This brief news clip from CNN, Why All of South Korea Went Silent, takes an amused, lighthearted tone to a Korean cultural phenomenon that strikes us in America as literally foreign--a 9-hour exam for which students begin studying as infants while still in the delivery room and which will determine their future college, occupation, and (to the extent that it elevates or confines their social class) their future spouse.
I understand why we might look at all of this with amusement. Police escorts to an exam? Grounding all flights? No squeaky shoes in the classroom? But there is a disturbing side to this story as well. What about the kids who don't do well? Not only have they brought shame to their parents (another mostly foreign concept to Americans), but they think that they've doomed themselves to a lifetime of mediocrity.
When I first began teaching Bible study to Korean-American high school students back in 2007, on the very first day I was peppered with questions about not only high school, but also college. These were incoming high school freshmen! It was the first Sunday of JULY before their freshmen year! I remember telling them something to the effect of: "Listen, and I know your parents will be upset with me for telling you this, but it doesn't matter where you go to school. You can get a good education anywhere if you apply yourself."
I recently relayed this anecdote to someone who disagreed with it. He happens to be an astrophysicist at Columbia. His point was that if you want to work in the upper echelon of a particular field, then you need to attend a school recognized for its expertise in that field. So let me qualify my words of wisdom to those students by saying that if you want to work for Goldman Sachs (are they still in business?) or one of the Big Six accounting firms (or is it the Big Five or the Big Four now?), a Harvard MBA probably needs to be on your resume. But if, like me, you believe that the goal of a college education is not solely job training but producing well-rounded, civic-minded individuals with an understanding of history and an ability to express themselves, then don't put undue pressure on yourself to conform to someone else's educational standard. You don't need it.
This sermon was delivered at Yale Divinity School in 2020 for the class Sacred Moments in African-American Preaching. I begin with a simple observation. Of the four canonical gospels, Matthew is the only one that ends with the words of Jesus. Mark, Luke, and John all end in the narrator’s voice, but Matthew closes with the words of Jesus. Mark ends at the tomb, with the women fleeing in terror and amazement. Luke ends with the disciples in Jerusalem, praising at the temple. John ends on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, with a dialogue between Jesus and Peter. And here Matthew ends with the disciples in Galilee, meeting Jesus at the mountain where he had directed them. Matthew gives Jesus the last word. But before we get to those last words, there are three other words in this passage that I call to our attention because I find them astonishing. Let me read verse 17 once more. “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some do...
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