Luck influence people’s lives in ways that can sometimes be surprising to foreigners. When moving, certain days are deemed "lucky" by fortune tellers, and these are given the highest priority by moving companies. The demand to move into an apartment on a lucky day is enough to drive up the price considerably compared to an unlucky day in the same month.
Another example are "lucky years". Next year,(2007) is the Year of the Pig in the Korean zodiac calendar. For whatever reason, it’s a special Year of the Pig as well. It’s a "Golden Pig" year. This means it’s a particularly lucky time to have children. Only the fortune tellers know why. Several of our married friends have considered the luckiness of the year in which to plan giving birth to their children. In-laws will call them and demand a "lucky" child to be born next year if possible.
While it is luck that dominates some people’s thinking, education is also on the mind of others. The ever present and ever dreadful college entrance examinations are so important that people plan their children’s lives around them. Literally. My wife was talking to some of her friends. Her friend recently called to tell us she is pregnant and will be having a child in the New Year. While we had congratulated her, she was worried. She said that people were telling her next year was a bad year to have children despite all of the "Golden Pig" claims.
What is the reason?
In 20 years, the crop of "Golden Pigs" being born next year will be taking their college entrance examinations. In theory, the "Golden year" will spur more babies to be born. The competition for college applications will be more fierce and will be even more difficult when the "Golden Pigs" must take their test due to the additional applicants. Thus, while the fortune tellers claim they’ll have good luck, this very proclamation hurts their chances of making such a statement true.
I thought it was depressing to plan out a child’s life based on a test before they were even born. I also thought it was rather pessimistic to think that in twenty years the hope of educational reform in Korea is so unlikely. Twenty years is a lot of time for change, so if you were worried about where your child might end up you could work to change the system or improve their lives in other ways.
It’s amazing the deep effect the college entrance examinations have on many aspects of Korean life.
