▲ Tiposs / CEO Shindo Choi

Most people want to be happy. Some say being happy means having an agreeable personality since we cannot live alone. But to have an agreeable personality is not as easy as it sounds for we have a desire to possess more than others. Me comes before others and what I want is more important than what others want and this is the point where conflicts occur. 

For this reason, we have to endeavor to show kindness to others as we will receive accordingly and grow our potential to make advancement of our life. In the same respect, the South Korean government introduced Personality Education Promotion Act in 2015. It aims to train one’s personality and ability and grow values of sharing with others. 

Awakening is one of the virtues great people possess

Shocking news is covering the newspapers every day and we wonder what causes them to commit those appalling acts. Experts say that the cause is not somewhere we do not know or conceive but the evil dangerously resides in our innermost. A man looking normal turns out to be harassing his colleagues at work or even commits sexual crime and violence. 

A statistic shows that these offenses occur most frequently among people in their 40s and 50s. The problem is that these offenders are not only causing problems in their work place or public place but also in their home. Experts say that most of them seem to have personality problems from their childhood or younger years which then have been piled up as they make advance to their mature age. But at the same time, the experts voice together that they can improve their personality through education and social campaign. 

An agreeable personality means a personality that can communicate and interact with others without offensive words or behavior. Men are not designed to live alone but within the social boundary. In other words, having an agreeable personality is a must in order to live with other members of the society.

The case of the worst personality, or rather a devilish personality we must call, in South Korea recently is the captain Junsuk Lee of Sewol ferry who let the 476 passengers die by drowning while he fled himself. For this reason, Personality Education Promotion Act introduced by the government in 2015 is often called Junsuk Lee Prevention Act and it includes personality test and education and prevention training. Yet some people still do not seem to know there is an act like this. 

Action speaks louder than words

South Korea’s Personality Education Promotion Act is the first kind in the world. The act defines ‘personality education’ as follows: 1) to train one’s inner side sound and healthy, grow sociability, not to harass others or offensive but to communicate with understanding and consideration 2) to build virtues of honesty, responsibility, consideration, respect, communication, cooperation, decorum and filial piety 3) to build virtues of sharing, volunteer and responsibly perform one’s duty 

4) home education, media’s engagement for campaign, and teachers completing related courses 5) level by level education curriculum 6) public and private institutions’ engagement with school dropouts 7) fostering industry specialists and establish national level institutions 8) personality education-centered education paradigm, government’s budget and support, parents’ responsibility and teacher and principal training. 

The bill for the act was approved unanimously and enforced from July 2015. The general plan of the act is reestablished every 5 years and it is compulsory for schools, army and companies (around 60,000 organizations) to carry out personality and aptitude test. 

Standardization of personality and aptitude test

As everything has its side effect, so has the personality and aptitude education industry. Numerous service providers popped up to make money out of it without proper and professional knowledge, experience and philosophy. So it became a new business rather than a serious education. Rubbish personality and aptitude tests were poured in the market and both children and parents lost their way. 

Observing this phenomenon for a very long time, Shindo Choi, CEO of Tiposs who worked in the software development and education business for a long time, rolled up his sleeve to bring appropriate measures. Joining hands with Choi is Gunrim Park, President of the Korea Human Science Edu Lab which was recognized as the first research center for personality education in South Korea.

“I will use most of my knowhow and management philosophy to lead the personality and aptitude test and education market in cooperation with related research centers” says Choi.

The Korea Human Science Edu Lab, on the other hand, completed a standardization of personality and aptitude test and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dongguk University Computing Institute that takes part in fostering talented manpower in the field. 

Fostering industry specialists

The personality and aptitude test program of the Korea Human Science Edu Lab has standardized more than 200,000 people for the last 3 years and built more than 8 million model cases through big data. The program also comes with down-to-earth education systems and solutions. 

As part of this effort, the Dongguk University Computing Institute is running personality and aptitude instructor’s course covering all age groups and all walks of life. The course is expected to affect creating more than 50,000 new jobs in the education industry through cooperation with the Republic of Korea Voters Federation in addition to the Korea Human Science Edu Lab and the Dongguk University Computing Institute. 

Those who passed the course are given a Democratic Citizen Instructor’s Certificate of Finish and a Grade 2 Certificate. The course is particularly good for retirees who have interest or passion in teaching others or deliver their knowhow to junior members of the society. 

“The course is designed for those who wish to be a personality and aptitude instructor after retiring and start a new career or expanding the existing career. People with passion in teaching and education are especially encouraged to challenge” says an official of the Korea Human Science Edu Lab.