Daycare Teacher Announces "Geumju Event," Parent Complains: "Are Children Drinking Alcohol?"

Mistaking "Geumju (This Week)" for "Geumju (No Alcohol)"
Bizarre Complaints Arise from Lack of Literacy Skills

An incident occurred where a daycare teacher received a complaint from a parent after writing "Geumju event" in the students' communication notebook. This happened because the parent misunderstood "Geumju," which means "this week," as "Geumju," meaning "prohibition of alcohol." Recently, there has been growing concern over declining literacy skills, as misunderstandings of basic vocabulary have become more frequent among the MZ generation.

According to a post spreading on social networking services (SNS) on the 29th, a daycare teacher, referred to as A, recently posted a notice about a "Geumju event" in the communication notebook and received a complaint from a parent.

Reference photo for daycare center, unrelated to the article. Pixabay

The parent reportedly protested, saying, "Teacher, the children don't even drink alcohol, so why are you saying 'Geumju'? Why are you using such words?" When A explained, "The word 'Geumju' means 'this week,'" the parent responded, "Why use such difficult words? Can't you just say 'this week'? It's really annoying."

When A said, "I have not had any communication issues like this with other parents," the parent retorted, "If you can't communicate properly, that's why you're only working as a daycare teacher," and then hung up the phone.

This is not the first time a "literacy controversy" has arisen due to a lack of understanding of vocabulary, leading to inappropriate responses or criticism. Previously, a YouTuber posted a casting notice for actors with the phrase "number of recruits: 0," and was criticized with comments such as "Why post a notice if you're not going to recruit anyone?" "Posting a notice and then saying 0 people?" and "The more successful you are, the more humble you should be?what is this?" The "0" was intended to mean "no fixed number, flexible," but some users who failed to understand the context poured out criticism.

In 2022, a caf? owner apologized for an event disruption by saying, "I offer my deepest apologies," but was criticized by fans with comments like, "Is the situation boring to you now?" Other stories have also been reported, such as "Why use 'sahuil' instead of 'three-day holiday'?" "If the deadline is 'geumil' (today), does that mean I can submit it by Friday (geumyoil)?" and "The location will change in case of 'ucheonsi' (rainy weather)?where is the city called Ucheonsi?" These incidents occurred because of a lack of understanding of basic vocabulary, resulting in farcical situations.

This phenomenon is interpreted not simply as a series of mishaps, but as evidence that the decline in literacy among younger generations has reached a structural level. According to the results of the "2023 National Academic Achievement Assessment" announced by the Ministry of Education and the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation in June last year, the proportion of third-year middle school students with average or higher proficiency in Korean dropped from 82.9% in 2019 to 61.2% in 2023, and for second-year high school students, from 77.5% to 52.1%. This suggests that 4 to 5 out of every 10 students may have difficulty interpreting or understanding basic sentences.