Rural HS Adopts Business Curriculum

The company “Pulnaeum,” which means the scent of grass in Korean, was established in 2004. It produces local specialties such as Japanese apricot juice. The company consists of four departments, each in charge of production, R&D, distribution & PR and packaging & design. It has a simple way of producing goods and managing the business. Employees collect raw materials such as Japanese apricots and mulberry leaves from mountains and towns near the office and squeeze juice with their hands. They operate 24/7 by visiting potential customers.

The company earned a net profit of 118,000 won during the current period of last year, and the profit was spent on giving scholarships to students from low-income families. The company does not pay its workers, let alone overtime pay. Yet workers are proud of their workplace, saying it is the best company. How is this possible?

The Dream of a Country-side School

Drive an hour on a curvy mountain path from West Cheongju tollgate on Jungbu Highway, and you will see a high school in the middle of rice paddies. This is Poun Information High School in Poun County, North Chungcheong Province. Pulnaeum is a ‘student corporation’ run by students at this school.

It is a typical school in the countryside and most students came from low-income families. Information high schools accept students whose grades are not good enough to put them in academic high schools. The number of students is on the continuous decline as in any other school in farming villages.

Then came an opportunity for change.

The school applied for the “bizcool” program run by Small and Medium Business Administration, which financially supports schools with student business clubs.

“I wanted my students to have a real experience, since they are not as well-informed as those in big cities,” says the 60-year-old principal Kim Jung-kyu.

Students immediately became interested in starting their own businesses. Four student-run companies were founded in the first year, including Pulnaeum and “Nokcha Hyanggi” which produces traditional tea. Nokcha Hyanggi means the scent of green tea in Korean. Each company selected a student representative or CEO, divided departments and allocated student workers according to each student’s interest.

“I want to study food processing at college,” says Lee Mi-ok, 18, the CEO of Pulnaeum. The students used to have no specific plan after graduating from high school, but now they dream of studying business administration at universities, starting small businesses of their own and being a designer.

Teachers have also been committed. They encouraged students by stressing that Chung Ju-yung, the deceased founder of Hyundai group, started his career as a rice dealer.

The school invites businessmen every month for special lectures and often plays videos on success stories of various CEOs.

Ji Hwa-seon, 43, is a teacher and supervisor of Pulnaeum. She says, “We learned that students with bad grades can be good at other things.”

Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com