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In case you’re asking the question not rhetorically - this is the kind of thing you can afford to do when you have an extremely strong/privileged support system

• melling 1y ago
  I’m not familiar with the privileged support system in South Korea. Is it different than in the US or Europe? I believe Einstein dropped out of high school and traveled a bit through Italy. We definitely need a world where more young people can drop out for a few years.
  • DetroitThrow 1y ago
    It feels disengenuous if you're seriously stating you're not familiar with how people with stable families and familial wealth have a much larger level of freedom in their choices to pursue the arts compared the average person.
    • Maxatar 1y ago
      I am also not familiar with how it works in South Korea, do you have any insight?
      • DetroitThrow 1y ago
        Just curious, do you live in a capitalist country? In your country, how easy is it for someone to professionally work on their _art_ - i.e. have a career not just art-adjacent, like doing creative work as a graphic designer or animator or tattoo artist, but actually their own art, such as original paintings, poetry, or novels - which pays the entirety of their bills (presuming their bills actually include rent, food, transportation)? In your country, is their any pressure on an individual working in the arts to work another job? Can they sustain a family? Do artists typically live with their parents or receive familial support until they hit it big? Do they live out the starving artist stereotype or are they given a less meager existence? Of the people that grew up poor that you know, do you know how many of them wanted to be artists, but had to take care of family or their own survival ahead of pursuing their art? Of people you don't consider wealthy growing up, how many of them could afford a year at a prestigious private school for a year ahead of high school? (Relevant to the author here) If you can answer these, it may give you some insight on SK. I can give you more if that's not enough.
        • Maxatar 1y ago
          In my country, which is capitalist, artists of all kinds are basically very poor, yes. I don't see how this relates to South Korea, maybe it's the same maybe it's not. What familiarity with South Korea do you have to be able to present an informed judgement on this issue and call someone else disingenuous for not sharing your view?
          • DetroitThrow 1y ago
            You didn't answer all of my questions, which were not rhetorical and isn't really answered by your single sentence, so I'm not even sure you're familiar enough with your own country or the lives of artists within to really make a meaningful comparison for you.
            • Maxatar 1y ago
              I don't have any answers to give, I'm not very well informed on this topic. I'm asking you what makes you familiar with South Korea that you can make such a strong judgement about someone else's character or motivations on this topic. The answer to that question has nothing to do with my own ignorance on this topic, and the fact that you keep dodging this tells me a lot more about who in this conversation is the actual asshole.
              • DetroitThrow 1y ago
                >tells me a lot more about who in this conversation is the actual asshole. So I lived in Korea for some years, friends with 3 artists there trying to make it in capital A art in Seoul. The answer is (obviously) there is no significantly different familial support system between artists living in Korea and other developed capitalist countries that would somehow change the lifestyle of the average artist, and the suggestion is some strange orientalism or severe ignorance of lives of artists in capitalist countries. Ask on the Korean subreddit if you want variations on this answer. Anyways, this exchange gave me a chuckle at least, a hostile+willfully ignorant or orientalist person wanted to call someone an asshole but did so in questions rather than a statement, and got upset when they were called ignorant in questions rather than a statement.
    • deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
  • jvkersch 1y ago
    The educational track in South Korea is extremely competitive, and everything hinges on how well you do on the Suneung (a kind of SAT on steroids). If you drop out, it is usually because you have intergenerational wealth, exceptional non-scholastic talents, or a route to study/work abroad.
    • creakingstairs 1y ago
      Or you just don’t like studying. There are plenty of Koreans who drop out of high school because they don’t feel like studying is for them. Yes, parents are more likely to try to force them to stay in school compared to other countries. But South Koreans are people too.
• cma 1y ago
  From the article it sounds like he was able to do something like the GED and knew he would be attending college later in South Korea still. Where's the myth making?
  • gyomu 1y ago
    The exercise of how one drops out of the first year of high school to “become a poet”, gets a GED, and then proceeds to enter one of the top universities in Korea (notorious for its particularly cutthroat academic culture) right on time at 19 is left to the reader.
    • aianus 1y ago
      Isn’t college admission there based solely on a single standardized test? If so it makes sense that a super-genius could ace it despite dropping out of high school.
      • creakingstairs 1y ago
        No there is also admission based on school grades, essays and achievements(수시). You still have to take the national test and get the minimum required grades though.
        • cma 1y ago
          I bet this guy Fields Medal recipient did pretty good on the test and didn't need that alternate, is it even available for dropouts by looking at grades before they dropped out?
          • creakingstairs 1y ago
            I just looked into it and it looks like he actually went to a private cram school for a year to study for the national exam then got into Seoul National University.
  • beyonddream 1y ago
• signatoremo 1y ago
  > the kind of thing you can afford to do when you have an extremely strong/privileged support system. Are you talking about his family specifically, or South Korea in general? What makes it extremely strong or privileged?
  • Barrin92 1y ago
    >What makes it extremely strong or privileged? The fact that his parents were math and literature professors who entertained him dropping out of school to write poetry. If I had done that my parents would have offered me exactly three choices, get a job, go back to school, or pack your bags and pay your own rent which would have forced me to get a job, understandably so because as working class people they didn't have the resources to sponsor me for another decade while I go soul searching
    • OldManAndTheCpp 1y ago
      What does your definition of privilege mean? Bemoaning parents who supported their children in the combination of the parents interests does not seem like an egregious sin.
      • jonathanlb 1y ago
        The person you're responding to didn't imply that privilege is a "sin". Not sure how you're interpreting that. Sinply put, most working class parents simply don't have the financial respurces to support an older child's artistic pursuits. It is a privilege, i.e., an _advantage_, to have those means and werewithal to do so.
        • kelipso 1y ago
          There are plenty of working class parents who support an older child who lives at home. The difference is the child is not pursuing anything, so most parents would not want that for their child and would want him to get a job or something. My point being that it’s not about finances, it’s not that much more difficult for most working class families to support an extra mouth to feed, especially when it’s an adult. It’s more about the difference in perspective and future financial stability.