Korea's Gen Z: How to Change the World

Choi Isu is a young South Korean woman who has a vision of a better world. She believes in communication, community, and education. Measures that will stop the fragmentation of society and isolation experienced by some people today. Much of this worldview has been informed by her own educational experiences. Attending Ewoo High School, she received an alternative education focused on discussion and student-based learning rather than the rote memorization required elsewhere.

I've known Isu for around 6 months and continue to be amazed by her courage, personality, and willingness to venture into the unknown. When we talk about Korean Gen Z and youth, we would do well to remember examples like Isu. At the end of the podcast, you can even hear a hip-hop track we made together with help from Kevin.

"In our present culture, we have become accustomed to putting new wine into old bottles and hoping that we can make the new conform to the pattern of the old. But that which is truly new is not recognizable by the old, and the old becomes a hindrance to the new. If we do not see the new, it is not because it is not there, but because we are anchored to the old, and the old, being repetitive, makes us dull, weary, and insensitive."

Discussion Outline

0:00 Alternative Education in Korea

12:22 University

19:00 Suneung (SATs)

27:20 Changing the World

40:00 AI and Chat GPT

46:00 MBTIs and fortune tellers

1:03:30 Do young Korean people still care about Confucianism?

1:20:20 Love and Romance in Gen Z

1:40:26 Main worries and pleasures

1:58:50 Feminism and Safety

2:09:00 What do Gen Z do apart from go to Cafes?

Isu's column in the Korea Times https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/08/715_354531.html

Korea Deconstructed by David Tizzard

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▶ Music: We Shoot Back (feat. Isu)