Gwageo

So, have you heard of gwageo? It's a word from Korea that means "government service examination" or "civil service examination."

You know how some jobs require you to take a test to see if you're good enough to do them? Like how doctors have to take a test called the MCAT to see if they know enough about medicine to be a doctor? Well, gwageo is kind of like that.

In Korea, a long time ago, if you wanted to work for the government, you had to take a test called the gwageo. The test was really hard, and only the smartest and most well-educated people would pass it. If you passed the gwageo, you would be able to work for the government and have a really good job.

But there was a problem. Only rich families could afford to send their children to school, and only educated people could pass the gwageo. So, poor people and people who couldn't afford to go to school couldn't get good jobs in the government.

Today, things are a little different. There are still government service exams in Korea, but they're not as important as they used to be. People can go to school and get jobs without taking the gwageo, and more people have chances to succeed.