With the recent passing of four KAIST undergraduate students over a brief, three-month period, the question on everybody's mind is: why did they make that fatal decision? Students and professors of KAIST, not to mention politicians and journalista have all expressed their own views. Now e examine the reasonings offered by The KAIST Herald.

Pro: Problem Lies Beyond KAIST
By Jae Young Byon

The recent suicides of four KAIST undergraduate students have come as a huge shock to the nation. As one of Korea’s greatest universities now faces a period of instability and chaos, both the press and neutral bystanders must be wondering what exactly it was that went wrong and resulted in these tragic deaths. There are many potential reasons that have been suggested in an attempt to explain the four students’ decisions to take their own lives. Some have claimed the current scholarship program introduced at the beginning of President Nam Pyo Suh’s appointment at KAIST to be a leading cause; the system that grants full tuition fee exemption only to those who surpass the high GPA mark of 3.3 subsequently applied the burden of both paying tuition fees and a feeling of inferiority to all the rest. Despite the media’s (and many of the students’) tendency to point out such reasons in attempting to explain the suicides, however, it must be noted that the true reasons for the recent calamity lie much deeper at the very foundations of modern Korean education and society, both of which KAIST itself has no influence over.

Before broaching the true root of KAIST’s troubles, we must examine the other claims that have been put forth and evaluate just how much of a factor they were. As for financial trouble from tuition fees: it may have been troublesome, but surely not dire enough to compel suicide. Unless the students’ minimal welfare or that of their families were at stake (and surely, any sensible student talented enough to gain admission to KAIST and needing financial support would have secured an external scholarship or given up KAIST altogether), the tuition fee system cannot be responsible for their suicide. If the students had chosen to ignore their financial limitations in choosing to attend KAIST over other, less costly universities, it is irrefutably their fault for having taken such foolhardy risks. The final alternative could have been for these students to drop out of KAIST; life will not “come to an end” as a result and it seems only right to ask all students to accept this fact. Life may not always be fair, but KAIST is blameless in taking responsibility for the students’ decision.

So if not the reasons stated above, what is the real reason for the crisis at KAIST? Simply put, it is the effects of a deleterious educational system that the Korean people have come to accept and abide by. Just one look at what Korean students must endure to attend a good university and any neutral observer would notice the extreme levels of stress and the physical and mental burden that Korean middle- and high school students are exposed to. Not only must each student eventually come to treat his fellow students as rivals in a do-or-die race for academic supremacy, they must also dedicate virtually their entire childhood to the singular purpose of outdoing each other. It’s not for the sake of self-betterment or the love of knowledge, and it sure as hell isn’t fun. To have to go through hours upon hours of school classes and tuition, and solving hundreds upon hundreds of problems every day to become that perfect exam-solving machine is not something that any child should have to endure.

Such a burdensome lifestyle is bound to wear out these students’ minds and bodies, a logical corollary of which is depression and this is what affected some of the students who recently passed away; their fragile minds, already battered and bruised by years spent at competitive schools, finally could take no more and gave up. Would these students have made the same fatal decision had they lived healthier, less stressful lives? I doubt it. Some have blamed KAIST’s “stifling” atmosphere and its competitive nature, but competition is something that everyone must face in their adult lives and KAIST’s environment prepares its students well for this task. It is not KAIST that kills its students with pressure, but rather the school years before that leave students disenchanted by life and ready to give up at the most crucial stage of one’s development.

For KAIST and every other Korean university to avoid such a tragedy in the future, the nation’s education system must be reformed in a way that relieves the students of such excessive pressure, leaving them capable of handling the pressures of college life and grow up to become competent, balanced individuals.

Con: School Policy Reform Dire
By Ji Ha Kim

KAIST has made a terrible, tragic start to the year 2011. In the past four months, four students and one professor took their own lives, creating havoc in the school and the rest of the country. There is no need to emphasize that KAIST has serious problems; this has become clear. But what exactly are the underlying causes that make the KAIST students so unhappy?

Before looking into what the problems are, it is of significant importance to identify the goals a school should have. An educational institution should guide its students in pursuing their academic interests, and provide an appropriate environment to do so. Now what of the academic policies that KAIST has adopted?

Every school has a grading policy that, to a degree, separates the students between those who excel and those who do not. Although this is a widely accepted policy, KAIST gave a twist to this system so that the tuition fee for a student linearly increases as his GPA gets lower. Although there are some students who genuinely need the scholarship to attend the school, many students are well off enough to pay the tuition just as they would if they were attending another university. Then why has this policy become such an issue? The GPA-oriented tuition fee system has given the students the idea that they are being punished for not being as intelligent as their peers. The increased competition has turned what should be a pure pursuit of education into a never-ending rat race of who can get the higher GPA. Consequently, students will always feel inferior to others even if they are not necessarily at the bottom of the GPA barrel, because no matter where one stands in the academic hierarchy there will always be someone above one’s level.

Also, KAIST does not give its students any time to pursue extracurricular interests. The university puts great emphasis on educating its students to become global leaders in the future. But if students have no choice but to invest all their time in studying, how do they develop other qualities, such as responsibility and leadership? Many students have enough weight on their shoulders due to the unfathomable workload that they do not have time to join clubs to actively pursue other interests whether they are music, art or sports. Some might even go so far as to say that participating in clubs is the highlight of a college experience. To an extent, this is true: it is in clubs where one can learn most on how to compromise with others, handle difficult social situations and represent a group. Focusing on one’s studies and developing patience and stamina is indeed crucial, but it is also important to build character and standards of humanity.

One of KAIST’s goals is to conduct all courses in English “to enhance students’ global competitiveness and provide improved education to international students,” as stated in their website. However, many of the professors, though not all, have a hard time teaching in English. Because they are not comfortable with the language, the quality of teaching is reduced. Korean students who are not fluent in English are stressed because they have a hard time understanding the material due to the language barrier. It is true that students knew before coming to KAIST that the courses will be taught in English, but because the professors themselves are neither fluent, even those students who feel comfortable with English have trouble understanding. KAIST’s objective of becoming a global university thus failed as the policy has created an inefficient method of education.

Referring back to what a school’s role should be to its students, it is clear that KAIST does not fulfill its duty as a school. Perhaps one can argue that the fault is with the student for choosing to come to such a competitive school. After all, KAIST is a renowned institution that many aspiring high school students set as their goal. But it’s hard to find school pride in those who are attending the school; this is because the students are unhappy and feel mistreated by the school system. Academic policies aside, even aspects such as horrible food quality and the stress of attending class even during the festival season add up to the deterioration of student welfare.

At this point, there is no denying that KAIST is in dire need of structural reform. Purely idealistic goals that exist to solely better the school’s reputation by producing academically competent students must be abandoned. It is time to accommodate to the students’ needs.