I have been teaching medical English for 20 premedical students in Jeju National University, School of Medicine for more than 3 months. After my article of Four Kinds of Kindness Discovered in Jeju on The Islander a few weeks ago, this is my second and last commentary before returning to Los Angeles in a few weeks. It is not as comfortable writing constructive criticism than praise, but I am compelled to do so. I am 67 years old, and Heaven reminds me that I may never have another chance. The four negatives I would like to comment on are excessive pressures to excel academically, higher suicide rates, high smoking rates, and perilous roads for pedestrians.

I myself went through tremendous stress in my youth to pass entrance exams. I failed the middle school exam. Subsequently, I studied anxiously ​and tirelessly to successfully pass and excel in my high school and college entrance exams. The stress for Korean youth has intensified in the past 40 years, resulting in higher adjustment difficulties and suicide rate in teens. It is important to have great education, but trying to be too good is against the Doctrine of Middle, one of the Korean virtues. Competition is not good if it is too heated to be moral, our grandfathers admonished. 

This leads to my second point. I am astonished to learn that our rate of suicide is the highest among OECD member countries; 43 incidences daily that are recorded. Including unrecorded incidences, an estimated 100 lives lost daily! We became rich economically, but the People are too unhappy to carry on their lives. We rank 32nd in happiness and 45th for sharing in the world. “Heaven helps those who help others,” I was taught at a Jeju University lecture at the Ara Muse Hall.

Third, 47% of Korean adult males are smokers and 7% for females; the former is going down, but the latter is increasing. Compared to 18% smokers in the U.S., it is historically high and the highest among OECD members. The consequences of smoking come later in life with higher rates of emphysema, lung and many other cancers, and heart disease. Education and public policy are needed for better health in later life, I opine. 

Lastly, as I use city buses to travel around Jeju, I have become much more wary when I cross streets. Motorists seem to have the right of way over pedestrians. As a pedestrian in Los Angeles, I was much more confident that drivers and motorists would watch out for me and slow down. Being careful and mindful of each other on Jeju with honking to announce our positions may avoid serious accidents. I understand that the roads are not wide enough to navigate here, and there may not be enough parking spaces to accommodate many cars. However, to keep the right of the way in traffic will help our citizens feel safe and comfortable.

In conclusion, the pressures for examinations in our educational system, high suicide rates among teens and the elderly, higher smoking rates for Korean adult males, and our motorist-first roads are the four kinds of unkindness that I have discovered during my 4 months stay in Jeju. All are remediable by good public policy debates on education and more effective education to prevent suicide, decrease smoking, and improve demeanors of our motorists. I have hope in Koreans, like Gabriel Marcel’s saying: Improvement begins by recognizing the weakness and valuing our hope for better life. I send my best regards to all of my friend-teachers and students at the Jeju National University.