Common Application

08 Nov 11

English 3

Paul Kang

Common Application

Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

For about 16 years, I was confined in a huge, solid stronghold. The thick barricade was to restrict myself to only studying in order to satisfy people’s prejudice on educational background. Good score and big school were only the absolute criteria of my thinking. I couldn’t do anything but academic works; I had no fun doing cramming; I didn’t mix well with people but thought them as mere rivals; I viewed the society and people on the basis of only educational backgrounds. Such narrow-minded nerdishness was destroyed when I joint ‘Youth Special Congress’(of which job is to improve recognition about youth and environment for growth and protection of youth). I could not only ‘realize’ my short-sight, but also ‘challenge’ against and ‘free’ from the fooling barrier through the activity.
Comparing myself to other members, I became aware of small size of my thinking and its impacts on me. Different from my whole focus on scholarly activity and name of school, their matters were on individuality, dream, social responsibility. While I mentioned my school-which is one of top schools in Korea-and brief introduction at the first meeting, they explained their own activities and hopes in YSC. And at the same time as I accepted discussions of each meeting as just a chance to develop debating skills, they tried to understand difficulties of youth with heart and seriously pondered on how to resolve the problems. Burning their eager for themselves and society, they looked happy even without ‘top school’. The fervor, the challenge was not same with the intense anxiety to keep my reputation among people. I was pursuing a socially-biased academic score, not a ‘really’ authentic desire. And ridiculously I was judging complex human being only in one aspect ‘school name.’
Shameful and anxious of sadly restricted thinking, I challenged to overcome bigoted wall surrounding me and find my real value to fuel my eager and become happy. To conquer hidebound ego, I had to throw out both my academic pride and personal dignity. To comprehend different viewpoints from mine, I shared my opinion with other members. I tried to clarify my point in discussion time and to get along well with others. The provocation cost me with severe criticism of my reasoning on policy or sometimes with degradation of myself to adjust to people’s attitude and harmonize with them. Efforts to illuminate youth problems in terms of the society let me lower and treat myself as one of many components of society. It was shocking that the world would work well without me. Not only the challenge to grasp various points of view and recognize in a big perspective, but also I did my best to discover the most precious thing to me. I made an effort to do something fitted to my aptitude and contemplate on them. I read journal magazine like ‘the Economist’ to know the flow of the world. Also I joint youth press to get the flow with my authentic experience. Breaking the barrier continued in this process because the journalist activities involved most of YSC. Challenge to stupid nerdishness and my dream precipitated the unnecessary self-esteem a lot.
Though extreme and painstaking, the destruction of decorum from academic background allowed me free from the boundary and see beauty of all things. I was no longer a stubborn academic-superiority-oriented guy but a liberal challenger who was able to view the world with various viewpoints and chase my dream. And I knew that people around me are not my rivals but helpers to teach me lessons. Lastly, I could feel the society. It’s full of interesting things and supported me lots of chances to realize my dream and be friendly with other people. For that, people should help each other and unite.
YSC was wonderful chance to demolish my limitation and savor the enjoyable life and society. Without any barricade, and with knowledge about the beauty of this world, I’m going to fly far to the world. Freely moving around the earth, I want to observe and report events. It won’t be easy but I will deal with the setbacks courageously as I did in my YSC experience. And I hope Northwestern be the midst of challenge and free life.