[The Editors' Verdict] Awaiting the 'Genius Moment' in the Daechi-dong Academy District

"Ah, this is a genius moment."

A 4-year-old child complained about receiving fewer snacks. Hearing this, 'Jamie Mom' Lee Sodam (comedian Lee Suji) admired the child’s gifted ability to count numbers and sent the child to a math academy. This is a scene from the YouTube video series "Human Documentary: I Love My Child," which parodies moms riding around the Daechi-dong academy district. Lee said, "Since jegichagi (Korean traditional footbag kicking) appears in Squid Game 2, it might be included in school performance assessments," and even consulted a jegichagi tutor from Cheonghak-dong.

This video is currently popular on social networking services (SNS). It also caused a big stir in Daechi-dong. In the drama, Lee appears driving a luxury foreign car and wearing various designer brands, and the padding jacket she wore flooded the secondhand market. These were items put up by Daechi-dong moms who saw themselves reflected in the mirror. By putting perfectly fine padding jackets on the secondhand market, they seemed to want to separate themselves from Lee. They might have also recognized themselves in Lee’s nonchalant boasting about her child, mixing grammatically incorrect English in the middle of conversations.

Even for those who are not Daechi-dong parents, this video became an opportunity to look back once again at the Daechi-dong academy district. Since the development of Hanti Village, which had 15,000 households in the 1980s, the Daechi-dong academy district has evolved continuously since private academy attendance was permitted in 1990. According to the real estate platform Hogangnono, there are currently about 1,440 academies operating here?400 more than in Mok-dong.

In this "number one private education district," the government has introduced various measures to suppress the private education craze by changing the college entrance system or emphasizing the importance of public education, but all have failed repeatedly. Instead, "Daejeon-jok" (Daechi-dong rental families) from all over the country flocked to send their children to academies that adapted to government education policies. As a result, Daechi-dong also became the epicenter of rising real estate prices in Seoul.

Institutionally, there is no solution yet to dismantle the Daechi-dong academy district. However, recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology suggest the possibility of a new phase in this reality. Developed countries are highly interested in realizing Mastery Learning using AI. This model is an educational philosophy advocated by American educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom. It holds that individual differences among learners may affect learning speed but not achievement, and that anyone can reach academic goals through appropriate learning methods. AI can provide personalized education tailored to each learner’s style at a low cost, making it the most suitable technology to realize this model. Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, which gained global recognition by developing free educational programs, emphasized, "Mastery Learning requires educational programs and personnel tailored to individual learners, which was the biggest obstacle due to high costs. Using AI can solve this problem" (I Study with AI · RHK Korea).

With this, there will be no need to take exams to enter academies or to wander around academy districts looking for the right academy. You can study with an AI tutor who knows your skills and learning style well, wherever you want. Since there is no reason to live near academy districts, housing prices will stabilize. Considering that intelligent AI like ChatGPT has already come close to our lives, this does not seem like a distant future. It is a moment eagerly awaited for this genius moment to arrive as soon as possible.