I recently wrapped up a gripping 10-episode Korean series called Teach You a Lesson, and honestly? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. While it’s packaged as entertainment, it serves as a glaring, uncomfortable mirror for educators, parents, and adults worldwide.

The storyline takes a dark, unfiltered dive into the atrocities happening within our school systems: severe cyberbullying, students blackmailing teachers, educators actively sabotaging brilliant students while leaking exam answers (“expo”) to others, high school drug rings, and minors committing horrific crimes because they know the law shields them from adult consequences.

But the most heartbreaking part? The adults.

We watch parents push their children past the brink of sanity for academic success—one mother goes as far as starving her child and introducing him to illicit drugs just to keep him studying. Then, when leadership attempts to step in with systems to curb this moral decay, parents and politicians weaponize it, turning children’s futures into a game of political ambition.

We Have Forgotten the True Meaning of Education

Somewhere along the line, we lost the plot. Education isn’t just about top grades, Ivy League admissions, or status symbols. Education exists to give children the basic knowledge and moral etiquette they need to fully integrate into society as healthy, functional human beings.

Today, we see adults constantly exploiting the innocence of children for personal gain, inadvertently setting them on a path of destruction. We’ve globalized a system where school disciplines and corrective punishments are entirely stripped away. My Bible tells me to “spare the rod and spoil the child.” When we completely prohibit structural discipline in schools—both here in Nigeria and globally—we shouldn’t wonder why society is suddenly filled with rude, greedy, and dysfunctional adults.

It Takes a Village

It starts with our children, but the responsibility rests on us. We cannot afford to be selfish, looking out only for our own biological kids while ignoring the child next door.

As an advocate for teenagers, my appeal to every parent and teacher is simple: Train up these children right. Go to any length to ensure they learn the right values. Lovingly correct them, hold them accountable, and ensure that your personal ambitions are never fueled by harming their well-being.

The future of our world literally depends on them. Let’s do what’s right.

Have you watched “Teach You a Lesson”? How do you think we can better balance modern discipline and academic pressure in our homes and schools today? Let’s talk in the comments.