First, the true situation of "free education" in North Korea
For a long time, due to North Korea's strict control over the flow of information, its domestic situation has been shrouded in a mysterious veil. However, with the development of the Internet and North Korea's need for external communication over the years, some information has gradually leaked out, including the education system and the true situation of "free education" in North Korea.
Since 1975, North Korea has implemented the "11-year compulsory education system".
The education system consists of 1 year of preschool, 4 years of primary school, and 6 years of middle and high school. After completing high school, students are also required to take the university entrance exam.
Of course, the university entrance exam in North Korea is very different from our unified college entrance exam, but that's a topic for another time.
Then, in 2014, North Korea implemented education reforms, extending compulsory education to 12 years, and children started primary school at the age of 7.
Before attending primary school, North Korean children also have to attend kindergarten for about 3 years. If they are younger, they may also attend daycare centers. In any case, children cannot become a burden on their parents' work. In terms of childcare, objectively speaking, North Korea has done quite well.
However, once children enter primary school, the situation is different from ours.
Although North Korea's education appears to be "free education," it is actually not "cheap" at all.
Essentially, North Korea's national strength cannot support large-scale free education. As an agricultural country where people have long struggled to meet their basic needs, it is impossible for North Korea to achieve this.
Therefore, although North Korea does not charge "tuition fees" from primary to middle school, there are other "contributions" made in secret.
One type is "non-cash contributions".
Starting from primary school, students have to participate in school construction, provide firewood for heating in winter, repair school equipment and facilities, donate goods, and so on.
The earlier tasks are considered minor student labor and can be seen as social practice. However, the "donation of goods" is a significant burden for parents.
First of all, this kind of "donation" has a certain degree of compulsion. If a family dares not to donate, the consequences are not something an ordinary family can bear.
Secondly, there is a wide variety of "donated items", including various metals such as iron, copper, zinc, or other metal items required by the school, as well as wood, fur, flowers, fertilizers, and local specialties.
What if these items cannot be collected? No problem, the school provides a considerate service - they can be converted into money.
In addition, schools often organize fundraising activities, such as donations to the People's Army or certain official institutions. This is a clear form of "cash contribution".
The truth is, free things are the most expensive, and North Korean schools have mastered this system.
According to some defectors' accounts, the monthly materials and money contributed by a North Korean student amount to about 200-300 yuan (approximately $30-45) when converted. If this is true, considering North Korea's annual per capita income of less than 5,000 yuan (approximately $750), education expenses alone would account for nearly a quarter to a third of an average North Korean dual-income family.
I often see people on the internet advocating for North Korea's "free education" and saying that North Koreans hardly spend money and save all their monthly wages. If these people were to go to North Korea, I'm afraid that within a month, they would crawl back to China.
Second, the general's favor
In North Korea's education system, there is a very special educational content that is unique in the world, collectively known as "favor education".
Starting from primary school, students begin to receive "favor education". The curriculum of North Korean primary schools includes special courses dedicated to studying the childhood stories of the two generations of North Korean leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.
The hardships during the war, the nobility of the Baekdu Mountain bloodline, and the "steel-like will" that can make machines cry when passing through security gates are all instilled in these subtle stories, allowing North Korean primary school students to develop a correct "favor perspective" from an early age.
In the middle and high school stages, "favor education" is further intensified. In addition to subjects such as language (Korean), mathematics, physics, and chemistry, students also study the revolutionary history of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il, and Kim Il-sung's wife, Kim Jong-suk.
In North Korea, there are no regular history classes in middle and high schools. Learning the personal revolutionary history of several generations of leaders is considered equivalent to studying history. To study real history, one must enter university.
In addition, boys also study military courses, practicing marching and shooting, understanding and drawing military maps, and participating in small-scale military operations. Girls learn various production and life skills. Each school can be considered as a semi-military school.
After 12 years of systematic and uninterrupted "favor education," regardless of what North Korean youth do in the future, the "general's favor" is deeply ingrained in their minds.
This is why when North Korean people see their leaders, they burst into tears. The Americans may portray it as coercion through force, but in reality, it is because they have been educated in this way and have already internalized the belief that "the general's favor is higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea." Their emotions are genuine, with little falsehood.
I don't want to judge North Korea's "favor education." These are choices made by the North Korean people themselves. Let's consider it as an experiment for human civilization. After all, North Korea's existence has made the world aware of the rules that humanity should abide by and pursue.