also, you don’t know what will we’ll just move on Kyoto wondering about the lump, dreaming his sentimentality and he never does grow up happen if you leave it in a bookshop. If you left sounds good? ix of being somewhere else, and finds a beautiful in the conventional sense. a weapon you would certainly be arrested, but yellow lemon at a local fruit store. He wanders Then why is it that so many people shared a lemon? You may be cautioned—the Maruzen We are curious about what this person in- into the Maruzen bookstore and places the his sentiments and placed a lemon at the shop bookstore usually treated lemons they found tends to do “when we’re done.” Or, maybe lemon on top of some art books. In the end he just like the novel’s protagonist? And, why did on their books as “lost items,” or perhaps a even she doesn’t know just as yet. feels happy imagining that he has planted a so many writers and critics hail the novel as boy or a girl would run after you and hand it When I talk with high school student bomb that will blow up the whole shop. Since one of the most important in modern Japa- to you, creating a chance for new love to blos- activists, I always notice something about the novel became popular and even became nese literature? One reason is that “It’s about som. Or, people would simply think you were them in comparison to older activists. Even part of the school curriculum, many people immaturity—drinking, debt, too lazy to study, crazy. The result could be anything—sweet, compared to university student activists who related and took the trouble to go to the illness due to neglect of health, etc. . . . we sour, or bitter—it could go any way. are usually at the center of uprisings and bookstore and place a lemon on top of books. cannot help but be affected by these bad hab- revolutions in most places, high school stu- 10 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 11 dents strike me as presenting a “let’s just do parents, schools, or friends, which can be that focuses on the self and the self’s own modern age and thinking of how to develop it first and see what happens” attitude when happily shared with those around you. This responsibility to life. According to another further. they engage in activism—thank heavens and is what Prof. Takeda calls “the first page of philosophical giant, Immanuel Kant, modern Modern Western philosophers and thanks to super moratorium, you people are one’s worldview.” But after that, with new man is able to create his own moral rules thinkers such as existentialists have been experimenting. You do not even need theories information and knowledge, a completely new through his own rational power instead of particularly interested in the co-relation or ideologies to drive your actions like your worldview may open up in front of your eyes, having them forced upon him by other au- between cultural flourishing and individual university counterparts do; you do not even and this is what he calls “the second page of thorities. Prof. Takeda believes that in order flourishing. When you think of yourself by need to take responsibility for your actions. one’s worldview.” The second page holds a to truly do so one must acknowledge and yourself (I call this “studying”) and develop You can simply act first and blame your hor- significant power over you. You feel like you understand the form of his/her “self-rule.” thoughts such as affirming a will, etc., it mones—“when we’re done, we’ll just move on, have discovered a totally new world that is so When you are in junior high or high school creates or develops into culture. I have to sounds good?” different from the world you knew before and you usually make friends based on shared emphasize this—“think of yourself by your- it becomes the “truth” and “ideal” for you. You likes or hobbies. “Do you love this food?” “Me, self”—I am talking about you, not as a person Philosophical Goldmine become excited and obsessed with these new too!” “Did you like the film?” “Yes, I loved it!” who passively listens to teachers and parents truths and ideals, just like you do when you This is what Prof. Takeda calls a “critical” and memorizes and repeats what they say, Philosophically speaking this period of your fall in love. Hence when you start to think you dummy, that is, a critical-like exchange solely but you as an actively thinking person. And life is a goldmine. It is truly a crucial period in cannot fulfill this “truth” or “ideal,” or that it based on “likes” or “dislikes.” When you grow remember, when you or your idea becomes which future minds are developed; but also, is impossible to realize, you feel a deep sense a bit older, say when you start college or for culture you become universal and immortal. it is also a period that can provide, if prop- of loss and frustration. You feel like your some students even earlier, you start to use Now you can think of what “success” means in erly examined, a long overdue breakthrough world is crushed. Many people around the reason in your like-don’t like exchanges. Then all this process. in the deadlock of Western philosophical world and throughout the ages have experi- your “like” becomes closer to a critical ex- When the curatorial team of SeMA development according to Korean Japanese enced this in their youth—whether the ideal change. As you proceed, you start to become Biennale Mediacity Seoul 2016 invited me to professor of philosophy at Waseda University, is based on religion to make the world better tolerant of the likes, or even opinions and be one of the editors of their publication, I Seiji Takeda (also known by his Korean name or Marxism to change the world. A youth who ideas, of others. You start to socially exchange wanted to work with you because I thought Kang Sucha in Korea). earnestly wants to change the world questions your self-rule. According to Hegel, human your flourishing would offer us much to The history behind Prof. Takeda’s quest to whether she/he can sacrifice everything to desire is a desire for self-worth—and since consider and many ideas that could turn enter the realm of philosophy, like many other dedicate him/herself to a cause, or whether it it is a value system it needs the approval of into this perpetual thing called culture. I philosophers, started with the phenomena of is worth doing, and suffers. Hegel calls it “the others. Each self-rule and awareness of it thus thought you would inspire art practitioners youth, that is, through a series of events, in- Unhappy Consciousness (unglückiche Be- becomes an important base for winning the even more than you already do if we made you cluding heartbreak, that evoked a sense of loss wußtsein).” The crushed world, however, has approval of others. In the present time, the the point of discussion—yes, art and culture and frustration. According to this respected a self-recovery mechanism and it fights back. philosophy of self needs to be developed more are activities of discussing and exchanging professor and literary critic, those who have This very process of the world being crushed than ever before because this is a time when thoughts and ideas. Prof. Takeda, by the way, engaged in deep philosophical thinking and and then recovering creates an opportunity each desire, different desires, that is compete who thinks philosophy has long become too succeeded in bringing out a clearer picture of for the most sensitive and conscious people to with each other. Your desire clashes with detached from people, also thinks it is impor- the world have all experienced a deep sense discover the meaning of life and the essence somebody else’s desire and it causes all kinds tant to return philosophy to its original form of loss and frustration once or twice in their of their later ideas. of paradoxes; many people feel these para- of forums and discussions rather than merely lives in one way or another. The structure of The period of youth is also a time when doxes and are frustrated. Your life and mind hearing and reading it. this sense of loss and frustration is as follows: future philosophers and thinkers contem- should apply to the problem of philosophy Now you know how your discussion is cru- by the time you finish high school, most of plate on the “self.” One of the most important and time—thoroughly examining the process cial not only for the sake of your own develop- you have a view of the world that is more or streams of Western philosophy in the twen- of developing self and self-rule at your age is ment but also for the fields of philosophy, art, less transferred from or influenced by your tieth century is existentialism—a philosophy crucial to understanding the problems of the and culture. The key is to connect with fellow 12 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 13 critical mates and members of the public The Objectives torship, we see students is laid-back, loves eat- and create opportunities to meet, share, and and Structure protesting against the ing, and doesn’t worry discuss. And, we hope this publication serves of the Publication government’s revision- about her job situation as one of those opportunities. ist interventions with or anything else. Zziru All the best wishes, Together with the staff of regards to the content is a cheerful girl whose SeMA Biennale Mediac- of school textbooks face brightens up like a Keiko Sei ity Seoul 2016, I invited and curriculum. Also, marigold, and Ami, an five Korean high school when I was a high school attentive boy who re- students to take part in student I felt powerless turned to Korea from the the process of creating about the textbooks that United States because our own “textbook” in the school provided be- of his father’s work, is this issue of COULD BE cause of their radiating struggling to re-assimi- as discussion partici- aura of being untouch- late himself. Meanwhile pants and co-editors. able. I want students Junghye, who sits look- To begin with I to be aware and feel ing straight ahead is ar- picked some materials that textbooks are not ticulate about problems that might inspire the untouchable; they are in her society and how to students’ thoughts and beatable and changeable, go about solving them. i. In the other half of the stories, which are based on the ideas and discussed and even “creatable” by The agenda I planned medieval period, etc., even if the protagonists are not modern high school students, they are still mostly teenagers. these materials with students themselves. was as follows: f irst, we ii. Mouseike, “Fieldwork of Theater Culture—Festival/ them. This discussion With this in mind, discuss the five materials Tokyo 2015: Blue Tarp by Norimizu Ameya,” http://d.hatena. became our little “text- a week of activities in I have picked for a casual ne.jp/mousike/20160127. Translations are mine. iii. The translation by Donald Keene that was used in his book,” which will then February 2016 was set “textbook,” then, the book Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern become a point of dis- up in Seoul with the five students propose their Era, Fiction (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). iv. Maruzen reopened its Kyoto store in 2015 with a “Lemon” cussion to include our students. own materials for the campaign, placing baskets with lemons throughout the shop. readers as well as more second and final “text- The legendary shop also offered a discount to anybody who members of the public. I A Week with Five book.” bought Kajii’s book, Lemon. v. Tadao Sagi, “Lemon,” in “Reading Motojiro Kajii,” wanted to use the form Students special issue, Kokubungaku: kaishaku to kansho [National of a textbook for this Literature: Interpretation and Appreciation] 64, no. 6 (1999). *** vi. Akira Koga, Shosetsu no sobo [Face of Novel] (Kagoshima: publication because The students greeted Nanpou Shinsha, 2004). in Korea, as well as in me with a hello. Yanny, a vii. Ibid. Translations are mine. Thailand where I live gentle girl, loves animals viii. Pauline Kael, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Boston: Little, Brown, 1968). and which is currently and wants to become an ix. Alexis O’Hara, (more than) Filthy Lies (Montreal: under a military dicta- animal whisperer. Pooyo Spaghetti Dance, 2001). 14 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 15

