Going to School with Grandmother

April 30, 2019 2:01 PM

Many small, rural schools in South Korea are in danger of closing due to low birth rate and rapid industrialization. One community had a novel idea: running out of children to enroll, Daegu Elementary school enrolls women such as Mrs. Hwang, aged 70, who never had the opportunity to attend school as a child. (slNYT) Non NYT Link (ABS-CBN News from the Philippines). Like many first graders on their first day, Ms. Hwang cried. But these were tears of joy. "I couldn't believe this was actually happening to me," she said. "Carrying a school bag has always been my dream."
posted by Gray Duck (13 comments total)

What a fabulous article. So many emotions. I'm happy for them, while also sad that they've had to wait so long for this opportunity. Sad that their villages are dying and this is the only way to help preserve their schools. Shock that the birthrate is under 1 child per woman.
posted by hydra77 at 2:31 PM on April 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

Second link: “I am going to run for president of the village women’s society,” [Hwang] said. “People used to ask me to run, but I always declined. It’s a job for someone who can read and write.”

Between the dust and the onions, I think I'll go for a walk.
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:44 PM on April 30, 2019 [21 favorites]

Hi happy thought for the week, I love you
posted by Hermione Granger at 3:29 PM on April 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

This is lovely. Not unlike efforts elsewhere to place nursery schools and retirement homes in adjoining buildings, and having programming that brings both sides together. Everyone benefits.
posted by thenormshow at 3:31 PM on April 30, 2019 [7 favorites]

This was so uplifting! I loved the little video of them dancing!!
posted by greermahoney at 4:02 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Just in case anyone else is momentarily disoriented by the school name, the "Daegu" in the school's name is Daegu-myeon of Gangjin County, not the enormous city some hours to the east and north.

Although it understandably comes in for only glancing mention in the article, Daegu-myeon was a major center of celadon production, and today it is home to both the Gangjin Kiln Sites and the Goryeo Celadon Museum.
posted by shenderson at 4:17 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

For those interested in this general topic, a good Korean movie that also involves adult literacy in a depopulated rural school is My Teacher Mr Kim (선생 김봉두). Netflix used to have it but has apparently jettisoned all of their Korean titles; not sure where a non-ROK viewer might find it these days.
posted by shenderson at 4:19 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

There was a grandmother who lived across the street from my wife who didn't know how to read. I say grandmother because my wife was friends with her granddaughters growing up. We ran into her on the bus one day and she told us that she was going to school to learn how to read, I assume this was at an adult school not one mixed with children. She was so excited and happy to be going. My wife was really happy and proud of her too. At that point in her life she didn't need to read as she had gotten by for 70+ years without knowing how to but she still had the desire to learn. I could imagine in a crueler or poorer place she'd never get the chance.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:04 PM on April 30, 2019 [7 favorites]

> Just in case anyone else is momentarily disoriented by the school name, the "Daegu" in the school's name is Daegu-myeon of Gangjin County, not the enormous city some hours to the east and north.

Thanks for that clarification. I've been to Daegu city, so the description of Daegu as rural threw me for a moment.
posted by ardgedee at 6:36 PM on April 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

Beautiful, just beautiful. The photos are fabulous! I loved the one of all of them on the school bus.

I help adults returning to school figure out what classes to take, and I had a woman in her fifties the other day break down in tears of joy because she was so happy to be coming back and finishing school after having had to drop out decades ago. She was so excited I can't even tell you. I started tearing up too, I was so happy for her. Now, this person knew how to read, but I've also had students in their fifties who could hardly read at all and they come back for literacy help. It's profoundly moving to watch their learning journeys.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 3:12 AM on May 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

This is wonderful.
posted by quaking fajita at 4:33 AM on May 1, 2019

Reading these kinds of things always makes me reflect on how some societal changes can feel so fast. If you had asked me I would have guessed that South Korea was basically a universally literate country, and indeed South Korea's literacy rate is apparently 97.9% -- male 99.2%, female 96.6%. But apparently this rate was only 22% (!) in 1945, though 25 years later by 1970 it had hit 87.6%.
posted by andrewesque at 6:19 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I nominate this for "Most wholesome FPP of the month".
posted by Harald74 at 3:56 AM on May 2, 2019 [1 favorite]