With recent news of more celebrities being admitted into college surfacing to the public, the celebrities in question have been wrapped in an unending string of controversy over not only their admittance, but over the schools’ standards as well.
As opposed to congratulating the students, criticisms have been pouring forward for the unfair and biased treatment given to celebrities.
Celebrities that have been recently admitted include Go Ah Sung and Goo Hye Sun for Sungkyunkwan University, Wonder Girls‘ Sunmi, 4minute’s Gayoon, and model Kim Ji Won for Dong Kuk University.
With constant reports of celebrities entering college through the system’s special treatment screening, which allows celebrities to enter college for the mere fact of being a celebrity, the issue has caused not only current students, but parents of students and regular citizens to express their outrage over the biased treatment.
Celebrities are given preferential treatment by colleges in exchange for promotion for their school. Many have begun to raise their voices in questioning how the special talents of a celebrity can be compared to the years of unending effort normal students must put in for a chance to be considered by a college.
Part of the problem also lies in celebrities being admitted into majors that have nothing to do with the ’special talents’ that they were admitted into the school for in the first place.
Go Ah Sung was recently swept in controversy for being admitted into Sungkyunkwan University by being given special preference for her acting talent. Once netizens found that she was a social affairs major, many began questioning why she was admitted into a major she had no talent for.
S.E.S’s Eugene entered Koryeo University as a Western Culture major in 2000, Dana entered Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Chinese major in 2004, and Moon Geun Young entered Sungkyunkwan University as a Korean Literature major in 2005. Each celebrity in question was given special preference for their celebrity status and talents in their respective fields, but were admitted into majors completely unrelated to the talent in which they were admitted for.
Students currently studying for the college entrance exam have expressed their feelings of deprivation, and are raising their voices in anger over seats being stolen away from those that truly studied and worked for it. One asked, “Why must a celebrity that was admitted into a school for his or her singing talent be also admitted into a major that is unrelated to it?”
The final part to this controversy is the celebrities’ attitude at school. Although they were admitted, celebrities end up being what is now nicknamed as ‘the ghost students,’ never appearing for classes and enjoying the title of being a hard working college student/celebrity.
Due to such issues at hand, news of celebrities entering college has not been received well by the public, and are often targeted for criticism, making many question why such special treatment even exists for celebrities at all.
Netizens commented, “Sunmi left the Wonder Girls because she wanted to study. Why would she use her status as a celebrity and the school’s preferential favor to be admitted to college?“, “It wouldn’t even as big as a problem if they at least showed up to class,” “They should wait until they’re truly ready for college,” “Let’s stop stealing seats from competent students,” and “As if being exempted from the military isn’t enough, they’re now getting free rides to college.”
Another netizen retorted, “How much effort did these celebrities put in before they actually became one? They put everything on the line and risked their entire lives and futures to choose their path. How can that not be comparable to the effort students put in?”
Where do you guys stand on this issue?