The First “Text book” were as she rode alone, what to the train she can go home, the atmosphere of the station the home that she values. The was like, and so on. It would train connects her school and Five materials for the also stimulate discussion on home, two important places first “text book”: wider social aspects of the for her. Sure she has no free- story such as the situation of dom of movement, but freedom One rural areas that young people is a matter of mind too, so. . . . A news story of a local are leaving behind, declin- train service in a rural ing population, and public • I would even quit going to part of Japan. The services getting scarce. The school all together because I authorities decided to summary of the discussion is wouldn’t want to cause any continue operating the as follows: inconvenience. . . . train for a sole high school student. • There is no freedom for this • To me, school is very impor- student. tant, so I would continue going In a small rural town in no matter what method I had northern Japan the popu- • This is not the most efficient to use to get there. lation has declined so dras- way of transportation. Be- tically in recent years that sides, from the student’s point • This story made me think the local train service does of view, if I were in her place, about how education is not have enough travelers. I would initially appreciate important and should not be The plan was to cease oper- their efforts but I would find it taken for granted. I think this ating the service all together inconvenient because there is student values education. because it was running at a no freedom in my after-school

loss, but after learning that life. 1. On March 25, 2016, upon the one high school student was student’s graduation, the station—Kyu still riding the train to go to • Why doesn’t she leave this Shirataki Station—was officially closed school, officials decided to village all together? She has after 69 years of operation. continue the service until the no freedom, and besides, she student graduated.1 I chose is now chased around by the this story as material because media . . . poor her. *** I felt the story and accompa- nying photos, which show a • I was inspired to create a silhouette of a student and story around this! A train a train, a tiny rural station, driver falls in love with her. and an empty one-car train, could evoke the participants’ • If I were she, I would be imaginations (as it had mine) thankful. They run the train as to what kind of life the stu- just for me—education is very dent had, what her thoughts important for us. See, thanks 16 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 17

Two worry about following Manga, any career at all. Yet, Assassination Classroom something unexpected happens. While being I planned to include Yusei Matsui, Assassination Classroom 2 trained by professional (San Francisco: VIZ Media LLC, 2015), 100–104. at least one manga or ANSATSU KYOSHITSU © 2012 by Yusei Matsui/SHUEISHA Inc. assassins and officers to anime because this was kill the octopus teacher, the starting point of my the students start to learn interest in the subject of much more than they high school students. As- would from their normal sassination Classroom is curriculum, and they about students in a class start to discover their called “class E,” which is own skills and talents designated as the worst and gain confidence as class of an otherwise elite well as deeper insight into junior high school. These society. students are assigned to My reason for choos- kill a new teacher, who ing this particular manga is actually not a human among the hundreds of being but an octopus. The manga about high school stakes of this assassina- students, apart from the tion are high—if they fail fact that it is enormously to kill him, he will destroy popular and so likely the earth as he did the available in a Korean moon, and so the govern- translation, was that de- ment offers a reward of spite the apparently ridic- one billion Japanese yen ulous plot the story deals to anybody who succeeds with the current problem in killing him. The mo- of the fiercely competitive tivation of the students education system in Asian is high too. Because the countries such as Korea, students of “class E” are China, and Japan. In this considered the worst, system, skill, talent, and they have little chance of the potential of each stu- gaining success by follow- dent tend to be neglected ing the conventional path while numbers and of a better high school– statistics are increasingly university–job, but with emphasized. Students one billion Japanese yen are divided into differ- they would not have to ent “classes” creating a 18 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 19 hierarchical social class system, and schools make • I think this situation is students memorize data similar to the one in Korea. instead of giving them Here too, they separate opportunities to analyze, Yusei Matsui, Assassination Classroom 2 classes according to the (San Francisco: VIZ Media LLC, 2015), 100–104. discuss, and practice. In ANSATSU KYOSHITSU © 2012 by Yusei Matsui/SHUEISHA Inc. level. the excerpt I chose for our textbook, the school *** principal explains why he thinks “class E” has to stay at the bottom, while the octopus teacher, despite being invincible and not agreeing with the principal, is just an employee so he still has to lick the principal’s boots. The discussion with the students went as follows:

• “Class E” is being laughed at by students from other classes. If I were a student in “class E,” I would be anxious, wondering what we had done to be laughed at.

