Jaesusaeng () is a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

term for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

students who decide to spend a year studying to re-take the

College Scholastic Ability Test The College Scholastic Ability Test or CSAT ( ko, , ), also abbreviated Suneung ( ko, , ), is a standardized test which is recognized by South Korean universities. The Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) administers the annual ...

, hoping to get a higher score and enter the university of their choice. Attending university has a major impact on their future careers. The equivalent term in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

is ''

rōnin A ''rōnin'' ( ; ja, 浪人, , meaning 'drifter' or 'wanderer') was a samurai without a lord or master during the feudal period of Japan (1185–1868). A samurai became masterless upon the death of his master or after the loss of his master's ...

''.

Social context

Gaining entrance to the extremely competitive and prestigious

SKY universities SKY is an acronym used to refer to the three most prestigious universities in South Korea: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. The term is widely used in South Korea, both in media and by the universities themse ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

requires that some students become ''jaesusaeng'' after an initial less-than-stellar performance on the national exam. Korea is "prepossessed by social status and reputation," and a SKY education is the main way to gain

social status Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. Stat ...

. Generally, the public education system is not enough to prepare students for the exam, so most students attend after school lessons at various ''

hagwon Hagwon () is the Korean-language word for a for-profit private institute, academy, or cram school prevalent in South Korea. Although most widely known for their role as "cram schools", where children can study to improve test scores, hagwons actu ...

'' (

cram school A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schoo ...

s). The fierce competition for enrollment at prestigious universities is called "entrance exam war" ().

Effects

The

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

from constant study and limited social life as a student have contributed to an increase in

suicide in South Korea Suicide in South Korea occurs at the 12th highest rate in the world. South Korea has the highest suicide rate in the OECD. In 2012, suicide was the fourth-highest cause of death. The high suicide rates compared to other countries in the devel ...

; for children aged 10 to 19 years old, suicide is the second most common cause of death in the country.

Related term

When a student fails to earn an adequate score over 3 or more years, he may be derisively referred to as a ''jangsusaeng'' () a

play on words Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...

from the expression "Please live a long life" said to elders (장수 하세요). Beginning around 2010, the word "N susaeng" () is in common use, wherein the

Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...

''jang'' (長, meaning "long") is replaced with the Latin letter N, which represents the undefined number of times the student is taking the test.

References

Academic pressure in East Asian culture Education in South Korea Korean words and phrases Neologisms Students in South Korea South Korean culture {{korea-stub

Social context

Effects

Related term

See also

References