ED
After finishing the Korean War, also called 6.25 war, Korean society experienced the baby boom phenomenon from 1955 to 1964. Baby boom means that many more babies are born than usual. Because of the baby boom phenomenon, many children who were born after the post war suffered from hunger. Their parents had to go out to work and they had to stay at home to do family affairs. Therefore, they could not imagine going to school. Although many years passed, they had complexes that they were grammarless. For these people, night schools were established. There are 4 night schools in Cheongju. Night school teachers teach elementary, middle, and high school courses to people who are illiterate at no cost.   
 
The Chungbuk Times reporters visited the Simgi Night School.
 
 The Chungbuk Times reporters visited the Simji Night School located in Cheongju Boakdae Dong. When we entered the Simji Night School, there were some pictures on the wall.  There were teachers and students who were laughing brightly in the picture.  We could feel their sense of closeness by looking at the pictures. One colorful book shelf caught our eyes. To meet various student levels, there were many kinds of books on the book shelves such as Hangeul Books to teach illiterates, but there were no new books. Goo Hyeon-mo, the principal of Simji Night School, said, “Actually, old books are proof of teachers’ passion. Because teachers want to give their students more knowledge as much as possible, they always prepare their lessons before their classes begin.” Simgi Night School has poor facilities, but we could not feel the cold because of the teachers and students` passion of learning.
 
We are never too old to learn 

 Oh Tae-suk and Woo Young-soon are the most diligent students in the Simgi Night School. Oh Tae-suk, who is a typical baby boomer, said, “When I was young, I could not go to school because my parents worked outside, so I had to look after my younger siblings and take care of household affairs. Now, I am in love with my new studies. Most students in the Simji Night School are enjoying their studies as well as studying hard. In addition, they have their own goals. Oh Tae-suk, who passed the national qualification exam for elementary school, shyly said that her goal is to become a kindergarten teacher. There are more baby boomers who want to study again than we might think. However, most of them do not even know about the existence of night school. Therefore, each local government should promote and expand its support to night school to help people who want to study.
 
Teachers feel worthwhile teaching mature students
 
 Goo Hyun-mo, Simji Night School’s principal, said, “Mature students always try to study hard at night in spite of working for their livelihood during daytime, whereas I seem to neglect my own classes. Therefore, I’m sometimes shameful when I teach students about primary subjects such as Korean language.” Also, he added, “When students who pass a school qualification examination are thankful to us, we feel worthwhile teaching the students, and we promise ourselves to teach them much harder.”  Because all teachers are university students, they have difficulty teaching students for 4 to 6 hours per week. Despite this difficulty, they feel the joy of sharing their knowledge. In fact, Korea could achieve a high level of economic growth and introduce compulsory education thanks to the baby boomers’ efforts. As a result, we have studied in a comfortable environment. Now, isn’t it time we give our knowledge to them?
 
The difficulties of running Simji Night School
 
 There are many difficulties in running Simji Night School.
 First, Simji Night School is struggling with financial difficulties. Every year, the City Hall, Provincial Government Building, and Education Office offer Simji Night School almost 5,000,000 to 6,000,000won. The principal said, “The support funding is not enough to run Simji Night School because we should pay utility bills such as electricity and water. Therefore, we have no choice but to charge students half price for the books.”
 
 Second, if some teachers stop to volunteer for some unavoidable reasons, the remaining teachers cover for them. The principal said, “We considered closing the night school when only 5 teachers remained.”
 
 Finally, some teachers are in trouble teaching students because their levels are varied. Simji Night School is running two classes for Korean language and three classes for school qualification examinations(elementary, middle, high school). In the case of the classes for qualification examinations in particular, student levels are different from individual to individual. Therefore, teachers need to subdivide the classes, but there is no room for the classes.
 
 To university students
 When I went back to the Simji Night School, I thought about the difficulties of the baby boomer generation. They had no time to look back on their lives because they had to live in rapidly changing times. Consequently, they didn’t have life goals for their joy. In addition, they are burdened in their later years as they can live longer than before. The reason that they are burdened in their later years is that they are not ready for retirement. The total number of baby boomers is 7,582,000, and only 2,567,000(33.9%) of all baby boomers will receive their pension, the National Pension Service’s research revealed.
 
 Night school plays an important role in helping baby boomers set goals for their pleasures in life. To run even more night schools, university students’ active participation is very crucial. Night school is always open for university students. Even now, please knock at the door of Simji Night School.