Title: 학교 2013 (Hakgyo 2013)
English Title: School 2013
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Year: 2012
Episode: 16
Cast:
- 장나라 Jang Na Ra
- 최다니엘 Choi Daniel
- 엄효섭 Uhm Hyo Sup
- 이종석 Lee Jong Suk
- 박세영 Park Se Young
- 김우빈 Kim Woo Bin
- 류효영 Ryu Hyo Young (효영 Hyo Young)
- 곽정욱 Kwak Jung Wook
- 최창엽 Choi Chang Yub
SYNOPSIS
Kang Se Chan is a popular teacher at a cram school who was fired for conducting class sessions that are not sanctioned by the cram school. In order to recover his good image, he applies for a teaching job in a public high school.
Idealistic and passionate Jung In Jae is assigned to become the homeroom teacher of class 2, which is full of troublesome students.
Go Nam Soon is an ordinary student who goes to school just because. He has no goals for the future and he is hiding a troubled past.
Song Ha Kyung is Nam Soon's classmate and one of the best students in their batch. She is focused on studying and getting good grades because she intends to go to Seoul University for college.
REVIEW
School 2013 is a drama that shows what being a teacher is all about. I think teaching is a very noble profession mainly because it is all about education. Kang Se Chan and Jung In Jae prioritize different, and sometimes rather opposite, aspects of teaching and their points of view only emphasize the complications of a teacher's job in terms of authority and responsibilities.
Although I am sometimes frustrated with In Jae's naive belief on her students, I think teachers like her are important especially to the troubled individuals because she gives them the benefit of the doubt. In Jae shows her students that she is always there to understand them as they make mistakes and help or support them as they fix their mistakes.
I honestly think it is difficult to set the parameters of until when a person should give another person the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to redeem himself. Of course, it is foolhardy to be accommodating forever but what is the right limit? Is it after a number of mistakes (and what number in particular)? Is it for a certain period of time (and is it weeks or months or years)?
I'm somewhat troubled with how the bullies are given primary roles in School 2013. Although I understand that some of these bullies may have family issues, knowing their problems does not really put things in perspective for me because I truly believe that although people cannot choose their family situation and what happens to them, people can always choose how they react to what happens to them.
Although I understand the bitterness of the troubled individuals when they are misunderstood or misjudged by society at large, I think it is something that cannot be helped because people will always reference what you have done and how you are in the past when they are trying to determine who you are in the present, and when they are trying to predict who you will become in the future.
I really wish people are better taught at an early age how much their future is affected by their current (and even past) actions and choices. Everyone should be aware that they are and will always be judged by the things they say and how they say it, by their actions and reactions, and by their choices. I'm not saying people should only follow what society dictates because that would also be foolish. I suppose what I want is for people to be conscious of the consequences of their actions and choices so that if ever they do act (or react) or make choices, they have given such actions and choices a thorough evaluation.
Related:
학교 2015 (School 2015)
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학교 2013 (School 2013)
