With a dazzling display of a riot of color, blasting music from amps and thousands of people milling about, it is impossible not to notice the school festival when event takes place.
Robert J. Fouser, a former professor of Korean language education at Seoul National University, argues [quotes translated by author]:
“School festivals in Korea originate from Japan since it is during the Japanese occupation period when modernised universities began to emerge in Korea under the influence of Japanese colonisers.” (qtd. in Sohn)
Korean professors, who witnessed and appreciated the positive outcome of school festivals while studying in Japan brought the concept along with them when they returned to Korea. The original purpose of hosting university festivals was to allow students to freely express and apply their knowledge in real situations. However, the purpose has dramatically changed into pure entertainment, with most festivals ending up in downright pandemonium.
Therefore, it is my impression that the time has come for universities in Korea to ban school festivals because the costs substantially outweigh the benefits economically, environmentally and academically. With growing disparity between student welfare and the cost of celebrity invitation expenditure, the purpose of hosting school festivals is deviating from the original idea behind the event. In other words, the celebrity-oriented schedule of school festivals is detrimental to the students’ welfare as the money could be better spent on resolving students’ debts and increasing scholarship programs.
According to Hanyang University news media, out of the 20 million Won provided by the school to the student council, more than half of the amount goes straight to inviting celebrities for spectators’ entertainment. To top it off, the celebrities are paid such a handsome bulk of money just to entertain an audience for about ten minutes. Some might say that inviting celebrities is a proactive role undertaken by the students that will bolster ties between the university and society because news about the event will disseminate quickly among the local people when there is a celebrity presence.
On the surface, the point appears to have some merit, but this is actually one of many points that prove how distorted the purpose of school festivals have become. Inje University news media points out that the celebrity-oriented phenomenon has exacerbated over time, causing a sense of incongruity as it is the celebrity status, rather than students’ performance that is the determining factor of the festival’s success (“True Hero School Festival”).
In addition to the massive economic costs, the environment on campus becomes severely polluted after these festivals take place. In Incheon National University, a janitor complained that it was already an arduous task to keep the campus clean due to insufficient number of janitors, however, during and after the school festival the workload becomes almost unbearable.
Litter can be seen everywhere and garbage is thrown out improperly in all the wrong places, such as washroom floors and sinks. The situation is made worse by the fact that the festival is attended not just by university students, but also by outsiders who have no acquaintance with neither the school nor the students.
Furthermore, noise pollution during the festivals is attributed to loud music blasted from speakers and amplifiers that are turned on for hours regardless of time and place. Mark Andrews, director and professor of physiology at Seton Hill University, stated:
“Ambient noise affects people’s health by increasing general stress levels and aggravating stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary disease, peptic ulcers and migraine headaches”.
Despite the face that school festivals only happen once a year, therefore implying that no major harm is done, we must take into account the time invested in preparations and planning, as well as additional time it takes for the lingering side effects effects (such as hangovers from heavy drinking) to disappear for good. It is inevitable that school festivals have a significant impact on the students and the faculty. Some people might say that the festivals provide a safe haven for students to be free from the stress of employment and studies so it is okay to party loud.
However, it is nearly impossible to generalise that all students feel happier during school festivals. Many juniors and seniors would be more stressed out when there are noisy distractions that divert their attention from their main concerns of job hunting and graduation, which plainly are more pressing matters than school festivals.
A university is, first and foremost, a place to study and achieve an advanced level of discipline; it is not a concert. If there are students who desperately feel the need to relieve stress and are looking for entertainment, they can do so outside of school. This way, other students and faculty members who are trying to concentrate on their work would not be disturbed.
By prohibiting school festivals, economic, environmental, and academic problems, along with health associated ramifications can all be resolved and cured like a shot of panacea. Contrary to the proverbial saying, ‘No news is good news‘, since its inception, university festivals in Korea have never failed to hit the headlines heralding news that are more devastating than the ones before. Such phenomenon clearly implies that the costs far exceeds the benefits. It is high time university festivals in Korea are banned before they trigger major repercussions and any means of remedy is rendered utterly useless.
About the Author