• It’s so inhuman to be discriminated against like this. We need to help each other. I don’t want this kind of competition in society and a society of egotism and selfish people.

• This story explains the serious topic of education in a funny manner. 20 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 21

Three Play, Blue Tarp

This play is described in the Yusei Matsui, Assassination Classroom 2 introductory text. After watch- (San Francisco: VIZ Media LLC, 2015), 100–104. ANSATSU KYOSHITSU © 2012 by Yusei Matsui/SHUEISHA Inc. ing parts of the play together on video, the five students and I chose the ending scene to be included in the textbook. Our discussion focused on the nature and role of theater and how the lives of ordinary people, in this case high school students, could be transformed into the world of theater. The students watched the video and were impressed that students like them, not pro- fessional actors, presented such a memorable performance.

***

Premiere of Blue Sheet (Blue Tarp), Iwaki Sogo High School, Fukushima, 2013. Photo: Norimizu Ameya 22 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 23

Scene 11: That Day Then, who’s dating someone After this last question, Fumiya, stands up, and starts heard are Fumiya’s voice, From here! Run away! From now? Natsuki takes a chair into her practicing a dance on his own. his kicks on the ground, the here! From this place! Run Natsuki switches places with Who’s not dating anyone? hands. He is muttering something to chairs piled up by Shigatatsu, away! Izumi. Who’s living with their par- himself. and the winds that sweep Run away! Run away! Run ents now? Natsuki: The voice may or may not be across the schoolyard. away! Run away! Natsuki: Who’s living just with their Alright, we’ll play musical heard. A long time passes. Run away! Run away! Run Alright, then, this time we’ll mums now? chairs now! It is as if he is trying to com- away! Run away! play a game of rock-paper-s- Who’s living just with their municate the moves of the As Shigatatasu finishes From here! Out! Run away! cissors. dads now? The students, making a lot of dance, assembling his tower, Run away! Run away! Let’s see, why don’t you start Who’s living with their noise, gather nine chairs in the to someone who is not there. he speaks to Fumiya. Run away! Run away! Run from this end. Go! grandparents? middle, away! Run away! Who has pets at home? and start skipping around Fumiya: Shigatatsu: Run away! Run away! Out! All students stay in their po- Ehm, then, who’s living in them. You twist your body to the I think people, can remem- Run away! sitions and take turns playing Iwaki now? The sound of a whistle blown right . . . ber, things they’ve seen. From here! Run away! From rock-paper-scissors with the Who moved after the earth- by someone. And then you get your shoul- I think people, can forget, this place! Run away! Run person next to them. quake? The ten students rush towards der in, things they’ve seen. away! Natsuki continues the ques- Then, who had a house, the chairs. and boom, you kick the Run away! Run away! From tioning. within a ten kilometer range? One of them cannot sit. ground, boom . . . As the head counting music is here! Run away! The questions are as below, Within a twenty kilometer It is not decided who this will Then your body tilts. . . . played, From this place! Run away! but other questions that come range? be. Fumiya’s movements and voice Run away! Run away! to mind may be added too on Within a thirty kilometer Each time, the student who These are words he came up become bigger in his attempt Run away! Run away! Run the go. range? could not sit takes a chair, with to explain the moves of to communicate. away! Run away! Run away! All students stay in their posi- Who’s living in their own goes somewhere at a distance, his dance, Shigatatsu looks at him sitting Run away! tions and answer “me!” raising house? and sits there to watch the rest but gradually, the description on a chair. Run away! Run away! Run their hands. Who’s living in a temporary of the game. shifts to that of As the music plays, Fumiya’s away! It is carried out, again, in a house? The game proceeds with one his house falling apart in front dance eventually turns into the frolicking fashion. Who’s studying in a tempo- less student at each round, of his eyes. Running Man dance. The Running Man continues rary school building? and eventually, the last two He is trying to dance here in He appears to be running, for a few minutes. Natsuki: Who’s thinking about going remaining students the present, but his body does not move After a while, as Fumiya’s So, who just won at rock-pa- to university? circle around one chair. while remembering that mo- forward. voice continues to resound, per-scissors? Who’s thinking about getting The final whistle is blown. ment as vividly as possible. Persisting with the Running the students return one by one. Then, who just lost at rock- a job? The game comes to an abrupt Next to Fumiya’s dance, which Man, he continues to shout. paper-scissors? Who wants to stay in Iwaki end. continues obstinately, His voice gradually turns into Airi: I’m gonna do a magic Then, who’s a second year after graduating? Everyone leaves without Shigatatsu takes everyone’s screaming. trick. student at Iwaki Sogo High Who wants to move out of saying a word. chairs that were used for School? Iwaki after graduating? Only Shigatatsu and Fumiya musical chairs, Fumiya: Fumiya: Run away! Run Boys? Who wants to leave Japan at are left, and heaps them up in a jumble. From here, the Running away! Run away! Girls? some point? Standing by a chair absent- It looks like an oddly shaped Man! Who’s sixteen? Who wants to be reborn as a mindedly. tower. Run away! Run away! Run Airi: Oh! A flower! Oh! A Then, who’s seventeen? human being again? A little pause. The only sounds that are away! Run away! pigeon! 24 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 25

Fumiya: Run away! Run is a triangle! roll-call to verify survival, was just something like that. away! Run away! they line up as if the broken Fumiya: Run away! Run teeth of a comb were returning As Reina finishes talking, she Hitchi: It looked like it could away! Run away! Run away! to their original place. too turns around towards the be a human being. The number eventually goes back, Izumi: The shape of the beyond ten. and follows the others. Fumiya: Run away! Run window is a rectangle! Everyone who had left, face away! Run away! Run away! All: Eleven! this way from the back of the Fumiya: Run away! From school yard, Hitchi: It looked like it could here! Run away! Everyone calls out the number and calls out. be an animal. of someone who is not there. Yuka: I really wanted to have As they finish counting, they All: Fumiya: Run away! Run a gray cat. begin walking towards the He-y! He-y! away! Run away! Run away! back of the schoolyard. Are you a bird? Fumiya: Run away! Run Fumiya stops his Running Reina: Ah, that black kite is away! Run away! Man dance too, and follows the Reina runs and joins everyone thinking about eating me. others. else. Shigatatsu: I’ll say it as Only Reina stays there, and Everyone, once again, calls out Fumiya: Run away! Run many times as I have to. starts talking facing the front. towards this way. away! Run away! Run away! Fumiya: Run away! Run Reina: All: Yuka: Mum is still watching away! Run away! At that time, of course I was He-y! He-y! TV. not dead, Are you a human being? Shigatatsu: I think that nor did I want to die. Fumiya: Run away! Run people can remember I was just thinking, as every- Norimizu Ameya, Blue Sheet (Blue away! Run away! one does sometimes, Tarp), (Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 2014), 73–85. Fumiya: Run away! Out! Run about a world where I was Yuka: She’ll probably fall away! gone. asleep before me. Not about the reason why I *** Shigatatsu: Things they’ve was gone. Fumiya: Run away! Run seen. Are there any reasons for Premiere of Blue Sheet (Blue Tarp), Iwaki Sogo High School, away! Run away! someone to go? Fukushima, 2013. Fumiya: Run away! Run Would this school building Photo: Norimizu Ameya Momo: Hey, what do people away! Run away! Run away! still be here, or, sleep for? would that black kite be Shigatatsu: They can forget. flying just the same, Fumiya: Run away! Run if I was gone from this town, away! Run away! Run away! All the students return, and if everyone was gone from once again, this town? Izumi: The shape of the roof each calling out a number as a What I was thinking about, 26 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 27

