Within a week of its release, Netflix’s new Korean drama Teach You a Lesson, directed by Hong Jong-chan, topped the platform’s global non-English rankings for the week of June 1-7.

Adapted from the popular webtoon Get Schooled (2020), the 10-episode series about a government-backed vigilante unit trying to fix the wrongs in schools has quickly become a highly rated breakout hit.

Described in a Forbes article as “one of the most addictive feel-good dramas of the year”, the series has exploded across Asia and beyond.

Beneath its action, drama and satisfying takedowns lies a question troubling parents, educators and policymakers everywhere: what is education for, when the classroom itself is in crisis?

Lessons worth learning

Teach You a Lesson depicts a version of Korean society in which rising school violence and declining teacher authority have pushed the educational system to breaking point.

South Korea’s education minister Choi Gang-seok, portrayed by Lee Sung-min, establishes the Educational Rights Protection Bureau (ERPB) after his daughter, a teacher, tragically dies at the hands of a student.

The ERPB unit is granted extraordinary legal powers to intervene in troubled schools.

Leading the unit is Na Hwa-jin, played by Kim Mu-yeol. He is the action hero, the minister’s son-in-law, and a former Special Forces captain turned inspector.

Hwa-jin teams up with the........

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