Thinking Allowed: A Teenager's View on Human Rights

"And although she and her friends place a small timer on their desks to measure the time they study each day and make joint promises to “study harder and use time wisely,” at a certain point, the most desperate right that high school seniors in Korea identify with becomes not “the right to education” but rather “the right to the pursuit of happiness.” In today’s world it feels like ‘studying’ and ‘education’ are not fundamental and basic rights but more like fundamental, basic obligations. So today in response and perhaps as a declaration of sorts I decided not to open my textbook and study, but instead open my laptop and write a truly honest story about my thoughts on living as a senior student in Korea."

- From Chapter 15, "A right to a "Happy" Education"