Chae Won Kim / first draft / Wed 34

Suffrage is a political right for everybody in democratic nations, but turnout of young adults shows always almost the lowest in Korea. Political indifference is a warning sign in social. University students have to cast a vote to improve their political opinions, to spread political interest in their ages, and to express their hardships to politicians.

First, experiences of casting a vote would help university students set up their own standards in political issues. Casting a vote is not just an act of stamping on the paper. It includes deliberation of pledges and candidates before the casting, watching the results, and analysis of the effects of that choice. Those would be building blocks of young adults who have to make their own political decisions in future lives.

Another reason why university students have to vote is that they can arouse political interests in their ages more easily. University students gathers regularly and discuss social problems often in their campus. Those can be chances to open an agora for political debates. University students can be leaders who convince other young adults who consider the temporary holidays for elections just for their short vacation.

Finally, casting a vote can change the very political fields to work in different ways. Many of young adults in Korea are not interested in political stuffs. It is because they think that their participations do not have any approach to the politicians. But casting a vote is the expression of a citizen's opinion and it can be a suggestion of active solutions for social problems that young generations are facing.

In conclusion, university students have to participate in elections as voters for their individual development, social ethics, and solutions of their real problems. Surely, someone would not be able to get the polling space because they have to be at their field even that day for their earning. However, it is not a pressure to give up a livelihood, but an offer to get a right of young generation. Because, there is nothing to get without an effort.

 

Choi Jae Yoon / First Draft / Wed 34

Let's vote, young people.

 

Turnout of young voters is much lower than that of older voters. Reasons for young voters not voting are various. They might think voting is bothersome and doesn't make a difference, or just they are not interested in politics. But reasons people 'should' vote are also various. They are like 'voting is the important right in democratic nation,' 'voting is not only for our, but also next generation' and so on. However, young voters don't feel the necessity of voting keenly with those reasons. Then, what reasons attracts young voters?

 

First, young voting can lead to cheaper education fee. The cost of education is expensive in Korea. Especially, college tuition is heavily expensive. Students who can't afford to pay it get themselves into a debt by education mortgage even before getting a job. Many politicians pledge to reduce the college fee in each election, but nothing has changed. This is not because the government has no money, but because there's no proper policies. If the turnout of the young voters is higher and participation is more achieved, politicians surely try to make it.

 

Also, it is for young generation getting a job. The Korea youth unemployment rate in February 2016 is 12.5% and it hit a 30-year high. This means 1 out of 10 can't work. Of course, there were many election promises and policies but still 520,000 young men are looking for a job. So youth should participate in politics and watch politicians work for them as well. By doing so, they introduce a bill and make economic policies to help youth get a job. Furthermore, it can lead to economic growth.

 

There was a 20^th general election on April 13^th in Korea. According to the Central Election Management Committee, the whole turnout is 58%, which is 3.8%p higher than 19^th election. This was because the turnout of people in their twenties rose by 4.4%p, whereas people in their fifties and sixties didn't show such rise. (Turnout of those in their fifties and sixties is much higher, of course.) Some experts said that this was due to hardships that younger generation has felt and it results in the minor party winning more election than the ruling party. The more young people vote, the better place for young people will be made. Every vote counts. Let's vote.

Dongwon Kang/First Draft/Wed 3-4

Title: The Dark Side of the Smartphone Syndrome

Topic: Smartphone Addiction

Have you ever heard of 'Nomophobia'? the word is referred to as no-mobile-phone phobia which is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Today, most of people in the world use smartphones. It is making our life more convenient than ever before and it has in fact become an indispensable part of our life. However, some concerns about side effects of smartphone overuse is also gaining momentum these days. Problems that arise from smartphone addiction can be divided into 3 main categories: Health, Social life and Money.  

First of all, excessive use of smartphone can inflict serious damage to our health both physically and psychologically. Exposure to the blue light that is emitted from smartphones can destroy our eyesight and we can also suffer from back or neck pain when we hunch over our devices. Furthermore, using smartphones before bed can disrupt sleep and cause insomnia because it suppresses hormone melatonin that helps us sleep well. Smartphone overuse can also cause anxiety, depression and loneliness when people obsessed with smartphones are separated from their device. In short, spending as much time on smartphones can badly affect our physical and mental well-being of our life.

Next, smartphone addiction can also destroy our relationship in reality. It is said that social media such as Facebook or Twitter help us strengthen our personal relationships. However, if we get too obsessed with how our life looks to others through smartphones, we will have difficulty sustaining relationships with others because we may neglect our real world and focus more on our SNS-based relationship. Moreover, we get less chance of having face-to-face conversation with people in reality if we become overly attached to the digital world. this eventually makes us lose connection to the real world and depend more on the virtual reality. Thus, excessive smartphone use can be an obstacle in forming meaningful relationship with others in the real world.

