“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:13–14,NIV)
Jesus said there is no greater love than laying down one’s life for a friend. For the next generation, friends should not be seen as rivals, but as people to love, serve, and stand with.
According to South Korea’s e-Country Index on private education, in 2021, 82.2% of elementary school students, 73.1% of middle school students, and 64.4% of high school students were enrolled in private tutoring. On average, each student spent 367,000 KRW per month on private education—the highest figure recorded since the survey began.
In fact, 3 out of 10 middle and high school students say they’ve had suicidal thoughts due to academic pressure. The numbers rise with grade level: 32% of Middle school students and 35.3% of High school students reported wanting to die. As the college entrance exam approaches, classroom competition intensifies. Test takers describe the atmosphere as tense: “Everyone’s on edge. Even among close friends or classmates, we have to be careful with our words. Nothing is taken lightly—it’s like a war zone where even jokes feel dangerous.”
After the intense pressure of college entrance exams, the competition for jobs begins. A new term, “private tutoring for employment,” has even emerged. In a September 2021 survey conducted by Dong-A Ilbo and the employment website Catch, owned by Jinhak Corp, 63% of 1,002 job seekers in their 20s and 30s who had been preparing for over a year said their employment preparation costs had increased compared to the previous year.
Meanwhile, violence among students continues to be widespread in schools. “School violence” refers to any harmful acts between students that cause physical, psychological, or financial damage. This includes physical assault, verbal abuse, confinement, threats, manipulation, defamation, insults, extortion, coercion, forced errands, cyberbullying, and sexually explicit harassment through digital communication. In the past, school violence mostly took the form of physical and verbal attacks or extortion. But today it has become more diverse and tech-driven, with a sharp rise in sexual violence and online bullying.
According to a 2021 report from Korea’s Ministry of Education, verbal abuse accounted for the highest percentage of school violence cases (41.7%), followed by group bullying (14.5%), physical violence (12.4%), and cyberbullying (9.8%). Sexual violence made up 4.1%. School violence tends to be repetitive and prolonged, and the suffering it causes is often severe. About 60.8% of victims reported significant distress, and 11.65% said they had considered suicide. In many cases, victims even struggle with basic daily life or become perpetrators themselves, leading to secondary cycles of violence.
School violence is a global crisis. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, as of 2019, one-third of students aged 11 to 17 in 42 countries had experienced bullying at school. A separate study across 10 OECD countries found that, on average, 1 in 10 students is currently being bullied.
》Prayer Points
1. What we should learn in the school community is not just academic knowledge but also character, how to unite with and serve others in peer relationships. Let us pray against the schemes of the evil one, Satan, who seeks to destroy the foundational communities of family and school and encourages both physical and emotional violence to keep students from learning these values.
2. The next generation is overwhelmed by academic pressure stemming from intense college entrance competition. This educational environment has not only increased stress but has also eroded character and morality. Let us pray that all forms of violence within schools come to an end. Let us also pray that believing parents and teachers will remain spiritually alert so that our children are not sacrificed to the systems of exams, job competition, or physical abuse, but grow up dearly loved as children of God.
》Scripture Prayer
(Proverbs 22:15–25,NIV) 15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. 16 One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty. 17 Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach 18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. 19 So that your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you. 20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you sayings of counsel and knowledge, 21 teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve 22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court 23 for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life. 24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered 25 or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, so we must teach them through the complete truth of the Bible to be reborn as children of God. Schools driven by secularism and humanism no longer offer proper morals, character development, or true wisdom. They have become institutions focused solely on success and competition. Let us pray that biblical truth will be taught in our schools and that children will listen to God’s Word and treasure knowledge in their hearts as life itself.
2. Let us pray for the next generation, made in God’s image and His handiwork, that the evil acts of Satan, who incites school violence and provokes harm among peers, will be broken. May justice and mercy be established so that the weak are not preyed upon and the poor are not oppressed. In the face of school violence and overwhelming competition, let parents and teachers pray earnestly and stand firm in helping students avoid Satan’s traps and grow in faith.
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