[Kim Tae Hyun's Teen Education] What Education Needs in the Hottest Seaso...

[Korea Lecturer News | Columnist Kim Tae Hyun] During the peak of summer, many Koreans turn to nourishing foods believed to restore energy and help the body endure the heat. Seasonal dishes such as ginseng chicken soup, eel, and loach soup are more than meals—they represent wisdom passed down through generations about recovering strength in difficult seasons.

In Korea, the hottest stretch of summer is traditionally marked by three special midsummer days, often associated with rest, recovery, and renewed energy.

Education is not so different.

During the school term, children experience intellectual and emotional fatigue just as real as the summer heat. If the body needs nourishment during difficult seasons, perhaps the heart and mind do too.

This summer, I would like to suggest three forms of educational nourishment for children:

Happiness

Resilience

Blessing

1. Education That Gives Happiness

Everyone defines happiness differently.

For one child, happiness may be playing with friends.

For another, it may be sharing dinner with family.

For someone else, it may simply be feeling understood.

Happiness does not come in one fixed form. It blooms uniquely in each life.

But one truth remains clear:

The ultimate destination of education should be a child’s happy life.

So how happy are today’s children?

According to international surveys, Korean adolescents have ranked near the bottom among developed nations in measures of happiness and life satisfaction. Other child well-being reports show that while academic performance is high, mental and physical well-being rank significantly lower.

These numbers reveal a painful reality:

Many children are succeeding in school, but struggling in life.

That is why the first form of educational nourishment I want to offer is happiness.

Even if children do not achieve perfect grades today, I hope their lives become a little warmer and more joyful.

Shouldn’t education help children widen their choices and gain the power to build a life they truly want?

Research in Korea also shows that self-esteem plays a decisive role in children’s happiness—especially under academic stress.

In other words, happiness is not just about feelings.

It is deeply connected to:

How children see themselves

Whether they believe in themselves

Whether they feel respected at school and at home

Recently, after finishing a class at one school, a student looked at me quietly while putting on a backpack and said with a smile:

“Teacher, today was so much fun.”

It was a short sentence, but it held so much meaning.

A small sense of achievement.

Shared laughter with friends.

Warm eye contact.

Kind words from a teacher.

Those small moments had gathered into one good day.

In that moment, I was reminded again:

Education is not only preparation for the future.

It is also a way of living today.

If children can smile a little more in the classroom or at home today, that may be one of the healthiest and warmest gifts education can give.

2. Education That Builds Resilience

At the height of summer, people do not seek nourishment simply to survive one day.

They do it to gain strength for the days ahead.

Education should do the same.

Children will make countless choices in pursuit of happiness.

They will face the results of those choices, carry responsibility, and walk through life.

But life does not always unfold as we expect.

The world is filled with moments that do not go our way.

Sooner or later, every child will face difficulties.

That is why education must help children develop the strength to move through hardship.

Breaking Learned Helplessness

Many people have heard of the idea of learned helplessness.

An elephant raised while tied with a thin rope may grow strong enough to break free as an adult—yet never even tries, because it has already accepted in its mind:

“I can’t.”

I have experienced something like that myself.

Though it is a little embarrassing to admit, I did not learn to ride a two-wheeled bicycle until I was twenty years old.

As a child, I was afraid. I always kept the training wheels on. Over time, I naturally stopped riding bicycles, and a belief formed deep inside me:

“I am someone who cannot ride a bike.”

When friends invited me to ride, I wanted to join them.

But inside, I kept thinking:

I can’t do it.

It won’t work anyway.

So I never tried.

Then, at age twenty, after experiencing other challenges and successes, I gained confidence.

Suddenly, I wanted to face that old fear again.

I called close friends, went to the Han River, and asked them to teach me.

To my surprise, I learned to ride in just ten minutes.

That moment gave me a lesson I have never forgotten:

Helplessness is often just a wall inside the mind—and sometimes that wall falls faster than we expect.

We must help children not stop in front of such walls.

We must help them recover after failure and try again.

That strength often begins with two things:

One person who believes in them

Repeated small experiences of success

At its core, education should help children say:

“I can do this.”

That is the nourishment of resilience.

3. Education That Blesses a Child’s Life

At the end of summer, nourishing food is no longer only about surviving the heat.

It is also about preparing for the next season.

Education is the same.

We do not teach children merely so they can do well right now.

We teach them so they can live well in the years ahead.

And one of the warmest forms of nourishment we can give a child is this:

Recognition and blessing.

Whenever I visit schools to teach, I keep one personal rule:

I do not go there to scold children.

Why?

Because many children are already being corrected everywhere they go:

At home

At school

At private academies

By older students or authority figures

Do they really need one more adult adding another voice of criticism?

So I made a decision:

I will go there to give love.

Of course, there are moments when wrong behavior must be addressed clearly.

But even then, I choose calmness and sincerity rather than anger.

And something remarkable happens.

After class, students often write letters saying:

“Thank you for treating me with dignity.”

I did not do anything extraordinary.

I simply chose not to humiliate them.

Yet the students experienced that as respect.

Blessing is not only spoken through words.

Sometimes blessing is simply the attitude of treating a child as a full human being.

And that blessing awakens a new desire inside them:

“I want to live better too.”

Praise may motivate performance.

But blessing helps a person grow.

It is not too late.

This summer, let us serve children the nourishment of blessing.

Closing Thoughts: Three Essential Forms of Educational Nourishment

Just as nourishing food restores a tired body, educational nourishment protects a child’s heart and future.

Happiness helps children smile today

Resilience helps them face tomorrow

Blessing helps them grow into whole human beings

Let us set these three forms of nourishment on the table—in classrooms and in homes.

They may become the inner strength children carry for a lifetime.

And when the heat of this season has passed, we may realize something profound:

The warm educational meal we offered a child this summer may carry them farther in life than we ever imagined.

Columnist Profile

Kim Tae Hyun is a youth education expert and curriculum designer specializing in career development, self-directed learning, and leadership education. Known widely as Girin Teacher, he helps young people grow at their own pace and build lives they can lead with confidence, purpose, and hope.

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