Four a strange kind of relationship Novel, The Children Act between the two. by Ian McEwan I included this novel, especially the part where the The novel is about a judge protagonist judge explains in London who must decide Ian McEwan, The Children Act (New York: Anchor Books, 2015), 10–17. the basis of her verdicts on on many complicated cases Copyright © 1996 by Ian McEwan. All rights reserved. whether to allow the mother whilst she herself is going to send her children to school through a troubled time with and whether to allow the her husband. The story’s hospital to proceed with the main protagonist Fiona Maye blood transfusion, to focus on is a respected High Court what is expected from children judge. She has been assigned when they grow up and also to decide on highly sensitive because it shows us the official cases involving religion, (legal) definition of what is such as the case of a woman expected from young people. in the Haredi community This is the legal definition who wants to send her two and perhaps the reality is daughters to a normal school something else, or, young instead of raising them at people feel pressured by the home in accordance with expectations that are placed the community’s traditions. on them. I thought this would In another case, a boy who make for a good discussion. is a Jehovah’s Witness The students, however, were suffers from leukemia and more interested in how a will likely die without a community’s religious beliefs blood transfusion, which could affect its members, and his parents refuse to permit hence the discussion focused because of their religious on this subject: beliefs. He is three months short of becoming 18, On the case of sending legally considered the age children to school of adulthood, but until then his parents have all the • The world is big and the legal rights to decide his community is small, but the fate. But, Fiona wants to latter is comfortable . . . see for herself if the boy is so if I were this kid I would capable of making his own understand and need both decisions and so they meet the community and the wider at the hospital. Thus begins world. 28 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 29

• I would rather see the wider world.

• I would rather choose to stay within the community. Ian McEwan, The Children Act (New York: Anchor Books, 2015), 10–17. • If I were this child, I would Copyright © 1996 by Ian McEwan. All rights reserved. tell my mum to divorce my dad and I would go with her to see the wider world. Living in the community is like living in a cage. I feel sorry for the unfortunate children in that community.

On the case of the blood transfusion

• Religion is bad, isn’t it!

• If I were this child I would rather choose to die, since the likelihood of surviving the disease is not high.

• I didn’t know that religion had such a big influence on family life. I’d like to think about this influence more from now on.

***

30 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 31

Ian McEwan, The Children Act (New York: Anchor Books, 2015), 10–17. Copyright © 1996 by Ian McEwan. All rights reserved. 32 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 33

Ian McEwan, The Children Act (New York: Anchor Books, 2015), 10–17. Copyright © 1996 by Ian McEwan. All rights reserved. 34 COULD BE NO.2 High ScHOOL Special 35

Five he became an overnight A News Story and sensation among democracy an Interview with activists—he has even been a Thai High School invited to discuss history Student Who Protested with a renowned Thai

against the Education Photos courtesy of Khaosod English historian—and has since Policy of the Military continued to be extremely Dictatorship in active in fighting for a Thailand democratic education system. “Young student removed after protest in front of High school student Parit Paryut,” Bangkok Post, September 6, 2015. *** Chiwarak, aka Penguin, stood up in front of An 11th grade student was forcibly removed from a packed Interview Thailand’s military dictator auditorium where Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was with Parit Chiwarak prime minister holding a speaking after he showed a banner suggesting the subject of banner that read, “Teaching civic duties be removed from school curricula, claiming it could Keiko Sei Thai kids not to be corrupt not train youngsters to fight graft. adults must involve rationale The incident occurred when Gen Prayut was delivering I met the student who held and ethics, rather than Photos courtesy of Khaosod English the keynote speech to mark National Anti-Corruption Day. the banner described in memorizing civic duties. He was ending his speech, entitled “Government Progress on the news article, Parit From the heart of a student Anti-Corruption Reform,” at Centara Grand at CentralWorld Chiwarak, aka Penguin, to Uncle Tu.” Uncle Tu is and had asked the audience if anyone wanted to question him, three times. During the last the nickname given to the Matichon Online reported. meeting he agreed to give an Prime Minister. After the A male youth in high school uniform raised his hand and interview for our textbook 2014 coup d’état, the military showed a banner containing a message that read: “Teaching project despite the fact that government imposed a list Thai kids not to be corrupt adults must involve the rationale he was in the middle of his of “civic duties” (to prevent and ethics, rather than memorising civic duties. From the heart busy examination period. young people from becoming of a student to Uncle Tu.” Tu is Gen Prayut’s nickname. Here is an excerpt from the “corrupt adults”) as well Two security guards invited the student to go outside the interview. as their one-sided vision convention hall but he resisted. The guards then used light of “12 values” of the Thai pressure to escort him outside. How old were you when you nation, and interfered with “Take it easy. He is still young. Take care of him,” Gen experienced the enlightening education by revising history Prayut told security personnel from the stage. moment that first got you textbooks. Seventeen-year- The prime minister asked what subject the student wanted interested in political and old Penguin did not agree to petition him about and instructed authorities to accept it on social problems and how did with the education policy his behalf. it happen? of the military regime The incident stirred panic and curiosity among the and decided to take action audience but the situation returned to normal after Gen Prayut I was 10 years old when I by directly appealing to jokingly asked them if the student was a government supporter. learned about the concept of the officials. In doing so “Hey, security guards, if he is [on the government’s side] take “liberty” after I read about 36 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 37 the French Revolution. I’m particular, content on subjects widest range of views possible Lastly, what would be the not sure if I understood the such as homosexuality, social and not be presented as the “normal society” for you? concept well then, but now I values, and patriotism need to greatest truth. For example, think that “liberty” means be urgently amended. when they teach history, they For me, freedom of expression you can do and think as you The other problem is that should note that facts and is paramount. Based on this like. And when I was 14, I saw when they explain moral truth are different things and freedom, we are able to have many demonstrations by the and ethical issues, and even additional analyses need to be doubts and questions. And red-shirts in which they were historical issues, it’s like they provided. I believe that each when we have doubts and using the words “absolute are giving us commands. subject has its own spirit, questions, change occurs. democracy” a lot.1 So I good care of him.” His remarks drew laughter from the crowd. and if the textbook is well started thinking about what The youth studies at a prestigious school and is secretary- If you were to make a designed, students will for Penguin noted that he still democracy meant. general of Education for Liberation of Siam (ELS), a group of textbook, what kind of sure understand the spirit. has hope for his country We are not a country of high school and university students advocating change in the materials would you include? despite so much civil unrest liberty and democracy, and at Thai education system. He was taken to Pathumwan police You joined the student and coup d’etats because he the beginning I thought it was station for questioning. A group of student activists from I would make the textbook educational reform group feels it’s improving bit by bit. the fault of school textbooks. Thammasat University later came to cheer him. only include hard facts called “The Education of But then I started to think He told police he wanted to personally give Gen Prayut a and would use many extra Liberation of Siam.” What *** that it was the system’s fault letter suggesting civic duties be dropped as a school subject. materials such as small concretely are you guys . . . also the tradition, the He was not sure if it would reach him if he filed it with a state booklets and photocopies that doing? tradition of people looking for agency. include updated materials. 1. In the last decade Thai society has a strong man. That obstructs His letter proposed that to instill anti-graft awareness And values and attitudes We focus on youth been divided into yellow-shirt groups citizens’ political activities. So in young people, the teaching of civil duties in primary and should not be dictated but empowerment, for example, and red-shirt groups. The former are we need to somehow challenge secondary schools must stop. Teachers should teach philosophy discussed. As for the main fighting to abolish the pro-monarchy and against the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and ethics in classes instead. the tradition. textbook, the content should be standardization of students’ the millionaire-turned-politician. He said the content of civic duties as a subject mostly decided through discussions hair styles and campaigning They even believe that a coup d’etat What do you think is told students what was good or bad and what to do as a good and information on the against civil duty study (for was necessary simply to get him out of the problem with Thai Thai citizen. This skipped the crucial step in asking the “why contexts surrounding the facts example, “12 values” that Thai politics. The red-shirts consist of Thaksin’s supporters and/or anybody textbooks? question.” should be reduced. Objective were imposed by the military who opposes the coup d’etat. 2 “In real life, what will they do if they encounter a analysis and personal regime). 2. Thailand is now under a military In social studies-related circumstance which is not in their textbooks? But if they learn attitudes should be noted dictatorship within a monarchical subjects such as history, sex ethics and philosophy they will be able to think and act by as “depending on individual Your protest against the system with limited freedom of expres- education, and civics, the themselves on a case-by-case basis,” the student said. view.” military dictator was a kind sion. The military regime imposes the value system that they believe is good content is fixed, although The student said he came to petition Gen Prayut without of physical performance. for the country but many citizens, reality is changing. They any hidden agenda and called for educational reform. The What do you think of How did you feel before you including students, oppose them. The review the content of textbooks banner message was not violent nor attacked anyone, and so he students’ participatory way did that? 12 values are as follows: once every ten years, and even should not be held. of making a text book? 1) Upholding the three main pillars: at this frequency textbook Gen Prayut’s representative reportedly reviewed the Nervous . . . not worrying the Nation, the Religion, and the Monarchy; publishers are reluctant to student’s petition. Police did not charge the teen nor record the The textbook should be made about getting arrested, but 2) Being honest, sacrificial and patient, amend the content, and they incident in the daily journal. They contacted his parents to be with students’ participation. thinking of what I was going with positive attitude for the common also want to avoid costs. In briefed about what happened before they took him home. The content should include the to say. good of the public; 38 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 39

