Failing Law Schools, Only Dedicated Law Students Survive

The law school system has been held in Korea since several years ago. One of our members go to the law school and he wanted to share his opinion on the law school system. Especially, if you would like to survive at the heated competition, you should read this! Share your ideas through the comments, please!

Failing Law Schools, Only Dedicated Law Students Survive 

Jeong, Sul-ki

Jeju National University Law School 

Department of Law 

         Now the term ‘law school’ sounds quite familiar to Korean people, because the law school system replaced the previous judicial examination. The previous system will be abolished in 2017, and those who want to be a lawyer have to spend 3 years and law school tuition. The law school in Korea is controversial due to its high cost. In Korea, when the debates go about law school, U.S. case often appears because U.S. has long history in terms of law school. 

        Lawyer’s social position in U.S. is relatively high which is not so much different from Korea. Many American used to believe that they will make a lot of money once they become a lawyer. Their belief is at variance with the truth, and grounds for the argument are well presented in the book Failing Law Schools, written by Brian Z. Tamanaha. It warns the fact that you will have to pay two hundred thousand dollars for graduation from law school. Although you pay the money, become a lawyer, it does not guarantee you to get high income jobs. In short, there are more lawyers than the jobs they can seek for. He argues that entering law school is not cost-effective at all. Further, recent article from Bloomberg clearly shows the falling popularity of law school in U.S. According to the article, some law schools decided not to require Law School Admission Test (LSAT) score which is one of the most essential criteria for the admission¹.

        Regardless of law school in U.S. or Korea, its tuition is considerably expensive, and job-seeking is very hard. The amount of competition in law school, however, still remains the same. Perhaps it will be even harsher than before. So guess what? In failing law schools, only dedicated law students survive. 


¹ 1 Kitroeff, Natalie. (2015, Feb 25). The First Two Law Schools to Drop the LSAT Could Be Just the Beginning. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-24/thefirst-two-law-schools-to-drop-the-lsat-could-be-just-the-beginning

What ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ and ‘Black-ish’ Tell You

If you love watching sitcoms. Let one of our members recommend ones to watch. They contain the life of African-American and Taiwanese-American each. If you are interested in sitcoms and how so-called immigrants have been through in the states, how about watching the two fun sitcoms "Black-ish" and "Fresh Off The Boat"?

What ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ and ‘Black-ish’ Tell You

Yunzee Kim

Graduated from Dongseo University

Broadcasting and Media Studies

             Recently, I have been crazy into two interesting sitcoms which are aired on the ABC channel. They called ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ and ‘Black-ish’ each. Two stories are very different. One story focuses on the life Taiwanese Americans who move to the town, full of white Americans in 1990’s. The other story tells about the current life of African Americans who live in the village, mainly filled with white Americans. As you know, it is not easy to live as a minority. In this type of society, where like or not, the discrimination or misunderstanding are natural. These two sitcoms describe these things in a fun way.

             ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ is based on the real story of Eddie Huang. He is a famous chef now and he has been through a lot of things since his parents are immigrant to the U.S. He wrote his autobiography and the staff of the ABC channel decided to make his story as a sitcom. It shows the traditions of Taiwanese, the fashion of 1990’s, and how they adjust to the different life. Also, Randall Park, stared as the role of ‘Jung-Eun Kim’ in the movie ‘the interview’ plays the father character in this show. Based on these things, ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ is fun to watch.

             ‘Black-ish’ is not based on the real story. Main characters, the Johnson family members, are rich African-American who live in the neighbor where there are bunch of white people. In this family, there are three generations, which are grand-parents, parents and children. It shows the current trend that as time goes by, African American’s spirit gets faded. So, grand-parents and parents are trying to do their best to give the children that spirit. However, children do not understand why they have to have that spirit and how that spirit is related to their lives. So, in this circumstances, there are some conflicts between parents and children. This sitcom describes them in a pleasure way.

              Therefore, these two sitcoms are worth watching. Also, these sitcoms show that more and more people who have different races live in the states. That is why the main characters are not only white Americans. Hopefully, more TV shows reflect racial diversity in the states.

Work Culture in USA - from the TV series ‘The Office’

Do you know the sitcom "the office"? It shows you the American work culture. As a Korean, I thought that it is quite different the work culture in Korea form the one in the states. One of our members want to share the differences through the situation comedy TV show. If you have any thoughts or comments, let us know!

Work Culture in USA

- from the TV series ‘The Office’

Hyun Jin LEE

Graduated from KyungPook National University

Dept. of French Language and Literature

As globalization advances, many people go abroad to work and corporate with foreign companies. Due to the cultural backgrounds, work culture in each country has its unique style. If you are willing to work for foreign or international companies, it is necessary to know about the work culture that can lead you to adapt quickly into a new environment. American famous TV series ‘The Office’, which is set in a paper products company called Dunder Mufflin, shows us the common daily life of office workers. As it is a situation comedy (sitcom), personalities of characters and the stories are somewhat exaggerated, but it is enough to know about American work culture in general.

