2020 TEDxYOUTHKongjuNUHS Ye Won Yoo
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[Applause]
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i remember
when i first entered school a year and a
half ago
my very first month in the school i
would call it a succession of culture
shock
what to say then shinja mean they’re
running that wildly right after the bell
rang because of late night meal
how do i use a public phone
those questions are just fun as i look
back now
there’s one question that i still
haven’t found any answer to
why do people here obsess over
categorization
in our school we endlessly categorize
ourselves by club
hometown dormitory rooms school year
class and apartment
and show off a sense of belonging
one example is a club culture in our
school
each club has its own badge and we
proudly put it on our neckties and
backpacks
this year is quite exceptional because
of kovin19 though
but there’s also an alumni association
where juniors and seniors from the same
living place gather
and have a meal together every year and
when we become a sophomore
we make jackets the representative
department
as a result my junior year in the school
has always been busy
attending numerous group dinners and
making badges and group uniforms
so how come we never stop categorizing
each other
there seems to be a psychological reason
that we obsess over it
there’s a term in psychology called
social identity theory
according to this theory our social
identities are formed through three
cognitive processes
social categorization social
identification
and social comparison
by social categorization we divide the
world
into us and them and then by social
identification
we adopt the identity of the group we
have categorized ourselves
as belonging to lastly
through social comparison we compare my
group and other groups
finding which streets of my group are
superior to other groups
what i want to give importance to among
these three is social comparison
because this is when content and
discrimination occurs
once we categorize ourselves as a
particular group
we can’t help but think that we’re
different from others
this sense of difference then quickly
plunged into a sense of superiority
which is one of the main motives of
discrimination and content
of course not all categorization turns
into those negative emotions
but i’m saying that we should minimize
categorizing people
because it’s usually unnecessary but at
the same time
very costly
senior junior relationship can be a good
example of categorization leading to
negative outcomes
you must i’m sorry a sensible
entitlement that seniors get
as they categorize juniors and as
inferiors and themselves as superiors
can easily turn into oppressive and
discriminated relationship
which is also seen in our school
you must spout and say whenever you see
seniors
but no no do not look at their face
because it’s rude also don’t forget not
to bow to male seniors
who the hell told you that you’re
allowed to be a facebook friend with
boys here
unfriend them on facebook right now
surprisingly all of these things i heard
indeed throughout last year
if the purpose of having juniors battle
seniors was absorbing decorum
then why don’t girls battle boys and
boys better girls
there are too many oppressive and
excessive aspects
in our school’s junior general
relationship so simply call the culture
a decency
is it really necessary to say i’m a
senior you’re a junior
and categorize or discriminate each
other
is it really necessary to categorize
ourselves every time
as a female sophomore a member of
medical society
a person from hasang or person taking a
natural sciences track is it really
necessary as long as a minimum
classification
that is really necessary in maintaining
social norms exists
we don’t need to put extra on it or
apply the criteria
on every aspect of our lives
if we do only the content and injustice
remains around us
so that’s why i’m asking all of you to
stop categorizing each other
and reform my school’s culture
i’m not saying that we should all at
once throw away the badges
take off our jackets and abolish the
alumni associations
some group activities like class prep
rallies are even beneficial
what i mean is that if we start from
reforming one by one
unreasonable conventions such as
compelling as juniors to bow
we will naturally get to know that it is
still possible to build
our identities without categorization
i guarantee that it is possible if we
make our progress every year
because every year our school’s culture
is getting more reasonable
and i strongly believe that the freshmen
this year will also speak up
to make healthier school culture for
their future juniors
what i said throughout the speech is not
only about our school
but also about the society we live in
black lives matter was the second oddest
issue after kovi 19 in the first half
it is an anti-racism movement provoked
by the george floyd incident
who was strangled by white police
officers for no discernible reason
racism stems from white people’s sense
of superiority
which also emerges as they categorize
themselves into a superior category
skin color is another unnecessary
criterion
and if you don’t divide people into
black or white and to see them as human
beings
there’s no possibility for racism to
exist
like racism most of the conflicts we
experience in our lives
can be explained by categorization
we try to put ourselves into existing
groups and label them
because we think it forms our identities
but actually it doesn’t
however many categories we categorize
ourselves into
we’re still all unique and can never be
labeled by a few common words
just categorizing myself as me i’m
already special enough
just categorizing ourselves as ours
you and i are special enough thank you
you