3) Being grateful to the parents, guard- The five students seemed to • In Korea, many students The Second “Text book” ians and teachers; have been deeply encouraged can learn from him—they are 4) Seeking knowledge and education directly and indirectly; by the Thai student—when frustrated but few speak out. 5) Treasuring cherished Thai tradi- I asked which of the five There were so many problems Hate Comment tions; materials they would include related to the Sewol ferry 6) Maintaining morality, integrity, in an official textbook if they incident, and more students Yanny: I’ve been very active well-wishes upon others as well as being generous and sharing; were in charge of making should voice their concerns on Facebook for the last cou- 7) Understanding, learning the true it, all of them chose this loudly. ple of years, and I’ve noticed essence of democratic ideals, with His story although when I asked that the problem of hate Majesty the King as Head of State; which one was their favorite, • This boy makes many comments has gotten more 8) Maintaining discipline, respectful of their answers varied. The students realize the meaning serious recently. Usually a laws and the elderly and seniority; 9) Being conscious and mindful of discussion went as follows: of education and textbooks. lot of comments are added action in line with His Majesty the to each post, and many go King’s royal statements; • He felt he needed to protest! • This boy knows the beyond just swearing. In fact, 10) Applying His Majesty the King’s How deeply frustrated he must difference between fact and I’ve seen obscene references Sufficiency Economy, saving money have been. truth. In Korea, right now, to sex as well as insults and for time of need, being moderate with surplus for sharing or expansion of some people demonstrate ridicule of someone’s parents business while having good immunity; • What he did was very, very but not everyone who does or elders. I feel that reading 11) Maintaining both physical and important. Human thought necessarily understands the such hateful comments to mental health and unyielding to the is powerful and important. meaning of the slogans on the one’s posts can often be more dark force or desires, having sense of shame over guilt and sins in accor- In history class they only let protest signs. Some people offensive and painful than dance with the religious principles; students memorize dates, demonstrate because they hearing them in person, and 12) Putting the public and national which I cannot agree with. I think it’s cool but do they yet many people don’t seem interest before personal interest. don’t want our history class really understand the true to realize that they might and textbooks to be like that. nature of the problem? I’m not actually be hurting someone. so sure. This Thai student, Also, people who just hap- • In history class in Korea we though, he really understands pen to read hate comments focus on memorizing dates, the problem through and on someone else’s posts and I don’t like it. At Haja through. are often offended too even center (where she currently though the comments are not studies) I can learn more After going through all the directed at them. about different communities above material each student I don’t understand how and their histories. made his/her own suggestion it is that the people who post of material for the second such hateful comments do • In Korea we have a class textbook, which is presented not grasp the gravity of what on morals and ethics. But do in the next section. they are doing because it’s as these classes make us good simple as accepting the fact people? We must think about *** that what I find offensive will it. also be offensive to others. In fact, when someone responds 40 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 41 to a hateful comment with Junghye: I think that smart- Homosexuality tians. My parents taught me cooperative daycare center To me, public school was a something similar in an eye phones may have worsened to detest homosexuality.” instead of a regular kinder- very brief moment when I for an eye fashion, the person the narrow-mindedness Ami Pooyo: During a debate club It was a complete shock to garten when I was three was little. The air in the cab who started the whole thing talked about. We only see meeting at school, my group me. Then I refuted her: what years old. Naturally I moved seemed heavy all of a sudden. will often hit back with an the world inside our smart- had to pick a topic for dis- about those who are born on to an alternative school Even with my answer, the insult against the other’s phones. cussion and write our own this way? Just like we were along with the other kids at driver had to ask me again if I parents. Things have gotten opinions about it. Our topic born to love our opposite my center. Nine years have had caused trouble at school. really serious, and it’s not just Yanny: That’s because you was homosexuality. I knew gender, they were just born passed and I have graduated I had to explain to him that on Facebook. Articles about can do almost anything with this topic was controversial to love the same gender. Try from the elementary and I had always attended an celebrities generate lots of a smartphone. When you but I did not take it very to put yourself in their shoes, middle school levels and alternative school since grade hate comments and some- are young, you should really seriously. I thought I would they must feel so helpless. currently I am being home one up until now. Only then, times the journalists them- be out with your friends just write a few rough sen- The feeling of love is very schooled as well as attending he seemed to understand me selves write about the stars in and playing, but nowadays tences. But contrary to my important to humans and a travel-centered alternative a little. an offensive manner. People everyone is just staring at intent, the subject remained it is one of the most basic school called Road Scholar. On another occasion who post hate comments their computers or their in my mind for a long time instincts. Therefore, it is very Therefore, I have never I went bowling with my don’t seem to understand smartphones. afterwards. It was because of unfortunate some people are been in a formal education friends. We wanted to pay the that their words are hurting one of my close friends, who trying to block this feeling. system in my life. Right now student admission fee since others in a serious way. This Keiko Sei: There is a dif- I thought I knew very well, However, the responses I Korea has a bylaw regarding it was much cheaper than the is why I wanted to talk about ference between becoming was very strongly against got were very opposing. My teenagers outside the school adult fee. The clerk requested this issue. more narrow-minded and the homosexuality. What I have friend flatly denied homo- system. Yes, I am one of those to see our student ID cards in world getting smaller. Many come across on the Internet sexuality as wrong since she “teenagers outside the school order to give us the discount. Ami: Those people who put people say that smartphones on this subject has been believes it is impossible for system.” For 17 years, I had Since we did not have student hate comments online, they let you see and learn about mostly positive. People would anybody to be born that way. to endure discrimination and cards, we showed our govern- are ordinary people like us, so many things in the world, usually empathize with gay Then I questioned myself malicious comments. Here ment-issued youth cards. But but they are narrow-minded. but when you are just looking people and say there was no about what religion was and are two of the worst episodes. oddly the clerk did not accept They think they are right at your smartphone perhaps reason to criticize them as whether homosexuality was One day, I was in a taxi these and insisted on student and others are wrong. They you are actually not doing long as they did no harm to innate or acquired. Now I and had a chance to chat cards issued by a school. We don’t think outside of what anything. I think it’s espe- others. I thought people with wonder what most people with the driver. Like most challenged the clerk saying they already know. Grow- cially important for students homophobia would be a very think about this. people, he first asked me that the reason for checking ing up they may have been like you to travel the world, small fraction. However, which school I attended. I our ID was to verify our age taught to react a certain way meet people, and gain a during the debate there were *** was hesitant at first but did and not to confirm which toward certain people, and broader knowledge and more a lot of harsh words against not want to hide anything. school we went to. But the when they see someone who experiences. Unfortunately, homosexuality. To me, it Discrimination So I told him I went to an clerk would not budge. He is different or has an opinion everyone’s busy looking at was totally unexpected. My against Alternative alternative school. Then asserted that the rule was different from their own, their smartphones, and this homophobic friend said, “I Schools the driver asked me if I had to accept only student cards they don’t know how to react, is a major problem. am absolutely against it. and Teenagers been in trouble at school. By and he refused to allow our so they respond in hatred, Homosexuality should never Outside School “school” he meant a formal youth cards to the very end. confusion, and anger. I think *** happen.” Then she brought public school. I had to wave This bowling alley still only this is the main cause of the up her religion. “My family Zziru: Thanks to my open- my hands in frustration in- accepts student cards and not hate comments. members are devoted Chris- minded parents, I went to a sisting that was not the case. youth cards. 42 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 43

