Lee Mi-joo, an Alumna of Vocational High School, Questions if 'Prestigious Universities are the Success Formula?'

Singer Lee Mi-joo (32) will join a new program addressing the career concerns of teenagers, drawing on her own experience as a graduate of a vocational high school. As the value of high school graduates is being re-emphasized, centered around high-tech industries such as semiconductors, attention is focused on what realistic stories Lee Mi-joo will tell in a society where entering university is regarded as an essential condition for success. The program is also expected to highlight the temporal shift toward valuing skills and practical abilities over academic background.

Lee Mi-joo will appear in SBS 'Rewriting the Success Formula - Young Kkeu Is Going to Work', which premieres on the 18th. 'Young Kkeu' is a program that examines the changing educational environment and job market through the stories of third-year middle school students facing high school entrance and their parents. It explores various possibilities so that teenagers facing entrance exams do not view university admission as their only option, but can design a future that fits their aptitudes and capabilities.

The core question posed by the program is 'Can one only succeed by going to a good university?' For a long time in Korean society, a university diploma has been considered an important criterion determining employment and social status. As academic background has functioned like a yardstick for evaluating an individual's ability, competition surrounding university entrance has continued intensely. However, as the industrial structure changes rapidly and the importance of personnel with specialized skills grows, voices are emerging that a change is needed in the existing success formula.

Recently, along with the growth of the semiconductor industry, interest in vocational high schools and employment for high school graduates has increased as the massive performance bonuses for high school graduate employees at SK hynix became a hot topic. It drew attention to the fact that even without graduating from university, one can possess expertise and build a career in industrial sites. However, it is difficult to judge the overall reality of high school graduate employment based solely on some cases of high performance bonuses. In that various conditions such as wages, job stability, and career development opportunities must be examined together, interest is also focused on what kind of field stories 'Young Kkeu' will tell.

The expansion of high-tech industries such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), semiconductors, secondary batteries, and smart manufacturing is also a major theme the program will cover. In a situation where the skills and duties required at industrial sites are changing, what students need is not simply deciding whether or not to enter university. The process of identifying one's aptitude and interest and specifically contemplating what capabilities to possess in a changing industrial environment is becoming important. It is also a point to observe whether entering vocational high schools and specialized technical education can establish themselves as independent career choices rather than just alternatives to university entrance exams.

The hosts will be Moon Se-yoon, Lee Sang-yeob, Lee Mi-joo, and So Seul-ji. Moon Se-yoon, who has a third-year middle school daughter, will unfold stories from the perspective of a parent worrying about their child's career. While empathizing with the realistic worries of parents surrounding entrance exams and employment, he is expected to point out the difficulty of choices faced by students and parents. Lee Sang-yeob and So Seul-ji will also look into education and career issues from various perspectives.

In particular, the participation of Lee Mi-joo, an alumna of a vocational high school, draws attention. She is expected to play a role differentiated from the other hosts in that she can share stories based on her own experience with students facing career choices. Realistic topics that teenagers will be curious about, such as what kind of experiences entering a vocational high school leads to and how the capabilities learned at school connect to social life, are also expected to be covered.

'Young Kkeu' is not about unconditionally negating university entrance or unilaterally beautifying high school graduate employment. It is that both the path of entering university and the path of building expertise early through vocational education can be meaningful choices depending on an individual's situation and goals. The important thing is not just which path one chooses, but whether sufficient opportunities for growth are guaranteed after the choice is made. As Lee Mi-joo's experience meets the concerns of students and parents, attention is focused on what questions this program will pose to the long-standing academic-centered view of success in Korean society.

Meanwhile, the cases of LPBA players Lee Woo-kyung (29, SY) and Seo Han-sol (29, Huons), who are famous peers, also deserve attention. The two, who were attending the same vocational high school, dreamed of becoming hairdressers, but after accidentally encountering billiards one day, they became players and entered the LPBA, proving their skill and popularity by being part of team leagues. In particular, they are enjoying high popularity by being named on the list of beautiful billiards players.

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