Nowadays, we could dare to call this era 'The Age of the University Logo Jacket.' We are the generation of university students who no longer wear school uniforms, but I am absolutely sure that we can get through this cold winter with these jackets. The jackets have been improved as time goes by. Starting from basic colors to unique leopard colors, each school and major shows its unique characteristics by their designs and colors. This shows school and department spirit. However, is it only useful to keep from feeling cold?
The school jacket itself shows boldly: 'This is my school!' It can offer the onlooker lots of information related the name of the school, the major marked on the back, and the school logo or special symbol printed on the arm. This is the point which allows the school jacket to be used not only to enlighten the spirit of students inside the school, but also to show pride in the face of the underlying competition between universities.

Then, how would university students think about wearing school jackets? DKH selected three universities at which to ask school jacket wearers this question.
Lee, who belongs to the Wonju campus of Yonsei University (East Asia International College, freshman) feels heavy every time when she wears her school jacket. It does not really matter when she is at school, but when the time comes for her to head back home on weekends, she has to consider others around her. "I was waiting for the subway before, and a teenager asked me if I go to Yonsei University. At the moment, I was so confused about what to say. It was obvious that the student was convinced that I am a student at the Sinchon campus and was admiring me, but that was not true. However, I could not deny it either since I was wearing a Yonsei school jacket. At the same time, I felt I would be lying if I said so. Also, I was worried that if I told the student that I go to Wonju Campus, then she would be disappointed at me and feel pity for me. No one has said anything to me about that, yet for some reason I know I would feel lowly and ashamed in that situation."
Is this kind of thinking simply one student's inferiority complex? If so, how do students in prestigious universities feel?  
DKH asked a student attending Yonsei University in Shinchon, Hong Ji-In (freshman, Dept. of Korean Education) for an interview. "Frankly speaking," she told us, "the school jacket is not really made for fashion. So, I only wear it during school festivals or during examinations, but sometimes I wear it when I go to university town to hang around with my friends and commute to school by subway. I also look at the school name and department when students from other universities wear their school jackets. I think it is the same when I wear my school jacket because people do seem to think highly of me based on these trivial letters printed on the back. Also, when I wear the same clothes as my fellow alumni, I feel a sense of self-esteem like building a fence around us. So sometimes I feel uneasy when Wonju Campus students wearing the school jacket come around Sinchon. Definitely, they are not at the same university as we are, so when they are wearing the same uniform I feel that I fall to the same level with them. Thinking this way, the purpose of wearing a school jacket looks like showing off, but these clothes are not only made for a sense of belonging."        
Through these interviews, we can see the difference in thinking between students of those two campuses, even though they are the same university. Then what do DKU students think? 
A student attending Dankook University in Cheonan, Song Hye-Young (junior, Dept. of International Trade), bought a school jacket when she was a sophomore. "Usually students buy it when they are freshmen, but I had a negative view of the school jacket at that time. Although this jacket has no practical use, the price is ridiculously expensive. Also, I thought that putting on a school jacket was a strange  way just to show off someone's school name. At first, I did not want to follow that kind of behavior, but recently I haven't felt the youthful joy that university students should feel, and I couldn't feel any sense of belonging. So I bought the school jacket in my second year with good intentions. I used to wear the jacket frequently, but eyes were viewing me negatively off campus. I felt that people only stared at the school name. Especially because I commute to school from Seoul, I often met other university students who were wearing their school jackets. When they sneered or swore, I got daunted and discouraged. It seems that I was forced into a society based on the caste system. Ever since, I only wear my jacket for department events or on cold days and just store it in my locker. I am just too bothered by other people's eyes when I'm off campus."  

Through this interview, we came to the realization that school jackets don't just mark a fashion for winter anymore. Of course, sometimes they serve as a symbol of youth giving students a sense of belonging and kinship between alumni. There is a difference in the frequency of wearing school jackets between non-metropolitan areas or between students of less-prestigious universities and more prestigious universities. Students who wear university jackets bearing the logos of prestigious universities are seen often in downtown Seoul. By comparison, we cannot easily find school jackets representing unknown schools. Through this, we see that school jackets have many roles beyond simply creating a sense of belonging. Where does this above mentioned recognition come from? In other words, why do many people concentrate their attention on other people's school names when they see their school jackets? It may be a result of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). During that time, Korean students all went through countless sorrows, as if even their personalities were ranked just as their scores. So now they voluntarily rank themselves by wearing a school uniform like obtaining a large compensation for their sorrow. Every year in entrance examination season, the nation's media, such as JoongAng Ilbo, one of Korea's famous newspapers, openly report graphs depicting the ranks of domestic universities. Although each university has its own characteristics, those are not important in the ranking. Rank is only delineated according to students' CSAT scores. Although universities are not companies but places of learning, they receive students like companies lure customers via competition called CSAT. In this way, school name can constitute the biggest influence on a student looking for a job in the future. Because of this flawed social tendency, students shout, 'please notice my ability, not just my school name.' However, as soon as their university life starts, ironically, those students make their own rank and position through trivial clothes -  a school jacket.

It is commonly known that although vitamin beverages that people drink to boost their vitamin intake are sensationally popular, only a tiny amount of vitamins have actually been detected in those beverages. In fact, test results have shown that those drinks have more harmful ingredients like sugar than healthy ingredients. As a result, the prime ingredient seems to have vanished while bad ingredients remain in its place. Is not the popularity of school jackets the same kind of phenomenon? School jackets were first made to create a sense of kinship and solidarity, but these true meanings are already gone, and the only function that remains is a cause for vanity or disharmony. Revival of the new uniform exists in the school jacket. Rather than following fashion just for showing off, we have to think about the true meaning behind what we wear and collectively build a positive culture around it.   

Ji-Hyun Kwon  dkherald@gmail.com