Art School Exam Sparks Controversy Over Question About BTS
An exam from an art university has been the center of attention from netizens for an exam question about BTS.
On January 12, an online community post indicated that a question from a college entrance exam of Seoul Women’s University’s Department of Art and Craft involved BTS and some thought that it was inappropriate.
In the “Idea and Expression” part of the exam, a question asked students to “express the image of BTS they had in their head in the form of an artistic craft.” “방탄소년단(BTS): artist” was written below the question to clarify that it was indeed the artists they were referring to.
Public opinions were divided. Some believed that it was not strange for BTS to appear as a topic of an exam question as they led the K-Pop industry last year in Korea and abroad.
One netizen pointed out that art must be sensitive to trends and claimed that it was only natural for BTS to appear on an exam question considering their influence, and indicated that it did not pose a problem when appearing on other college exams.
Others, however, claimed that it was unfair to include BTS in a sensitive exam such as the college entrance exam.
Those who believed that it posed a problem argued that the quality of the answer would largely be affected by whether the student was a BTS fan or not. Moreover, interest in K-Pop was an issue of preference, not knowledge.
