PNU Students Help Elderly Students to Publish Collection of Poetry

The child who lived on the mountain without water didn't know there was a school. When she heard the sound of going to school under the mountain, she thoughtlessly followed the local children, but she did not have books and wrapping cloth. When the daughter said she wanted to study, her father begged his neighbor to look clean and borrowed an old book. However, the daughter had to leave the school at the end of the fourth grade of elementary school to draw water and cultivate orchids when she was young because she became mature early, which is also called "shi-geun" in Gyeongsang-do dialect. She did not have a diploma until she was 60 years old because she was working and raising her children, but eight years ago, she went to night school and started a new life. She had her elementary school diploma in two months, middle school diploma in two years, and she learned how to write, so she went to college and published a "book of poems."

This is the story of Son Jeong-Hwa (68), who published her autobiographical poetry book "Mom's Sweet Barley Rice" on October 17th. Ms. Son is a graduate of “Geumjeong Open Learning Center,” a night school in Bugok Market near Pusan National University (PNU)'s Busan campus. Geumjeong Open Learning Center currently has more than 30 teachers teaching students through unpaid educational services. About half of teachers are students of Pusan National University. Students who have been taught by PNU students also apply to PNU after graduating from night school.

In an interview with "Channel PNU" on November 1st, Ms. Son said, night school teachers played a big role in her publishing a collection of poems. When she won the Superintendent of Education Award at the poem exhibition, which was proposed by a Korean language teacher, people around her recommended her to write a book of poems. Ms. Son said, “When I know a word which I have never used or heard before, I think firstly it would be fun to write it in a poem. Teachers always answer kindly all the questions. So if teacher were not there, I would not have thought of publishing a collection of poems.

Ahn Chae-Hee (Dept of. Social Welfare, 22), who is a student at PNU, started volunteering for English education here with the introduction of her older alumnus, because she wanted to become a university student and do something meaningful. She said, “Students at night school are much more passionate than children who came to the academy, forced by their parents, because they came with their own will. When I see their eyes twinkling in class, I think I did a great job of volunteering.”

Now Ms. Son has left night school and gone to college, but night school still lights up for countless late students every night. Since its opening in 1994, Geumjeong Open Learning Center has been passed by more than 1,000 middle-aged and elderly students and volunteers. Currently, it operates a weekday course to obtain elementary and middle school diplomas and weekend courses consisting of English classes. Jeong Hae-Yong, principal of Geumjeong Open Learning Center, said, "As Pusan National University is not far from the night school, I hope more students will apply."

Geumjeong Open Learning Center is also a place for adults who have never attended school to understand the student's position and for students in their 20s to understand the adult's position. Ahn said, "The elderly students are adults before they are students, so I learn a lot from them. We fill each other's deficiencies."

Ms. Son said she gained "realization" about learning while attending night school. When raising children, she thought they only needed to solve tuition and lunch fee, but when she went to school in person, it was not as easy as she thought because there were many reasons. Ms. Son said, “No matter how much your parents make you do it, you have to make up your mind. You have to do what you really want to do so you can stand up without blaming anyone even if you fail.” So, senior students, who are seniors in life, and young teachers are learning from each other what they do not have and sharing each other's "youth."

Reporter Jun Hyung-Seo

Translated by Lim Chae-Kyung