And yet it does move.

  “And yet it does move.”. You all may know this is what Galileo Galilei said coming out of the court. Now, I want to talk about "Open Idea" based on Galilei's story. In the Renaissance age, most people thought all the stars and planets go around the earth. However, Galilei discovered the fact that it is not the stars but the earth itself that actually goes around. As soon as Galilei published his discovery, the Papal court accused him as an anti-Christian, so they put Galilei on a trial. Galilei denied his opinion in the court to avoid death penalty. But, as he was set free and came out of the court, he said, "And Yet it does move". About four hundred years have passed since Galilei's times. It has been a long time, but How different are our thoughts from the people of Galilei's times? Unfortunately, even now we are not very different from the people who condemned Galilei.  

Now, let's talk about ourselves. What do you think about Korean University Students being insufficiently competitive? The reason why Korean Universities are not internationally competitive is not only because students don’t make much effort, but also because they cannot easily change the study method they have been used to for long time. The latter would be more fundamental problem they have.

We have been educated only based on the textbooks for 12 years from elementary school to high school. Teachers have just taught students relying on textbooks, and students don’t have to go further than the boundary of the textbooks. There is no need to ask a question, and there is no chance to have an idea different from the textbook. So, finally, we became passive and incompetent university students who cannot have unique and creative ideas.

Now, how much different do you think we are from the people who blamed Galilei?

Maybe you think you are on Galilei’s side, but I doubt that any of us are on his side. We are rather against the Galileis of the present world. That is, we are not open to what is different from us, but only chase after the authority. We, the university Students of Republic of Korea, have to take the responsibility to lead the future of this country. However, are we really ready to take the lead in the race for Korea’s 21st Century? In order to answer this question properly, we have to admit that Korean university students have poor competitiveness internationally.

 

 

Now, we need a "turning point" in our thinking, though we don’t really welcome it. It is up to us whether to fall down holding onto our stubbornness or to survive by accepting the new world. You must be aware that our environment is not very positive, either. We see unstable situations throughout the domestic economy, politics, education, and so forth. It will be very difficult for us to find jobs after we graduate from the school.

Then, should we stay here pointing our fingers at our environment? I can tell you for sure that the future of this country is up to us. What will you choose? It will not be that hard. You need to have a little more courage. It is the courage that makes you give up your own ideas when they are wrong and that prepares you to accept the new world. If we have the courage to be open-minded, we, the university students of Republic of Korea will be able to stand in the center of the world.