Beyond Competition, Learning Together: Why We Need Cooperative Education

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 Back when I was in school, getting into a prestigious university was considered life’s ultimate milestone. To achieve that goal, my days stretched late into the night—staying at school for mandatory self-study sessions, rushing to private cram schools (hagwons), and studying in silent cubicles at reading rooms. Once in college, preparing to enter the workforce meant another frantic race: collecting certificates, polishing credentials, and accumulating internships. From my teenage years through early adulthood, I lived under constant pressure to prove who I was and what value I could demonstrate.

 

From what I hear and observe today, life for the younger generation has become even more demanding. In my work reporting from the frontlines of social innovation, I have had frequent opportunities to meet young people in their twenties and thirties. They carry fresh, diverse ideas for changing society. Yet, alongside that drive, they wrestle with deep uncertainties: Is this the right path? What am I actually good at? What happens if I fail? The fear of failure is pervasive, and opportunities to experiment, take risks, and pursue what truly matters to them remain scarce.

 

South Korea’s conventional education system has long focused on teaching students how to find the "single correct answer." That is how I was taught, and today’s youth largely navigate that same paradigm. The model centers on absorbing established knowledge and utilizing it to integrate into society as functional contributors. But simply absorbing static information does not equip people with the complex competencies required to solve today's multifaceted systemic challenges.

 

🌳University Life and the Dread of "Group Projects"

 

Of course, learning is not entirely an individual endeavor throughout Korean schooling. In primary and secondary school, students occasionally team up for science experiments or group discussions. In college, professors assign collaborative work through what is known as jobyeol-gwaje (group projects). Yet because students have rarely been taught how to communicate and collaborate constructively, working with others often proves agonizing. Friction, passive aggression, and free-riding frequently derail the process, leaving participants disillusioned. It is telling that Korean social media is flooded with memes capturing the sheer exhaustion and anxiety associated with college group assignments.

 

🌴Why Authentic "Team Experience" Matters

 

This is why structured team-based learning is essential.

 

I felt this acutely while covering Mondragon University’s LEINN (Liderazgo Emprendedor e Innovación) Seoul Lab—an innovative entrepreneurship program born out of Spain’s Mondragon Corporation, the world’s largest worker cooperative federation—and interviewing its coaches and students. What stood out was the indispensable value of daring together and learning through firsthand experience. Upon enrollment, students do not sit in passive lectures; they become "team entrepreneurs" operating real, legal business entities. Within one company, students form multiple teams to launch and manage actual ventures.

 

Challenging themselves as a collective means students co-create ideas, divide responsibilities, and execute plans side-by-side. When they stumble, they iterate, exchange candid feedback, and figure out pathways to success together. This entire cycle serves as a profoundly transformative education.

 

Cooperative education shares this exact ethos: students identify systemic problems together, put solutions into practice, and hold one another mutually accountable. It transcends standard career preparation that merely funnels young people into corporate hiring pipelines. Instead, it cultivates changemakers capable of diagnosing the social issues around them and working alongside others to build collective solutions.

 

The LEINN Seoul Lab students I met radiated genuine ownership and pride in their pursuits. Instead of memorizing prepackaged answers, they were reclaiming agency over their lives by engaging with real markets and wrestling with real-world problems. Most striking was the psychological safety and deep solidarity they shared. Because they design and run ventures together, they no longer have to carry the burden of failure alone.

 

In a society where isolation and burnout among youth have become widespread, cooperative education acts as a resilient buffer—a safety net that empowers people to get back up when they fall. It enables young people to discover the challenges within their communities and tackle them collaboratively, regaining true agency over their lives.

 

Cooperative education is not a silver bullet for every systemic issue. Yet by prioritizing cooperation over competition and practice over abstract theory, it stands as one of the most compelling pathways for cultivating the next generation of changemakers. Providing young innovators with an environment where they can dare boldly and fail safely may well be the most reliable investment in our collective, sustainable future.


👉👉Read related articles

[Interview] A University Inside Real Business: Mondragon University’s LEINN Seoul Lab (Part 1)

[Interview] Inside Mondragon University’s LEINN Seoul Lab: What Sets It Apart? (Part 2)

[Interview] The Essence of Entrepreneurship at Mondragon University’s LEINN Seoul Lab (Part 3)

[Interview] Meeting the Leinners at Mondragon University’s LEINN Seoul Lab (Part 4)


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