 Finally, spending so much money on smartphones can also be the problem of smartphone addiction. smartphone companies are constantly working on new versions of smartphone to raise their sales and a number of people change their smartphones within a short period of time to try the latest model. If this becomes a routine, they may end up wasting a lot of money. In addition, people get overcharged when they access Internet for large amount of time and they also tend to charge their money to buy games or other application on impulse just for their pleasure. To wrap up, obsession over smartphone can lead us to unexpected budget cuts.

 

To summarize, adverse effects of smartphone overuse can be categorized into 3 types. Spending excessive amount of time on smartphones can harm our health, hinder us from having interactions with people and tempt us to spend lots of money on it. therefore, we should reduce our time spent on smartphones and pay more attention to the real world.  

Eunsol Lee/ First draft/ Wed 3-4

"Underbelly of Globalization"

 

 

 Trade barriers are becoming a redundant concept, constraint on time and distance is being conquered. Moreover, mankind reveals their goodness through extensive international assistance, and abundant cultural exchanges are contributing to the splendor of civilization. Advancement in technology, medicine, knowledge, and so much more is uncomparable to any progressive time. Arguably, we benefits from this so-called "Globalization" in many ways, even unawarely. However, there are drawbacks, shortcomings to this extremely advantageous phenomenon and those could be presented with three apparent aspects.

 A growing inequality can be one of them, and the intensified competition is deepening this injustice. Not only an economic polarization, a gap between rich and poor, but discrimination against talent of no use has been also caused by multiple shapes of competition. As social tendency rapidly swifts, requirements for capacity changes from moment to moment. Every moment welcomes each different abilities, and that makes furious competition, and that makes inequality of talent. Poor and rich both still exist, needless to say, even though we are living in this much amazingly progressed era.

 Another drawback is standardization of culture, collapse in cultural diversity. Advance means the existence of top bottom concept which implies that something has lagged behind and something is winning mainstream. This can be easily proved when we think of few examples. We can see skyscrapers in everywhere, every country without any great effort, and we know that initial high-rise was in United States. Frequency and leverage of sharing the superpowers' culture, obviously, exceed that of small and weak nations'. But we must understand that every each culture should stand even, impartially.

 Last but not least, brittleness by complexity could be a Achilles' heel of globalization. Putting it simply, what happens in one place very quickly affects everything else. A great number of elements are weaved like tapestry and this give rise to domino effect. Entanglement causes a systemic risk, and we've seen it in the financial crisis, in the pandemic flu. We couldn't decide anything unto ourselves, independently, because there would be too much factors to consider in every matters. Since this will become virulent, we have to build resilience against it.

 To conclude, we should be aware that globalization is not wholly good. There are shortcomings; Inequality with Competition, Standardization of Culture, and Brittleness by Complexity. All of this is not something could be overlooked just thanks to its merits. Then, what shall we do and what can we do? Asking us for remarkable changes, society-level changes would be unreasonable demand. Then what? We could just think about our globalized time, and we should not deem this as the affairs of another. Also, considering our future and getting ready for it can be our mission, and that's enough. Maybe, that's more than enough.   

Yeoroom Lee/First draft/Wednesday 3, 4

Yeoroom Lee

 

  Nowadays the reason for doing exercise seems unspecific and disappear. People
could use transportation, entrust all physical labor to machines. It sounds there's
no need anymore to do exercise which needs continuous patient. But in spite of these
superficial reasons and hard working, doing exercise will get three major benefits
to exerciser: Physical improvement, Mental health and Social benefits.

 

  First, doing exercise will be helpful for improving one's physical abilities.
Nobody could deny the fact that poeple become more muscled and have strong body
through continuous and gradual exercise. It's an invariable truth that
all living organisms get used to adapt its surrounding environment, so does
exerciser. And bacause a person is doing exercising, he or she could prevent and
avoid something specific diseases that can be occured to those who don't. So doing
exercising would give physical development and prevention of diseases to exerciser.

 

  Another major benefit is 'Secure in mental health.' There's an old maxim: 'A sound
mind in a sound body.' Although no one can be sure that this is applied to everyone,
general and common sense of view agrees with this maxim's telling. It is certain
that the person who has something dangerous diseases would feel less secure and
satisfying about life than those who exercises each day so has a strong body. It
definitely shows the mental benefits for doing exercise.

 

  Last, exerciser can be seen as a positive and attractive person by other people;
it's social benefits. Person with vigorous and valient physical body and therefore
showing energetic impression to others would appeal his or her own charming, which
makes him or her more attractive and a person with positive personality. This could be

a distinct advantage especially in personal relations such as interviewing, converstion to
others, or dealing with others. So it can be social benefits to do exercise.

  To summarize, although many people tend to forget and live without giving secound
thought about exercise, by doing exercise people could get many benefits. Three
major benefits among those helpful issues are 'development of body to strong,
being stable in psychological matters, and benefits to social reputation.
Of course exercising is time-consuming and hard to continue, but those powerful
strengths can fully compensate that little pain.
 

