This Thursday is is the most important day for all Korean high school seniors. They have been training and studying for this their entire lives. Many have been attending regular classes from 8am-10pm then go immediately to cram schools till 1 or 2 in the morning for years just for this one day. Air traffic will be rerouted and flights canceled. Businesses will not open until late morning to ensure the students can catch taxis and ride the buses in comfort. Police will be patrolling the streets looking for latecomers and give them express rides to their campus. For breakfast they won't eat seaweed soup so they don't slip up (or something like that) and have caramel candies so the answers stick in their brains.
What is all of this for? Thursday is SAT day. The test is only held once a year and its score basically tells you your lot in life. Korea is very cliquey. You must go to the right school to get the right job. Nearly every judge in Korea went to the same university. Practically every college professor went to that same school. Same with many politicians. If you get into a bad school, you will have a hard time getting anywhere because only those in the cliques seem to move up.
If you do poorly you have to wait till next year to try it again. My school is quite laid back, but I have seen some of the seniors crying because of the stress of studying. Many of Korea's students may end their lives if they don't get the score they wanted or one that was expected of them.
I was told for the past 2 weeks that I would have this day off. Like every other little holiday I was supposed to have, it was canceled. Now I get to sit in an empty school (no students, just a skeleton staff of teachers) for 8 hours doing nothing... well, not nothing. I just finished downloading the second season of Arrested Development.
UPDATE- Unfortunately it looks like the suicides had started before the test even began.
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