Awareness of alternative Our Voice schools has improved a lot lately and words like brave Ami: I would like to share or cool can be heard once in with you this newspaper a while instead of the usual Protest View, Berkeley High School, California, 2015. article and photo. My friends, words of bigotry and discrim- Photo: Lucky Milo Whitburn-Thomas who I’ve known for eight ination. Still, there are many years and grew up with now prejudices in our society, go to Berkeley High School, which wrongly believes that and they recently had an alternative schools are just Riya Bhattacharjee, “Berkeley High Students Walk Out to extremely violent and racist for those who are academ- Protest Racist Messages on Library Computer: Student dem- incident happen at their ically behind or for those onstrators at Sproul Plaza said they feel unsafe after racist school. It was a hate crime who cause trouble in public and threatening messages toward African Americans were waged against the African school. Just like any regular left on a school library computer,” American community which school, some alternative NBC Bay Area, November 5, 2015, makes up about 30–40% schools have their share of of the student population. “bad students.” However, http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Berkeley-High- Apparently, a document with we suffer these unfair pre- School-Students-Walk-Out-After-Racist-Message-Pops-Up-on- an extremely racist message conceptions on a daily basis. Library-Website-341018802.html and references to the Ku Klux Due to such discrimination Klan (KKK) was found on against students of alterna- Hundreds of Berkeley High School students walked out of class the school website. According tive schools, it has become Thursday in protest of racist and threatening messages that to the document the authors our penalty to obsessively showed up on one of the school’s library computers. Throngs supported the KKK and in- aim to go one level higher of students waving posters and bullhorns took to Milvia Street tended to lynch black people. than public school students. chanting “black lives matter” and “raise a fist if you’re not It was an outrageous attack There are so many things gonna take this” as they walked through Civic Center Park to on the African Americans we as teenagers outside the Berkeley City Hall, demanding an investigation into the inci- who are a part of the ethnic school system or as students dent from school officials. The march—which Berkeley police diversity at Berkeley. of alternative schools have estimate comprised of more than 700 people—ended on the The students took this to overcome in our society. I steps of Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus, a site used for issue to the school author- want to shout out to all those student demonstrations since the Free Speech Movement pro- ities, and they spent time adults and young people who tests of 1964. “You’re the ones who showed us how, UC Berkeley looking for who was behind are prejudiced, “I’m fine!” join us now,” the students chanted during what Berkeley police it. But at the end of the day, described as a “peaceful and friendly” protest. the fact that it had happened *** According to a letter sent out by Berkeley High School at all was a huge problem. Principal Sam Pasarow, “the hateful and racist message” They felt that something had was discovered around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and contained to be done about it, because threatening language toward African Americans. The Berkeley they saw this as a dangerous High Black Student Union tweeted out a screenshot of the mes- threat to their lives. So the sages, which read, “KKK Forever Public Lynching December 9, whole school staged a walk- 44 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 45 out to convey the message to and that they were worried that everyone’s life has a about being the only ones meaning and that they all participating. But unless want to live together free you speak out no one else from racial discrimination. is going to agree with your Right after the fourth period views. I hope this can serve on a school day, the entire as an opportunity for Korean student body of Berkeley students to make their voices High School, about 700 heard about things that people in all, got together 2015” and “I hung a n----- by his neck in my backyard,” among inclusive school culture and we recognize the deep pain and matter to them. and marched to the city hall other racist taunts. School officials announced late Thursday rage that hate crimes such as this one bring to our students of to protest. This demonstra- afternoon they had identified the student responsible for the color, as well as the damaging effects on our entire community,” *** tion was entirely led by the messages. The 15-year-old student admitted to posting the Pasarow’s email said. “Even as we continue our investigation students. No teachers were message, according to Pasarow. The student is facing serious we recognize the need to address the harm that this has caused, involved. consequences, including suspension and possible criminal and to that end we will be spending time planning as a staff I found it extremely in- charges, officials said. about how to support and care for our students.” spiring that these kids, some The Black Student Union decried the messages, calling it Berkeley UnifiedS chool District spokesperson Mark Cop- of whom were friends I grew a “blatant act of terrorism.” “The safety of Black students has lan told the Daily Californian that the screenshot was left open up with, had the power and been explicitly threatened, and we as the Black Student Union on the library computer; there was no actual hacking involved. courage to organize some- demand that this is addressed immediately by the Berkeley Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates and Berkeley Council member Jesse thing that big. They thought High administration and Berkeley Police Department,” the Arreguin—whose district includes Berkeley High School, and there was a problem and union said in a statement. The statement went on to say that who was present at the student demonstration at Berkeley City that it had to be addressed. in the past, similar acts against black students have been Hall Thursday morning—also spoke out against the messages, Instead of just talking about ignored. Berkeley High student Lucy Rosenthal tweeted that saying that hate speech of any kind would not be tolerated in it, they did something. I was students were feeling unsafe after seeing the messages. “As a Berkeley. “I’m outraged at this despicable racist threat—it is also very moved by the story black woman I feel terrified and I feel unsafe,” said Berkeley totally out of line with Berkeley’s values,” Bates said. “These of the Thai student who held High School student Aerin Creer. “They said a public lynching racial slurs remind us that racism is still alive, even in Berke- a demonstration all alone December 9. I won’t be around December 9 because I’m liable to ley.” “Amazing! Way to Go @Berkeley BSU! I wish I was there,” in front of the Thai prime get lynched because I’m black.” tweeted comedian W. Kamau Bell, who lives in Berkeley. minister. I hope that students Students said they were angry that the district failed to in- here in Korea can see from form them of the threat right away. Even though officials found these examples that they the image around noon Wednesday, the principal didn’t email all have a voice. I’ve seen students and parents until later that night. “I take responsi- many complain about things bility for that,” Pasarow said. Pasarow, who was at the Sproul amongst themselves without Plaza demonstration, said he supports the walkout, and would taking action. If they feel that work to ensure a safe environment for students. “This is a hate there are problems in the crime and messages such as this one will not stand in our com- education system, for exam- munity,” Pasarow wrote in his email, adding that both Berkeley ple, they need to speak out. I High School and Berkeley police were actively investigating heard that they were scared the incident. “We are working hard to create a positive and 46 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 47

