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Hyper-competitive classrooms feed the corporate world’s narcissist pipeline
When schools prize individual achievement above all else, they shape future leaders who mistake domination for success.
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Chinese students preparing for the highly competitive National College Entrance Examination, also known as gaokao, in Fuyang, in Anhui province, on May 27.
PHOTO: AFP
Ben Chester Cheong
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On Nov 14, 2024, South Korea fell silent. Construction sites stopped working, aircraft were rerouted from flight paths and businesses delayed opening. The entire nation held its breath for nine hours while more than 500,000 teenagers took the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSat). The state-administered Suneung, as it is known, determines their university placement and, by extension, their entire future.
The pressure on students to succeed has created what experts call a “life-defining moment”, where performance in a single exam determines not just university choices, but job prospects and even marriage potential.
