By Jung Min-ho
| A film crew member holds up a clapper-board to help camera operators focus during the shooting of a film in Seoul. / Korea Times file |
But as a decaying job market and increasing corporate skepticism about the value of academic qualifications make it harder to justify the years and money spent on university degrees, an increasing number of young people are deciding that college no longer makes sense for them.
The skepticism seems greatest among youngsters aspiring for a career in the country's fast-expanding showbiz industry, where it seems the fruits of growth are hogged by big entertainment companies and barely trickle down to artists struggling with unstable income.
College students majoring in popular arts like film and music accept that they will probably be unemployed for a prolonged period after graduation. This has some wondering whether college is actually worse than unnecessary and rather an expensive roadblock in their career path.
According to data of college information provider Higher Education in Korea last year, the employment rate of graduates coming out of university film schools was dramatically lower than the 55.87 percent employment rate of four-year university graduates.
''It seems like a reasonable decision to do what they are passionate about rather than blindly wasting time and money to get a college degree,'' said 27-year-old Park Jae-hyun, an unemployed and disgruntled college graduate.
''Besides, I don't think college education can replace the value of hands-on experience you get in the real show business.''
Universities' clout seems to have diminished to a point where the schools are struggling to keep even the famous people who were shooed into enrollment. Korean universities in past years have comically lowered the entry barriers or granted special admissions for teenage celebrities who they considered as gorgeous, walking billboards. The problem is that most of them couldn't care less about attending classes.
Bae Su-ji, the immensely popular singer from Miss A and a budding actress, decided to skip college entirely. So did other K-pop stars like solo singer IU, 4-Minute's Kwon So-hyun, Sistar's Kim Da-som and 2NE1's Gong Min-ji.
Male singers like Shin Dong-ho, Oh Se-hun and Kim Seol-hyun and popular movie actor Yoo Seung-ho also declined special admissions offered by some of Seoul's most prestigious universities.
"All celebrities in my class barely came to school during my college years. So, what is the point of going to college if they don't want to participate in the class? Thus, stars like Da-som seemed to have made the right decision," a film major graduate from Seoul's four-year college said, asking to remain anonymous.
University degrees have long ceased as a guarantee of employment and financial security, evidenced by a slew of bad data that show youth unemployment is blighting a generation. School leavers and graduates who manage to get on the employment ladder are still switching their companies frequently, but just because their jobs aren't secure or well-paid anyway.
Economists warn that an entire generation of young people stuck in a pit of financial mediocrity could have a devastating effect on a nation that needs a dynamic workforce to jolt its frail economy.