(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Feb. 16)

Ugly graduation rituals: Students should refrain from going to extremes

Every February marks the season of graduation for elementary, middle and high
schools as well as most colleges and universities. As is often said, graduation
signals the beginning of a new life with hope and new vision. However, many tend
to miss their classmates, teachers and campus life that they must leave behind.
Therefore, those attending graduation ceremonies are usually mixed with laughter
and tears.
But, it is regrettable that more and more students go beyond what graduation
ceremonies are for. There are reports throughout the country that students
graduating from middle and high schools were engaged in ugly rituals from getting
naked to staging violent scenes. Why do they go to these extremes?
It is understandable that the graduating students usually feel a sense of
liberation from their heavy load of study and the stress of examinations.
However, there are growing worries about their wild behaviors that go against the
spirit of education and the rule of law. We hope that students will refrain from
releasing their pent-up emotions in overly eccentric ways.
Look at an incident that took place in Goyang City, northwest of Seoul, last
Thursday. About 20 senior middle school boys and girls took off their clothes and
posed naked for photos near an apartment complex after their graduation ceremony.
The pictures were rapidly spread on the Internet, prompting police to investigate
the nude ceremony.
The case came a day after a street march by two dozen graduating students from a
middle school in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, wearing only their
underpants. About 30 middle school boys and girls also went on a rampage on a
beach in Busan City last Wednesday, pelting each other with flour and eggs and
ripping off girls' clothes. They even ignored efforts by police to disperse them.
On Feb. 5, a dozen high school students led away seven seniors of a middle school
on Jeju Island to a beach after the latter's graduation ceremony. They tore off
the victims' school uniform, underwear and stockings using scissors and razor
blades, and poured mayonnaise and starch syrup on their bodies. They even threw
the victims into the sea. This ugly and violent ritual was performed only because
the attackers, who graduated from the same school last year, suffered the same
thing from some alumni.
Flour pelting dates back to Japanese colonial rule (1910-45). Students used to
throw the white flour on black school uniforms as a sign of antipathy toward the
colonial rule. But these days, a series of wild behavior and violence after
graduation ceremonies are increasingly replacing flour pelting. More serious is
that students are not taking their illegal acts seriously. Rather, they regard
their extreme behavior as memorable experiences.
What's still fortunate is that most students observe their graduation ceremonies
in a decent and sincere manner. Some hold a ritual to wash their fathers and
mothers' feet to express thanks for their parents' efforts to raise them. And
others organize an event to donate their used uniforms to their juniors. It's
time to find the true meaning of graduation.
(END)

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