Something New 70% of high school students pursue higher education, Junghye: I have actually and that means a university brought a book titled degree will not necessarily Apartment Game to talk help us fulfill our dreams about with the students. or guarantee a minimum I read this recently, and income. Maybe it is now more it’s about how the middle important to find a way to class emerged in Korea. My make a living after leaving parents’ generation was able Mr. K is of the generation caught somewhere between the aptitude suddenly shift to the right on the normal distribution university. to make a lot of money by downward pressure on apartment prices and the crisis of curve. Thus, the title “college student” these days means no investing in apartments. In mom-and-pop businesses. This generation’s misfortune will be more or no less than someone who puts his or her life on hold *** Korea, we have a very unique wholly inherited by the members of their children’s generation. and makes acquaintances among his or her cohort groups system of leasing called These children will inevitably watch their only remaining while acquiring “specs,” or various certified documents for job jeonse that does not exist hope—the possibility of inheriting at the very least their par- applications in the future. Of course, it is no small feat to earn 26. If Mr. K were to apply to the 386 generation the same ideas in any other country, and ents’ apartments—disappear as their debts pile up. The great this title. Annual college tuition is approximately ten million about the “middle class” that ap- people were using this form majority of them will never own a home of their own; they will Korean won. For students like P, it is not an easily manageable plied to his generation, it would of leasing to increase their become renters.26 amount. perhaps sound something like wealth. In addition to the Mr. K was not quite through wondering about the gloomy It is clear that P’s strategy in life is already on the wrong this: The 386 generation middle home they already owned, prospects for the future when P entered, and he had to come track at this early stage. As a college student, he is buying class swear that they would never repeat the misery of the people would buy another back to reality inside his coffee shop. P was a college student the time he will spend being a “youth” with a student loan. earlier generation, as they fran- apartment that was being who worked part-time for him. P went to a private university, He then sells this hard-earned time back to Mr. K for the low tically look for an exit strategy. If newly built in a satellite paid for by a student loan, but he had to work to earn his living hourly wage of less than 5,000 Korean won. It seems unlikely they happen be from out of Seoul, city near Seoul and lease expenses. He was an out-of-town college student in Seoul who that P will escape from the yoke of this very strange double it seems that moving to smaller cities in their home provinces this out to a tenant. This worked hard and was well mannered. As a parent himself, Mr. transaction involving his tuition and his part-time wage as would be a rational solution. caused apartment prices K could not help feeling sorry whenever he saw P. It seemed to long as he remains a student. They could take into consider- to skyrocket, and owners him that a college degree these days was not much of a guaran- Mr. K was now looking at P, hard at work cleaning the es- ation the gap in real estate prices of these rented apartments tee for anything, except in the case of graduates from the very presso machine at the corner of the coffee shop. And he asked between the metropolitan Seoul were able to make income few top universities. About 8 out of 10 high school graduates himself, when in history was Korea ever not a class society? area and the rest of the country. If they play the numbers right, enter college in Korea. In other words, college entrance has Perhaps the thirty years of high growth from the late 1960s to without labor. this difference could mean a Now, our generation simply become a rite of passage, shall we say, much like serving the late 1990s, which is when the IMF bailout crisis occurred, wider range of choices for the cannot do this. The in the military. should be recognized as an exception rather than the norm. kind of mom-and-pop businesses generation before us was Of course, Mr. K knew that there were plenty of parents Mr. K and P’s father both probably spent those years dreaming they wish to operate. They could also take advantage of the able to because back then determined to send their children to college no matter what, of living a fabulous life. But starting from around the year cultural lag that exists between you were sure to get a job citing the fact that, on average, college graduates earn 1.6 times 2000, clearly demarcated tracks for winners and losers began what is trendy in the Seoul area once you graduated from more than high school graduates. He was one of them. However, to emerge, and everything went back to its place as before, as if and the other cities, and they university, and you could he did not believe that the advantage in the job market was drawn by the law of inertia. As he was reading the newspaper could use such a gap to develop save the money you earned due to any special skills or knowledge the children acquired in the other day, Mr. K became more convinced than ever of his a niche market. More than anything else, in a city outside of for such investments. college. The fact that most high school graduates go to college own thoughts. According to the article, which dealt with the However, today, more than does not mean that their intellectual capacity and scholastic “2012 national scholarship applicants by income brackets,” 48 COULD BE NO.2 High School Special 49 the Seoul area, they could reduce with their neighbors or because the cost of living. How to put of their children’s education? such a plan into action, however, Wasn’t a sindosi by definition a is not always clear. The greatest bedroom community? These are obstacle is their apartments, the “cities” whose inhabitants which are now thirty years old. are on the move; they ride on the The first round of the mammoth fast-moving tracks of the circu- apartment complexes that went lar expressway around Seoul, up on the outskirts of Seoul ready to grab an opportunity to during the Roh Tae-woo admin- move into the city. istration (1988–1993) now seem Of course, those who pur- to be holding back many people “40 percent of students from the top-tier universities came staircase up to his room, but the words suppressed in his heart chased their apartments prior to like Mr. K. from the highest 10 percent household income bracket,” and will not be enunciated properly and will sink under his foot- the market bubble at the begin- What fate, then, awaits these ning of the 2000s are in the best in the same top-tier universities, “the percentage of students steps and scatter down the staircase. From a windowless room old apartments in the many position to move out, because sindosi (“new city”)? Some who came from the lowest 10 percent household income bracket that is slightly larger than two meters wide and two meters they can afford to sell at low- would say, “What about vertical hovered far below the average.”27 Education was once a catalyst long, he will look out at the world through the Microsoft Win- er-than-market prices. At this extension through reconstruc- for upward class mobility, but now it is becoming a medium dows in his computer. point, they have to realize that tion?” Well, people are used through which class status can be handed down from one gen- He will perhaps wonder at one point if what is inside his getting the last dollars on the to receiving a completely new highest bid on their apartment eration to the next. As far as Mr. K could see, P was the victim in head is not becoming a small cube, like the room. But the apartment in exchange for an old is not as important as getting one. Leaving aside the question this process. wondering will not last for too long, for he will soon lay his out of the market as soon as of who has any cash stashed The problem is that P’s suffering does not end here. The body in the most comfortable position that he can take on a 180 possible. In the meantime, while away these days, who would want gosiweon, or a single room occupancy (SRO) facility, where centimeter-long bed. When he closes his eyes, the room will the market adjusts itself to such to pay for it even if they could he currently lives is in the building owned by our Mr. O, born collapse and enter into it. downward price pressure, those afford it? This question would who bought their apartments at not disappear even if people in 1962. The SRO units occupy the fourth and fifth floors. On the height of the housing market Haecheon Park, Apartment Game (Seoul: Humanist, 2013), 113–116. were promised a bigger unit the one hand, P’s life is on hold while he attends a college that bubble quickly come to realize in exchange for their current makes shallow promises for a brighter future. On the other that now they can neither sell apartment. If these people have hand, he and the people like Mr. K and the SRO facility operator nor hold on to their mortgaged to make contributions for the properties; they will soon learn are fodder for the pyramid system created by the upper-middle- reconstruction, wouldn’t most of the mathematics of depreciation them prefer to sell their current class property owners, such as Mr. O, who, shall we say, push and the virtues of repairs and apartment, add the money they young people like P into the very bottom of the pyramid. When maintenance. would spend on the reconstruc- economic growth reaches a certain limit and property owners tion, and simply move to a newer and some in the middle class formulate a new survival strategy, 27. Myeong-seon Jin, “Seoul, and better apartment, instead Yeonse, Goryeodaesaeng they take the future of the “younger generation” from the lower of opting to endure the not samsip-o peosent ga ‘sangwi 10 insignificant inconveniences of middle class as their hostage. There is no surprise here. From peosent janyeo’” [35% of Seoul the reconstruction process? To their perspective, people like P, ignorant of the full situation National University, Yonsei start with, they would have to they are in, must be the easiest targets. At this point, Mr. K also University, Korea University find ajeonse and live there while students are children of “the top felt a twinge of guilt. they wait for their old apartment 10 percent”], Hankyoreh, March complex to come down and A part-time wage earner and a college student, and a debtor 2, 2012. go up again. How many would and a permanent consumer—what a schizophrenic predica- insist on living where they are ment he is in. Once P is done working at the coffee shop, he will now because of their strong ties probably pick up a cheap roll of gimbap and head toward his gosiweon. His body will be heavy with fatigue as he climbs the 50 COULD BE NO.2 Editorial 51

