The Other Side of the Bridge

The scene at the American Corner in Mudeung Library on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons is very atypical of everyday Gwangju. High school and university students are gathered, teaching and learning from one another, enjoying the challenge of different thinking processes and unearthing their burgeoning creativity under the wings of the Korea Bridge Initiative (KBI), a nonprofit founded by two Fulbright grantees in Gwangju and Jeongeup: Jessica Zucker and Thomas Wilson.

Korea’s results-oriented education system is both renowned and infamous. The world sees images of overworked students who spend a large chunk of their adolescence studying. For Koreans, the ‘suneung,’ a college entrance exam, leaves an indelible imprint on students’ future paths.

Along with studying, there are other oft-missed events happening in those pictures: the student whose father passed away, whose mother has terminal cancer or who has stellar English and impeccable grades but who is not going to college because she cannot afford private academies or even pay to take the suneung. This is the picture of one of Zucker’s students.

“It occurred to me that so many students like her that come from low-income families have almost zero chances to go to university,” explained Zucker. “I teach at an all-girls vocational high school in Gwangju and found out that, out of 600 students in the 3rd grade, only 12 of them were taking the suneung. There were a few students who have exceptionally high English abilities and received fantastic grades in school, so I was really perplexed as to why none of them had college on [their] radar.”

Inspired by her students’ dreams and struck by their situations, Zucker and Wilson began KBI with a mission to reach out to low-income high school students, to provide them with extracurricular opportunities they otherwise would not have had and to show them that education is more than tests and scores: that it is about inquiry, creativity and global citizenship. 

Speakers and teachers from the Fulbright Commission and Education USA give talks and lessons on subjects that range from spoken word to poetry to watercolor painting to New Zealand’s heritage Poi dance. Students from local universities volunteer to tutor during study hall and participate in university student cultural programming, where they are able to formally discuss education issues in Korea and the United States and in this way practice the global citizenship that they look to help foster in their mentees.

Looking to break away from the unforgiving model of multiple choice questions, Zucker, Wilson and collaborator Kristal Lee are focusing on three tenets in their KBI curriculum: English language skills, global citizenship and creativity. In Lee’s words: “Creativity the way the KBI presents it is something that is a bit of a foreign concept for Korean students. They are being introduced to things like POI and Dream Boarding, being told to collaborate and think beyond the realm of subject tests. I want students to see things that were previously invisible to them. I want to expose them and challenge them to exercise their minds and to understand the idea of being a well-rounded person, not just a good student and not just a well-rounded student.”

KBI operates on a fairly small scale now, but Zucker, Wilson and Lee hope for it to become a mainstay of the U.S. Fulbright Program and an organization that those looking to serve youth are drawn to because of its mission, philosophy and reach.

While Lee will remain in Gwangju to continue KBI operations there, Wilson, Zucker and other Fulbrighters are already making moves to expand into Busan, Daegu and Daejeon with similar programs. “Currently, with our first generation, we have 21 students. With more teachers we can expand the program because there is definitely the need and desire. From one school alone, over 60 students applied, and the program was only presented to five out of 30 classes,” Lee commented.

This opportunity disparity is not isolated to Gwangju. It is systemic, and KBI is preparing its expansion to develop the presence, the notoriety to tackle this on a larger scale. KBI offers programs for high school students every Friday evening and for university students every Saturday afternoon.

Those who are interested in getting involved should check the KBI Facebook page at http://facebook.com/koreabridgeinitiative for more information.