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