When people think of American companies’ working style, they usually make focus on the casual atmosphere and ‘from nine to five’ working hours. It is half correct and half not. The atmosphere in U.S companies is usually casual, but sometimes it’s vertical. For example, in ‘The Office’, every worker is free to express their own ideas to others and even to their boss. The appellation among workers isn’t divided into great detail like the things in Korea. They just call others by their name or add simply ‘sir’ to their boss which is in contrast with Korean companies where workers call each other depending on their varied positions. However, from the scenes where workers force a laugh at their boss’s lame pranks and jokes to curry favor and even do constrainedly some unreasonable tasks ordered from boss, it is possible to assume that the atmosphere isn’t fully unconstrained like common thought. Moreover, as the companies put more emphasis on individual achievements and ability, most workers try to work efficiently during their working hours. Therefore, it is unusual to work overtime at night in U.S. contrary to the habituated overtime work in Korea.

Work culture is different owing to its country’s unique cultural background. It’s not important to say which one is better as all different work cultures have advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, it is important to have a correct understanding of your workplace’s culture to build and continue your career, regardless of where you are from.

North American International Auto Show

Do you ever hear of "Detroit  Motor Show"? It is one of the most famous motor shows in the world. The 2015 Show was held already and one of our members want to share interesting points on the show. If you love automobiles, you are going to love this article! Are you ready to read? Let's begin!

North American International Auto Show

Chang Hwan Hwang

Electrical Engineering

Pusan National University

North American International Auto show is one of the well-known motor shows in the world. We are more familiar with the name of ‘Detroit Motor Show’ because it operates in Detroit where is the heart of American automobile industry.  It has 108-year history, since 1907, and is only one official motor show which is certified by Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OCIA)¹.  Since it begins in every January, Detroit Motor Show evaluated as the preview of the automobile trend of the year. North American International Auto show began on 12 Jan 2015, and it will be ended on 25 Jan 2015.  In this year, around 60 car makers exhibit 500 automobiles.  The key words of Detroit Motor Show 2015 are the clean energy and the performance car.

It is absolutely interesting that the clean energy and the performance car could be compatible in this show.  Normally, the clean energy has led the trend of motor show because of the matter of the depletion of petroleum.  Of course, many car makers introduce the eco-friendly vehicles in this year.  The GM introduces the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle ‘the Volt’.  Also, Toyota and Hyundai which are leading companies in FCEV (Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle) field, premier ‘the Mirai’ and ‘the Tucson ix’.  In this year, many car makers show the era of hybrid and clean energy vehicle is very close.  For example, the GM has announced that it will produce and sell the Volt from 2016.

However, in this year, the performance cars and the super cars show up in Detroit Motor Show.  For instance, GM premiered the new Cadillac CTS-V, and, Ferrari and Maserati come back to Detroit Motor show.  Driving with these cars is quite far from eco-drive.  They pursue more speed and driving pleasure to satisfy human’s desire.  It means their fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission rate are definitely terrible.  Why does this type of vehicle grab attention again in this year, even though the depletion of natural resources is accelerating?

Many experts pointed out the main reason of this weird coexistence, the clean energy and the performance car, is current low oil price.  We still don’t know the clear reasons² for low oil price these days, but this phenomenon makes drivers to feel free from the pressure of oil price.  Then, people started to have interests in high-performance car field to enjoy more speed and better driving pleasure.  It is interesting because the era of low oil price for only two months let people to attract the performance car again.  It may be interesting research topic for social science.

Even though you don’t have much interest in automobiles, Detroit Motor Show has many interesting points except these keywords.  Each motor show reveals the characteristic of the country.  For example, ‘pick-up truck’ is introduced only in the U.S. motor show.  Therefore, we can see the characteristic of the U.S. through North American International Auto Show.  Since the U.S. is the country of the automobile, we may have better understanding about the U.S. through this motor show.

1.       The Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, commonly abbreviatedOICA (English: International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers^[1]), is a federationof automobile manufacturers, based in Paris, founded in 1919.^[1] It coordinates communication among manufacturers, as well as a number of international auto shows. - Wikipedia

2.       The conflict and conspiracy between the U.S. oil industry and OPEC are used to be regarded as the promising reason of low-oil price phenomenon.

Hollywood’s Movie History: From Silent Films to Talkies ②

DSKUSSS started new webzine series about Hollywood Movie History! This is second one that explains the movie theme. In this writing, you can see how the talkie movies came out! Let us know what you think about the history of Hollywood movies through comments.

Hollywood’s Movie History: From Silent Films to Talkies ②

- The development of microphone and the advent of talkies

Lee, Jungwon

Pusan National University

Dept. of Global Studies

What were the problems in the process of making ‘The Dueling Cavalier’(see ‘From Silent Films to Talkies ①’) into a talkie film? Monumental Pictures went through repeated trials and errors in trying to capture their actors’ voices on film.

First, they tried hiding a mike in nearby stage properties, like a bush. However, the mike failed to catch the actors’ voices clearly because the stage properties were too far from them. Then, they tried sewing the mike into the actors’ clothes, but this wasn’t much help either. Whenever the actors moved, the mike made weird rustling noises, and the audiences were very annoyed. Also, the actors couldn’t walk or move freely because the mikes that were sewed into their clothes were also connected with the recording room.

