Exhibit brings back memories of school days

Do you remember the good old days when life was much slower and simpler? People used to give more credit to each other even without credit cards, and understood others better without cell phones.

Things were pretty much the same at elementary schools. Although classrooms were as tightly packed as canned sardines with kids sitting on old, squeaking wooden chairs, they were always lit up with smiles.

Parents might want to have their beloved young ones savor the time, yet no one can turn the time back one second. To their joy, though, time travel is not the only solution.

"Let`s Go School," an exhibition now on display at the Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, is full of memory-provoking display items, which will surely serve the end.

<**1>The exhibition room has been modeled after a typical Korean elementary school of the `70s and `80s, and it has virtually everything - from a playground to a heavy iron stove - in it, as one, especially in his or her thirties and forties, remember how their schools were when they were kids.

Though the school building is not a real one, thousands of items displayed here are genuine. They are from the collections of Yang Ho-yul, head of the Korean Educational History Center. Right beside the school`s front gate is a stationery shop which also sells various kinds of cheap snacks that are not exactly supposed to be healthy, but delicious.

Entering the front door, a male teacher with a very unhappy look greets visitors. Roaming about the gate with a rod in his right hand, he is looking for students who break the school rules by growing hair excessively, or simply being late. In fact, the teacher is not a real teacher but a hired actor, but none of the visitors of the exhibition seemed to care.

"I`m happy to be back to my old school," said Shim Eun-sun, 40, who visited the exhibition on its opening day last Friday with her nine-year-old son.

"Back then I went to school with all the textbooks packed in a scarf, instead of a bag," Choi Boon-nyo, 65, a visitor from Sinnae-dong in Seoul, said.

Including the teacher, there are 60 actors hired to make the daily trip extremely real, but they are not the only ones acting here.

Visitors line up at the playground to a sudden announcement heard through outdated speakers. After a little setting-up exercise called "Gungmin Chejo (citizens` gymnastics)," they will be divided into two groups to compete for prizes through outdoor games.

More than 500 people visited the exhibition on its opening day alone, proving the event`s popularity. Even kids who felt reluctant to follow their parents to go to the exhibition later find it as funny as any video games to play old games in the shabby classroom.

One of the hottest spots of the exhibition is a room displaying cherished belongings of celebrities, which date back to their school days.

For the event, President Roh Moo-hyun has lent his letter of appointment as the chairman of his elementary school`s students` council, while Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and world renowned evangelist David Cho have displayed their elementary school yearbooks. Don`t forget to peek into Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-kyu`s middle school report card.

For those from the first generation of computerization, who are in their mid-thirties, there is also a video game room, where classic arcade games such as Galaxian and Pac Man are available.

The exhibition continues until Aug. 29. Tickets are 7,000 won for children and 12,000 won for adults. For more information, call (02) 786-2892 or go www.letsgoschool.co.kr

(danlee@heraldm.co.kr)



By Lee Yong-sung