Baby Monster idol singer Asa recently shocked everyone when she announced that she had just graduated from kindergarten on the TV show Running Man.
Asa is a Japanese idol, born in 2006. The female singer said that she started as a trainee while in elementary school. In 2018, she passed the audition of YG Japan and went to Korea to become an official trainee of YG Entertainment.
After 6 years of practicing, Asa debuted at the age of 17 as a member of the girl group Baby Monster in late 2023.
Asa's sharing caused great controversy. On the social network Weibo (China), the keyword "the lowest education in Kpop" related to Asa has quickly climbed to the top of the trend. The educational qualifications of Kpop idols have once again attracted attention.
In particular, many comments mentioning Blackpink - a famous girl group of YG - also caused controversy because all 4 members Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa have just graduated from high school (underground).
According to Dispatch, Jennie studied at Cheongdam Primary School in Seoul, South Korea. At the age of 9, she and her family moved to New Zealand and studied at ACG Parnell College International School.
When she was 14 years old, Jennie's family supported her dream of becoming a singer, she returned to Korea to be a trainee at YG. After that, Jennie did not continue to study high school (high school) and focused on her Kpop idol career.
Rose was born and raised in New Zealand and moved to Australia at the age of 8. In 2012, Rose passed YG's selection exam and moved to Korea to start an internship. After finishing secondary school at Canterbury Girls' Secondary College (Melbourne), Rose did not register for further education in high school.
Lisa is Thai. She went to Korea in 2011, when she was only 14 years old, and spent 5 years interning at YG. Because she had to move to another country, Lisa dropped out of school and did not continue her high school studies.
The eldest sister Jisoo is the only member of the group Blackpink in high school. But she only studied until her second year of high school before deciding to drop out of school because she was accepted into YG.
In the Kpop industry, most trainees are selected from the 1st and 2nd grade. In particular, many Kpop companies still create conditions for interns and artists to continue studying culture to graduate from high school, and some idols can even attend university while working.
All 4 Blackpink members did not continue their high school education after becoming YG trainees. To date, Asa's announcement that she had just graduated from kindergarten, and not disclosing about any other alternative study program, has caused YG to be criticized.
The public compares YG with SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment or HYBE - companies with many idols that are encouraged and facilitated to pursue an academic path despite their busy schedules.
In Korea, Kpop idols tend to attend art schools such as SOPA, Hanlim. These high schools create conditions for students to reduce their time spent studying culture to focus more on their talents and artistic activities.
Kpop's 2nd and 3rd generation groups such as Super Junior, DBSK, EXO under SM Company have members with high education levels. The members of the Super Junior group impressed because they all have master's or doctoral degrees.
Many members of BTS (under HYBE) have graduated from high school for art, then continued to study at university.
But by the 4th generation of Kpop, the trend of idols "younging" increased. Many members of the new generation Kpop group debut at the age of 13-14 (level 2).
With the pressure of idol training programs and a busy schedule for a K-pop artist, idols who debut at a young age find it even harder to ensure they can complete their high school education program.