Finally, Monumental Pictures made a debut of the talkie, but the film only incurred people’s ridicule. The actors’ voices were barely audible thanks to the awkward placement of the microphones, and in the middle of the film, the sound went out of synchronization.

Then, Don’s friend Cosmo, who was inspired by a scene in “The Dueling Cavalier” where Lina’s voice was out of sync, suggested they dub Lina’s voice. However, later on, when Cosmo realized that Lina had no talent in singing or talking gracefully, he decided to go with the voice of another actress, Kathy. The dubbing turned out a tremendous success. Film companies didn’t have to put microphones near the actors. They just recorded the voices and synchronized it with the actors’ movement of lips.

At that time, many film industries went through numerous turns and twists, trying to produce successful ‘talking films.’ Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine watching movies without voices, but at that time, talking pictures were sensational. Hollywood soon began to thrive with more and more film makers in America, and it has kept its stellar reputation ever since.

The Grand Jury: Justice or Injustice?

Have ever heard of The Grand Jury System? It is a unique judicial system of U.S. However, recent issues like the Ferguson incident brought serious questions on its justice. One of our members wrote it and shared his idea. Feel free to express your opinions through the comments!

The Grand Jury: Justice or Injustice?

Sulki Jeong

Pusan National University

Law and Global Studies

             In general, court needs indictment to take the case and make the decision. The United States (US) is no exception. These days, with regard to the matter of the Ferguson incident, the grand juries consisting of local citizens made the decision not to indict the police man to the court.

             The grand jury system is originated from Magna Carta in Britain history. Its purpose used to be maintaining the check and balance against the king, allowing citizens to participate in court hearing. Now it is abolished in Britain and the US is the only state that retains this system. Some of the states, however, do not have it. Ferguson, the city belonging to the state of Missouri, is applicable with grand juries system.

             In the process of grand juries system, there is no judge or lawyer. Only a prosecutor, juries and witnesses present. Juries will hear the facts of an incident from witnesses and legal explanations from the prosecutor. The decision-making process will be done based on supermajority, and the number of requirement for indictment is different depending on the jurisdiction of each state.

             The original purpose was to protect the citizens from the super power like king. Some criticize, however, that the prosecutor has shifted the Ferguson case to the grand juries in order to avoid the public criticism for their incompetence. Their argument is that the prosecutor should be competent enough to indict the police man and prove his guilt. Some stand by the prosecutor, saying he has shown the best efforts he can. The fundamental principle of criminal case is that defendant is innocent when it is beyond a reasonable doubt.

             So, what do you think? The grand jury system applied to the case of Ferguson, is this buck-passing or the best efforts that prosecutor could make?

‘The Newsroom’ Reminds the Difference Between Fact and Truth

Do you like the TV show 'The Newsroom'? Here is an writing that one of our members wrote on it. She loves the show and she wants to share what she thought on this TV show. If you like the Korean TV show 'Pinocchio', you will like this more. Your thoughts and opinions are always welcome!

‘The Newsroom’ Reminds the Difference Between Fact and Truth

Yunzee Kim

Graduated from Dongseo University

Broadcasting and Media Studies

“He got knocked down!” (The Newsroom, Season 3 Episode 1)

This is what Charlie (Atlantis Cable News, aka ACN, president) said when he saw that CNN admitted that the earlier report on the Boston Marathon explosion was wrong. It gets staff at ACN-the imaginary station in this TV show- more nervous and cautious since it alarms the importance of reporting facts to them. CNN broadcasted in a rush and did not check the contents of the reports and it lost many viewers who expected it to be trust-worthy. From then, ACN starts to focus more on fact check for more accurate reports on the explosion.

This story, in the Newsroom, reminds me that media can remain faithful only when they deliver accurate and trust-worthy news. Actually, this accuracy is important not only for the stations’ sake but also for the people who could be influenced by the news. Sometimes, when inaccurate reports go out, troubles happen.

The recent Korean TV Drama, Pinocchio, is a good example of this. There is a fire accident and a rescue team goes inside and they all die for a huge explosion. All bodies of the rescue team are found but one body, the chief of rescue team, is missing. Then, a man witnessed someone who looks like the chief. This man, who insists on what he witnessed, actually has Pinocchio Syndrome, which indicates someone who cannot lie. (Of course, this syndrome is made up!) Due to his testimony, all media starts to blame the chief. He is the one who gets the rescue team in danger. Harsh reports on the chief impact his family and the family gets crushed and the wife commits suicide.

These two stories in The Newsroom and Pinocchio force me to think of my definition of the difference between the fact and the truth. In my opinion, since a fact is what is shown exactly, it is objective. On the other hand, since truth can be concluded by all facts and people who connect several facts to one truth, it could be subjective. Therefore, in this process, media takes an important role of fact-check to reveal what is a truth behind an incident. If media takes it seriously, I am sure it could have good influence on the public and it would get faith from viewers.

Now, I want to ask you “To you, what is the difference between the fact and the truth?”