|
Following the scandal about the fake Yale doctorate degree of Dongguk University Asst. Prof. Shin Jeong-ah, Lee Ji-young, the host of KBS Radio's English language program "Good Morning Pops," disclosed that she lied about having obtained a master's degree from the University of Brighton. In fact, she studied for a year at a language institute and another year at a polytechnic college in the U.K., after graduating from high school in Korea. Nonetheless, she hosted the radio program for seven years and was called the "star English teacher" in the private language institute market. On Thursday, cartoonist Lee Hyun-se confessed that he is not a college dropout, but a high school graduate.
Dr. Paul Ekman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, is an expert at discerning when people are lying by their facial expressions. "It's very difficult to invent a lie," he says. Liars unknowingly change their expressions, gestures and voice because they have to think through their attempt to pretend things, overloading their thoughts and making control of emotions difficult, Ekman says. Repeating the same lies for a long time can be unbearable for some people.
"In the first interview I had in my life, I lied that I was a college dropout, which has since been my unescapable burden for 25 years," Lee Hyun-se said. "But now I intend to acknowledge my burden and overcome it." Lee has accumulated achievements and fame with his cartoons. Few would inquire into his formal schooling while looking at his work. Nonetheless, he said he was a college dropout, perhaps out of "formal schooling complex," arising from the social atmosphere in which one finds it hard to be treated with respect unless he or she has a decent academic background.
"Our universities are status indicator institutions issuing status certificates dubbed diplomas," said a professor. Importance is given to formal schooling, not scholastic ability. In such a society, college students don't need to study hard. If how we are treated is determined by which universities and departments we have graduated from, it's pointless to skip sleep to develop our minds.
"Shin Jeong-ah is not the Hwang Woo-suk of the arts circle, but the Seo Tae-ji of the arts circle, a middle school graduate," opined a netizen. Talented as she may be, this netizen suggested, Shin had to lie because she was otherwise unable to overcome the barrier of formal schooling. Of course, many diploma holders lack real ability. When one's real ability is not recognized because he or she possesses no diploma, it's a sign of a hierarchical society based on formal schooling. One should not lie under any circumstances, however. Should real ability be decorated by false school pedigrees, people would not trust each other.
This column was contributed by Chosun Ilbo in-house columnist Han Sam-hee.
|
