Recently, the US Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action unconstitutional, sparking the debate over the validity of affirmative action worldwide. It seems that there is a conflict between the opinion that the preferential treatment of minorities in college admissions or employment can neglect the individual's ability so the meritocratic principle should be given priority, and that the diversity of society, which is a significant component of society, should be maintained.

In Korea, affirmative action has been a hot topic. Typically, the pros and cons of the women's quota system have become a major issue in the 21st presidential election. “Channel PNU” examined the perception of Pusan National University (PNU) students about active preferential treatment and meritocracy in the case of domestic minority preferences. A total of 100 students from PNU participated in the survey conducted from August 16 to 18.

■Diversity and Equality of Opportunity

Korea is not a multi-racial society like the US, but affirmative action is being implemented to consider various minorities in college entrance or employment selection. It includes the gender equality employment target system for practical gender equality and the unique section for farming and fishing villages and regional quota system to achieve regional equality. The Gender Equality Recruitment Target System, enacted in 1995, is a system to help women advance by preventing one gender from exceeding 70% in the public service examination. In addition, as the regional imbalance is considered serious in Korea, there is also a system that allows local residents to be selected at a specific rate when during college admissions or employment.

About 85 out of 100 PNU students responded positively to this domestic minority preference policy. This is because 78.8% of the respondents said that it is the way to achieve substantial equality of opportunity. 14.1% of the positive respondents answered, "to compensate for the damage suffered by minorities in the past." There was also the opinion that it should be able to represent people with various interests by constructing multiple interest groups. In addition, 81% of the respondents thought "diversity should be systematically guaranteed in future entrance examinations and recruitment."

On the other hand, 15% of the respondents regarded minority preferential policies as unfavorable. 46.7% of the respondents said that they were worried about the possibility of preventing more capable people from entering the market and school. Subsequently, 20% of respondents answered that they were concerned about the abuse of the system, and the other 20% of respondents answered that implementing the policy could not solve the fundamental inequality. Some suggested that the criteria itself for defining minorities are unclear.

■Recognize “Meritocracy” Properly

In the discourse on minority preferential treatment, “Meritocracy” is an indispensable key word. Meritocracy serves as the main basis for opinions against preferential treatment of minorities. This meritocracy has become an essential issue in the youth society centered on teenagers and 20s. According to the big data-based keyword analysis platform “Black Kiwi,” teenagers (58.4% of searches) were the most searched for “Meritocracy” in the past year. The followed age group was 20s (25.6% search rate), which is much higher than 30s and 40s, which accounted for 5.7% and 5.3% of each search rate, respectfully.

Most PNU students who participated in the survey were also in a positive position on the meritocracy. They accounted for 52% of the total, more than twice the proportion of 18% who answered meritocracy is negative. 30% of the students responded that it was ”neutral.” Students who replied that "diversity should be systematically guaranteed in the entrance examination and employment system" also positively viewed the keyword “Meritocracy.”

Experts explain that understanding meritocracy accurately can bring together the diversity that minority preferential policies seek. Meritocracy means concentrating only on the grade without considering the social background. Yoon Min-Jong (Prof. of Education, PNU), who studies educational inequality, said, “We cannot easily talk about meritocracy if we understand how the conditions we have shaped with our efforts. Our society has become overcapitalized, and we have come to a situation where we think of everyone as a competitor.” He added, “If I have 100, there must be someone in the world who can only have 1. We need sensitivity to recognize the impact of inequality issues on the socially underprivileged.”

Reporter Lee Yun-Jeong

Translated by Lim Chae-Kyung