After Reading from Outliers

     Why do juniors bow to their seniors in KMLA? Why has the culture of bowing to seniors been accepted without any question? The answer for the questions is "Cultural legacies." By the long-lasting tradition of KMLA, which gave moral obligation to the juniors that they have to bow to their seniors, KMLA students maintained such policy without apparent problem. Though some students argued that the application of the tradition, when it took most radical form of making it obligatory for students to bend 90 degrees and shout out loud "안녕하세요" to seniors, is beyond cultural standard, virtually all the students agreed that the tradition of bowing is important and worthy enough to preserve. Moreover, many visitors to the schools find such tradition quite interesting and desirable, for it gives the image that KMLA students are polite and respectful to the people they see. The tradition of bowing has defined KMLA and will define it in the future as well. 
     In this Chapter, the author, Malcolm Gladwell, shows how strong the cultural legacies are. The example of a town called Harlan, located in Kentucky, points out that tradition has tacitly shaped the moral standard and mentality of a particular group of people who lived in the same cultural region. Residents of Harlan, in the early period of U.S, mostly came from Scot-Irish region, where its culture put strong emphasis on honor of individual. People were forced to fight for their honor; when someone felt his reputation insulted by another, he challenged the assaulter and fought for the restoration of his honor by means of chivalry, most notably gun fight. This tradition, after moving into U.S., made many of immigrants society to promote the spirit of chivalry and let opposing families inside a single town to brutally kill the other side for insignificant incidents. Yet the violence was overtly performed, many of the survivors, or killers, were acquitted, for the jury thought that they employed the most appropriate, if not best, method to protect their honor. Such rulings, which are illogical in today's point of view, were accepted by the majority of the society. The tradition, or "Cultural legacies," made it all possible. 
     We all know that humans are social beings; humans cannot exist outside of society, apart from any social interaction. Forming an identity as a social being inside a community is crucial to one's maturity. It establishes moral standards, basic communication skills, and cooperative ability inside an individual, which are indispensable. As KMLA students learn how to cope with teachers, seniors, friends, and juniors by living inside the community and interacting with others, you do virtually the same thing inside a broader and more complex society. That's why you and your cultural identity are inseparable, and due to such inseparability, preserving desirable cultural legacies and eliminating or amending problematic ones are crucial to human progress.