Yujin Kang / First Draft / Wed 3,4

                             All We Need Is Love

 

Are you in love now? Or are you being loved? When people hear these kind of questions, most of them think of their 'partners', such as their spouses, boyfriends and girlfiends. However, a dictionary definition of love includes a variety of emotions of affection and concern for anyone, and anything. That is the reason why people say they 'love' their jobs, schools, and pets of course. And love, if it refers to all kinds of care and consideration, has always been regarded as the foremost virtue for this society, and people who are living in this society. It is true that some are arguing about whether it is really necessary for human being. But still, that humans cannot live without love is an undeniable fact, and there are three primary reasons for that.

​

​First, love can make people happy and enjoy thier lives. Except in the case of being stalked, no one in this world does not like to being loved. Love itself gives a great pleasure to people, since the feeling of being cared by someone is a precious emotion. Not just from being loved, but the pleasure of giving love can also be a pleasure. According to the Researchers of 'dailymail', which is the British media, discorverd that people who fall in love feel happiness, and also reduced negativity. It is because the function of prefrontal cortexof of people fell in love, which is the important part of the brain that is related with making decision, becomes less powerful. The area that deal with negativity and fear also becomes inactivated, reportedly. Furthermore, People who are truly in 'love' with their work and have so much passion for what they are doing, can still enjoy their working lives no matter how hard it is. Likewise, love is a passionate emotion that gives people happiness and helps them to keep the momentum going.

​

​Another reason for human being need love is that love can be the solution for this society suffering from so much mental disorders. Today, there are lots of people who have mental illnesses and it it is rising as a serious issue of this 21st century. There can be hundereds of reasons why they became so, but one of the biggest causes is the lack of love. Children who were not loved enough by thier parents, which means they lacked attraction and care from their family, are more likely to have a problem with mental illnesses than the ordinary. Students who have a traumatic experience of bullied at school, can also be regarded as victims of the lack of love. In this case the problem was that they lacked attraction of their friends. And they all are being called 'outsider' and neglected today, even though they can be much better by givining just a little attention. Love for human, is therefore necessary, not just a good-to-have. 

​

​Finally, love can make us into being better people, and furthermore, make better lives. Love for their work makes people try harder in what they are doing and consequently, helps to improve themselves even more. Love for their pets teaches them how to care and empathize with that is non-human. Lastly, Love for somebody makes people mature, because they get to learn to be considerate of each other. 

​

​To wrap up, love is essential for human and we can never live without it for the pleasure from it, this society suffering from mental illnesses, and ourselves.      

EunYoung Kim / First Draft / Wed 3-4

The Importance of Traveling

 

   Traveling has become essential in everyone's lives. As ways to go abroad have become much more easy and convenient over the past several decades, people have traveled at least once in their lives. Some might have traveled all around the world, and others just outside their hometown. In either case, one could say traveling takes up an important part of our lives in various ways.

   First, traveling allows a person to broaden his/her perspective in life. One gets to meet people all over the world and experience their individual cultures in person. Understanding each and every culture can help break stereotypes one may have had before visiting the country. This eventually leads to opening up one's view in general, allowing him/her to become a more generous person. To briefly mention my story, last year winter I happened to go on a tour in New York. As it turned out, it was a Chinese tour! Although the guide and a few people did speak English, I could not help but feel uncomfortable. In fact I was initially nervous and a bit scared when with New Yorkers as well. After having a lot of time to talk with both the Chinese and New Yorkers, however, I realized my stupidity. They both turned out to be sincerely kind and giving people. In the end I had the opportunity to even get to know more about both cultures and their delicious traditional food. This made me realize how narrow-minded I was and helped widen my perspective.

   Also, becoming friends with various types of people while traveling is matter-of-fact. Whether it be in exotic restaurants or even places one stays in, he/she has tons of ways to meet new people and communicate with them. This could eventually lead to better social skills and maybe even learning a new language. That was what happened to me in my Chinese tour in New York. I got to learn basic Chinese greetings and such. I still remember some of those and find them useful from time to time. After returning home one can also stay in contact with his/her worldwide friends by becoming pen pals. One might even get the chance to travel again with these newfound travel partners.

   Lastly, traveling can be therapeutic. A lot of people tend to visit other places just to relieve stress and simply relax. This makes a person happier in life and very often enhances one's self-confidence. Exotic beaches could be decent places to visit, with the calm waves and cool breeze all around. Traveling to just about any new country will be refreshing both physically and mentally. To put it in a quite extreme way, people sometimes need to escape from reality and take a break. Traveling definitely makes life better and brighter.

   To wrap up, traveling is beneficial in that it helps broaden one's perspective, allows one to meet worldwide friends, and is therapeutic. Without traveling, life would have been less exciting and less fascinating – basically less than what it is now.