Nostalgia to Episodes 11 and 12 of Twenty-Five Twenty-One: Teacher Violence Towards School Students

 

Teacher Violence Towards School Students: Review on Episodes 11 & 12 Twenty-Five Twenty-One

Annyeong everyone, meet with me again, Rinan 😊 We will have a review session on an awesome and inspiring drama from episodes 11 & 12 of Twenty-Five Twenty-One. Firstly, due to the insight and advice from my lecture about my assignment, I ask for your understanding that we have to review episodes 11 and 12 after episodes 13 and 14 aired last week. Let’s check it out!

Episodes 11 and 12 of Twenty-Five Twenty-One raises a sensitive issue about teacher violence towards school students. These two episodes are aired on TvN and Netflix on 19 and 20 March 2022. These two episodes receive many critics, especially from Korean netizens. Some of them agree with the issue as it is based on historical fact during 1998 when the financial crisis hit South Korea. Here are the details from episodes 11 and 12 of Twenty-Five Twenty-One.

Based on Twenty-Five Twenty-One, basically, in Tae Yang High School, teacher practices violence towards students is a common thing and it is like a daily routine when there is a student breaking the school’s rules, he/she will receive physical violence from the teacher as their punishment. The students who receive violence or witness the practice remain silent to keep themselves safe from the punishment.

One day, a teacher named Seo Yeong Seong beat Moon Ji Woong because he does not wear an appropriate school uniform. Without any advice to Ji Woong or reminding him, the teacher directly beats him and causes blood to come out from his lips. In front of a lot of students, he beats Ji Woong several times. Ji Woong friend, named Seung Wan, who witnesses the practice, finally snaps. She confronts him not to do physical violence towards Ji Woong and insists she will call the police if the teacher doesn’t stop. The teacher dares her to call the police, and finally Ji Seung Wan calls the police.

After the police comes, the headmaster, the teacher, Ji Seung Wan discuss about the problem. Surprisingly, the police side with the teacher and superintendent. They say that there is no regulation about the violence towards students in South Korea at that time. The regulation is fully up to individual schools to give and interpret the regulation as they see fit.

However, for Seung Wan there is no way to capitulate. Through her pirate radio broadcast, Seung Wan tells the truth of the violence practiced by a teacher at Tae Yang High School. Accidentally, the teacher finds out and he orders her to apologize in front of the entire school. However, Seng Wan never wants to cow or even apologize to him. Seung Wan only wants justice and she feels she does it on the right track. Rather than as the teacher wanted and showed that she did something wrong, she chose to drop out of Tae Yang High School.

For Seung Wan, it is not an easy decision because we know Seung Wan is the cleverest student at Tae Yang High School and the college entrance test will be held soon. She asks her mother for her understanding. She apologizes to her and she promises never to feel sorry about her own decision in the future.

Finally, Seung Wan puts on a heartbreakingly cheerful face as she says her goodbyes to all her friends in Tae Yang High School. In these two episodes, we can conclude how South Korea laws at that time, during 1998 when the financial crisis hit them and caused many difficulties for all people. One of the impacts of the chaos political and instability on the economy is on education and laws. Based on Twenty-Five Twenty-One, especially on episodes 11 and 12, we learn from Ji Woong and Seung Wan how hard it is to get justice for students.

So, yeorobun, that’s all for my review on episodes 11 and 12 of Twenty-Five Twenty-One. What do you think about the sensitive issue they raised in the story? Kindly, lemme know ya!