대학부 대상 수상작

<2012EEC_Winner’s Remarks & Essay>
 
University Division
 
Challenge Gives Us an Experience of Courage in Life!
 
By Yoon ji-yeon, Junior, Dept. of Mathematics, Chonnam National University
 
I appreciate the meaningful award in the 2012 English Essay Contest. I feel honored. At first, it was not easy to decide whether to participate in the contest or not, since I thought it wouldn’t be fruitful among competitive students. It was a challenge. I didn’t expect such a positive result. This is because I was a math-major student with a superficial knowledge about social issues such as ‘the government’s new plan to ban drinking on campus’ and it was not easy for me to meet the deadline, writing 1000 words within 4 hours. I spent more than 40% of my time coming up with the outline and the grounds to support the argument. So I wasn’t able to secure much time on actual writing. However, I learned an important lesson from the contest; “Seek nothing, gain nothing” I know many university students including me have trouble thinking about what to do after graduation. Thinking about what we do well and being anxious about whether we can make it or not, we’re standing in front of reality. With my realization from the contest, I hope all of us can courageously challenge ourselves to accomplish whatever we want to do in the future.
 
 
Drinking on Campus; Never Mind
 
By Yoon ji-yeon, Junior, Dept. of Mathematics, Chonnam National University
 
To begin with, I feel sorry that university students, who should have been the symbol of youth and intelligence, are surrounded with dishonorable problems. A few months ago, all nations in Korea were shocked to hear that some male students, who were majoring in medical science, sexually harassed their classmate on their school field trip, taking pictures of her naked body when she was sleeping after heavy drinking. In another university, 8 students died during a festival period because of speeding after they drank. Also, a freshman student was found dead in her room because she was forced to drink alcohol by their seniors, even though she wanted to stop. With examples like these many people have become concerned about severe alcohol-related problems among college students. According to the survey conducted by a newspaper, over 60% of 179 senior students recommended or forced alcohol upon younger students, and over 64% of 135 freshman students have drank alcohol regardless of their decision due to their seniors. That’s why we can’t blame the Government’s new decision to ban drinking on school campus next year. They said public places including university campuses will not allowed to sell alcohol, or else a penalty of less than 5 million won would be charged. Also students are not allowed to drink on campus. However, with all plausible validity, I disagree with the Government's new policy.
First, we should not confuse the 'alcohol-related problems' with 'alcohol-acquiescence on campus'. It's different. We can't say that all of the drinking problems were totally because of the permission of drinking on campus. Let's put it this way. Would all of the alcohol-related problems be solved, if university students had not drunk alcohol 'on campus'? No, it wouldn't. I'm sure it would definitely happen again somewhere else. If the senior students can't find the drinking-place on campus for the evening party after MT, they will naturally go to the pubs around their school. Then it would be only pubs that are benefited by the new policy, while poor freshman students would, again, be compelled to drink until they black out. Plus, look closely at the drinking crimes. You will find that the overall incidents occurred in another places, not on campus. The drunken medical science students committed their crime on a ‘school field trip’, not on campus. The 8 dead speeding students personally drank, so it is dubious to believe that they died just because of alcohol on campus. So I insist that we should not attribute the alcohol-related problems to the matter of place. If the students are not allowed to drink on campus, they will find another place to satisfy their desire. The new policy is not a fundamental solution. If the governors really want to handle these problems, they will have to find another way that will root out the original problem. For example, carrying on a campaign that will make both a clean and sound campus culture in the future will do a lot of good.
Secondly, I think it is a basic right for college students to decide whether they choose drink or not, even in school. During a festival period, the college campus used to be a romantic place for students to share their memories and culture. Each school is busy preparing their performances and small pubs that are temporarily managed by students. Some students practice for dancing and singing contest until late at night, and others cook delicious food and buy some beverages to deliver some funds. Thanks to their help, all students in school can enjoy their lovely time with their friends. In my case, it has become the best memory to visit small pubs during a festival, sitting at the small table, watching a bright candle at night, listening to guitar tunes from a street performance and eating some Korean pancakes with makgolli. In spite of the positive effects, the staircase of the building used to be filled with the smell of fermented drinks and was dirtied with hundreds of empty bottles coming out of the trashcans. Every toilet became filthy. However, I think these disturbances can be fully solved by student's trial. No one can deprive us of the small right to enjoy the festival atmosphere.
Lastly, I will consider that it is an excessive restriction to ban on drinking on campus. The relevant bill has already been settled; that is, 'to make a noise while drinking in public areas is prohibited'. In these situations, it is absurd that government interferes in college students' drinking problems. It is way too outdated. Actually many students including lots of professors are against the new bill. A professor of the food service management department said that "It is a pity that we can't share our memories anymore with you graduating soon." The youth camp that protested against this new bill said "Why does the government urge us not to drink? We are adults! To ban drinking on campus is to disturb our own culture that symbolizes 'freedom'. We are strongly against the new plan.” Surely, it is an anachronism for the government to intervene in students’ private lives. I think the accidents that resulted from heavy drinking can be fully managed by our self-regulatory efforts.

To sum up, alcohol-related problems are not the matter of the 'place' and it is a basic right to decide whether to drink or not. Sound campus atmosphere doesn’t start from banning alcohol. What we want to focus on is to make a clean and good campus atmosphere. If the freedom of students is not satisfied, we can’t fulfill our goal. I heard that some college students protested against the new policy, holding a beef party with soju in front of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. It’s not easy to allow university students to drink in school as freely as they can. However, it seems too harsh to regulate their freedom. It’s the matter of the awareness about drinking. Even though it takes time for a moment to alter their recognition, I hope the government will give students one more chance to reform their culture and freshen up their sound atm

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