If I Could Spend Just One Day Studying, by Park Cheol-beom

There is a Korean saying about a dragon rising from a ditch, often used for someone who makes it out of difficult circumstances. In the 1990s, Jang Seung-su made headlines by gaining a place at Seoul National University after studying while working manual jobs.

He wrote about it in Studying Was the Easiest Thing. His story became one of the better-known accounts of what education could make possible.

Park Cheol-beom followed a route that reminded me of Jang’s. He began taking school seriously late, was admitted to Seoul National University, and then moved into law at Korea University. He credits a conversation with Jang with helping him think through that choice.

The paths Jang and Park took after university

Jang qualified as a lawyer after taking Korea’s former judicial examination. Park also pursued law after the studies he describes in this book.

If I Could Spend Just One Day Studying

Like Jang’s book, this is the story of someone growing up. Park breaks the experience into episodes, recalling the work he did and how his thinking changed.

The subject is studying, but readers looking for advice organized by school subject will find little of that here.

Park spends more time on his childhood, when learning began to interest him, and how he reacted when he had to decide what he wanted from it.

Why study?

Before asking how to get better at studying, Park asks what makes it worth doing. A goal outside school can raise the same question.

For him, learning to study was a way to gain some confidence and take himself seriously.

He started applying himself in his second year of high school. He took the science track and entered engineering at Kyungpook National University after his first university entrance exam.

Getting into engineering at Seoul National University

Unsatisfied with the first result, Park took the exam again and got into Seoul National University. Once there, he realized he had done all that work without thinking through what he wanted to do with an engineering education.

After deciding what he wanted, he sat the exam again and went to study law at Korea University. That is where the book leaves him.

The parts of Park’s story I recognized

My own path shared some of those turns. I was disappointed by my entrance-exam result, applied to a less competitive program, and went into engineering.

After military service I had little desire to go back to engineering. I prepared for the civil service exam for a while, then realized I did not particularly want to become a civil servant either.

A chance to transfer came up, and I just managed to get into English literature at Sungkyunkwan University.

I did not follow Park to Seoul National University. What I recognized was the time spent studying before I knew which direction I wanted to take.

How studying became interesting

At the end of the book Park offers a simple account of what worked for him: he gave up the things he would otherwise rather have been doing.

I remember doing something similar. I liked computer games and going out with friends, but for a few years I did very little of either. Over time, studying began to hold my attention.

The force of the book comes from seeing a student who once struggled with school learn what he could do with a period of sustained effort.

Book details

If I Could Spend Just One Day Studying

Author

Park Cheol-beom

Published

April 25, 2009

ISBN13

9788963700076

View the book on YES24

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