4th podcast review

Education is a prevailing issue in Korean society. Topics of conversation between parents are always related to universities and special high school. Many educational industries are actually dominant, earning huge amounts of money annually. However, the problem is that these infrastructures are only centered in urban areas, especially in Seoul, leaving many rural areas under developed. Thus, there are many students in South Korea that resemble Carlos, waiting for a “capitalization,” a term used by Malcom Gladwell. Unfortunately, however, the situation of these students is quite hopeless since capitalization is not implemented in an effective way.

           Obviously, government tries to support these impoverished students by giving out financial aid or affirmative action. However, as Malcom Gladwell has mentioned, these policies are not applicable for entire region of the country. This might be a limit of Korean Bureaucracy. However, regardless of the causes, the government’s effort of capitalization becomes meaningless since there are many students, who are gifted just like Carlos in the podcast, who are not found by the government’s policies. These students remain insufficiently educated, contributing to loss of competent sources for the nation as a whole Gladwell strongly argued that we might find many talented students through the effort of capitalization. The reality of South Korea, however, is that the effort of searching these students is not making enough results to resolve these poor, talented students’ problems. In short, many South Korean students, who live in extremely poor or rural areas, are not even able to grab opportunities to become a “Carlos” at the first hand, a total tragedy.

           Malcom Gladwell also criticized the fact that other social problems that students are facing would also act as obstacles to block these talented students’ futures. In order for a capitalization to succeed, diverse social problems should also be resolve along with financial aid. However, Korean government mainly focuses on reducing rich-poor gap and giving out financial aid, believing themselves that they are attributing in actualizing capitalizations. However, those students will eventually go to good universities and get a higher education, without concerning financial issues, without the resolution of other social problems they face. Fundamental gap between rural and urban areas can’t be solved by mere financial aid. Social atmosphere that these poor students will face can’t be disappeared by simple financial aid system. However, the Korean government is extremely ignorant about other factors than financial issues, making so many “Carlos” with incomplete capitalization.

           Most of society members agree with the necessity of the capitalization. There are many talented students undiscovered in poor or rural areas. These students should benefit from the capitalization, contributing themselves hugely to the nation. However, in the status quo, the capitalization is incomplete. Capitalization is not accomplished by mere financial aid. It is necessary for poor students; thus, it needs to be made. Now, base on Malcom Gladwell, it is time for Korean society to deliberately come out with the resolution. We should all remember that a capitalization is a hope for these students.

3rd podcast review

Smart people sometimes make a really dumb decision. It’s not because they do not know how to deal with the issue. Rather, they try to keep the conventional method, expected by the crowds. People are afraid of doing something differently, especially if the method itself is not welcomed by the crowds cheering for them. As a result, smart people inevitably make ridiculous decision, preventing them from reaching another stage. The vicious cycle needs to be broken in order for an advanced result.

            In revisionist history podcast, episode number 3, Malcom Gladwell introduced the example of one of the greatest NBA players, Wilt Chamberlin, trying to explain why smart people also make dumb mistakes. Wilt Chamberlin was a perfect player, indefensible. Nobody can ever stop him if he dribbles to the opposite side of the court. He was an irreproachable player except one tiny little weakness, free-throw. In other words, if he could manage the only weakness, he could be the ideal basketball player of the history. Obviously, Wilt Chamberlin tried so many different methods to improve his free-throw and finally found out that if he throws under-hand, a very awkward and unprofessional-looking format, he could dramatically increase success rate of his shot. Thus, he eventually changed his shoot form and experienced the apparent effect of it. However, he did not keep up with his under-throw, returning back to his original form. Why did Wilt Chamberlin return to his original method? Crowds, avid fans, did not let him to throw in an awkward format.

            Wilt Chamberlin was already a super star back at the time. He was an idol for his avid fans and a role model for every single player of the league. Imagine that player throwing free-throw in a very awkward way just because to increase the success rate. Obviously, avid fans can’t bear their idol being so unprofessional. Thus, even though Wilt Chamberlin knew a way to resolve the situation, can be described as a smart person, he decided not to keep up with the method, a dumb decision.

            The situation is not so different in current South Korea. Productivity and creativity of South Korean industries are in a stalemate. Employees only pursue conventional methods that are no longer effective in increasing the productivity. Certainly, there will be many smart, intelligent employees who know how to resolute the situation. However, with the same reason of Wilt Chamberlin, they rather choose not to be a smart, isolated person but to be an obedient orthodox. Then, the society lacking productivity and creativity is only left.

            This problem should be change. The vicious cycle should be ended. This process needs courage, not the intelligence. It is true that smart people make dumb decision. However, it is also true that smart people know the fact that it is a dumb decision. What they need is the courage to fight with the orthodox, convention, and social atmosphere. When they overcome these challenges, the society will become a better place to live.