Junghye: I am studying new could be. What realisti- media and have an interest cally can be done? We don’t in art, and when I read this have to discuss this now, but book I thought perhaps this this could be where we start. I situation is actually be to want people who see our pub- my benefit, because if you lication to think and to share have nothing to lose, you their views with one another can challenge yourself to do so that the discussion does something new. I want to not end here. What we had know what other students was not a closed discussion. It COULD BE NO. 3 think about this. I think the was an open one because now Special Issue of Chimurenga CHRONIC belief that you have to have we are in the process of creat- a university degree to get a ing a publication together. We Chimurenga* job or do what you want to do have plenty of time together has been broken. That’s why I after the opening of Mediacity Chimurenga’s contribution to Mediacity Seoul 2016’s publication project takes the form of a special edition of our quarterly, pan was curious about what other Seoul 2016 to continue this African gazette, the Chronic, which presents new sci-fi graphic kids think about their future dialogue and to generate writing from Africa and its diaspora. and whether they still think a many more ideas about this. The issue is part of Chimurenga’s ongoing project to produce university degree is essential. language that documents and interrogates our present while I’m sure there are many who *** imagining what is to come. It aims to profile creative work that do not share my view, but I challenges the idea of the future as progress—a linear march personally think that this age through time. Our sense of time is innately human: “it’s time” when such beliefs are falling when everyone gets there. Similarly, our editorial project challenges the institutional apart may be better for creat- production of “African Futures” or Afrofuturism. ing something new. Instead, we focus on Technologies of the Sacred. Technol- ogies of Dreaming. A world ungoverned by Western science, a Keiko Sei: Don’t misunder- world that requires improvisation at every moment (there is no stand me, people can think routine in dreams, there is only the bewilderment of the con- like you, that this is a time for stantly new). new things. It’s very encour- And we approach comics and graphic writing as the medium aging. It’s really a good thing that best allows for the super human and alien inside the human through its insistence to visualise the impossible. that people think like that so Contributors to the issue include Hassan Blassim, Phoebe I’m not trying to discourage Boswell, Harmony Holiday, Nikhil Singh, Magdy el Shafee, you. But that’s an idealistic Breeze Yoko, Native Maqari and many more. The volume is view. In reality, it’s much expected to be published in August 2016. more difficult. But to think as you have is always really * Chimurenga, founded by Ntone Edjabe in 2002 and based in Cape Town, is a project-based mutable object: a print magazine, a publisher, a broadcaster, a work- constructive. space, a platform for editorial and curatorial activities and an online resource. So I also propose to think about what that something