Soapbox Topic: Education in Korea

**4-5yr old American age kids - having fun and being goofy... but it wont last long!**

A discussion I had in my Elite class of students sparked my interested in getting further research. We were talking about education and how it works in Korea. The kids I was speaking to were the best students at my Academy – they come to YBM from 4:25-7:35 on Tuesday and Thursday to study CNN Current Events, TOEFL, and Debate. In addition, they play piano, violin, and study other subjects after school during the week.

Why I am not a fan of the Korean Education System

1. The Korean saying "Sleep five hours and fail, sleep four hours and pass" is taken seriously
Physical Education isnt considered a “priority” – only Math, Science, Korean, Social Studies, and English
2. They go to school every other Saturday
3. Almost every night, they go to “hagwons” to get extra tutoring in Math, Science, or English- aka they go to school all day and go to school at night as late as midnight! ---- then they have to do all their homework!
4. There are too many exams to determine futures- and thus putting too much stress on a elementary school-high school students
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in Korean Teenagers (wikipedia) to car collisions
5. You move up by grade according to your AGE not ability/skills
6. You get into college based SOLEY on the College Scholastic Ability Test (like ACT except much worse) --- each university has a score you need to get. You don’t get the score, you don’t get in… no if’s and’s or but’s about it. Apparently, some kids start preparing for it as early as Kindergarten
7. Test scores are more important that personality or skills = a world of objectivity
8. Apparently Objectivity could cause “opportunities for corruption (wikipedia)”
9. The Education Tree (American age in parentheses)
--- Kindy: 5-7yrs old (4-6)
--- Elementary 8-13 yrs old (7-12)
--- Middle: 14-16yrs old (13-15)
--- High school: 17-19yrs old (16-18)
--- College: 20-24 yrs old (women), 20-26 yrs old (men) (19-23/19-25 men go to military from 22-24 yrs old

So, I gotta wonder what kind of education I would’ve had if I stayed here. My family was/is poor and my brother didn’t go to college (apparently he didn’t think he needed to- not sure if he ever applied).

**Would I buckle under the pressure or work my tush off and become a workaholic, stressed out person at the age of 9?

**What educated me more, my “classroom hours” or my “extra curricular hours” growing up?

I don’t agree with all the education tactics in America but I sure do like its system better – gym class is required, it believes in subjectivity AND objectivity, no school on Saturday… and most important I had the ability to be a KID and have a life outside homework!

Plus, I think playing sports/extra curricular activities gives students a chance to LEARN and BE EDUCATED in other ways!

Ok … I’ll get off my soap box now :)

Kodak Moments...

If you want to see Korea in pictures because you're too lazy to read (which is understandable), I have over 150 pictures on my other nerdy website...

I dont write everything in my blog but I always post pictures of the stuff I've done.

Picture: http://community.webshots.com/user/megshep09

THANKS FOR READING!

Meghan

The SHEPHERDS let loose in SEOUL

My first visitors in Seoul came and went and we had quite an adventure… they braved the subways and the 14 million people, ate weird food and lived to tell about it… and really did a wicked awesome job immersing themselves in this foreign culture!

GOOD JOB DAD, GINA, and ANGELA!

They did a bunch of stuff and we have a lot of fun memories... and here are some highlights:

Eating 뻔 데 기 (silkworm larva). It’s in a huge pot that smells nauseating and a little old lady gives you a Dixie cup of the warm, slime covered larva for only W2,000. I ate one, Angela ate one… and Dad finished the Dixie cup. He was never one to let food go to waste no matter how disgusting it tasted.

Singing Karaoke at the 노래방 (Music Room). Gina said, “All Koreans are such good singers.” That is when I realized how un-Korean-like I am because I sucked and my birth mother, her boyfriend, and my cousin were awesome!

Ice Skating at 목동 아이스릭 (Mokdong Ice Rink). Just before we stepped on the ice, the worker said, “You need to wear gloves when you’re skating.” I immediately was puzzled and asked why. He said, “It’s a safety precaution.” So I went to the little store and bought 4 pairs of gloves (like the stretchy gloves you can buy at target) and away we went. I did not feel much safer with the gloves and am still wondering and annoyed why it was needed. I think it’s so the they can make some money.

Eating 보신탕 (Dog Soup). Dad and I went on a search for boshintang just to see if it existed. We went to Yeongdeungpo Market and a side alley to ask (because I knew it wouldn’t be available on the main street since it’s technically illegal to serve I guess). A man said, “Ahhh boshintang” and led us to a restaurant. As he did, he kept saying, “boshintang” to those we passed. One old lady behind her sewing machine gave a grin that was priceless – either “you guys are daring” or “youre doing something illegal and I like it” or “you guys are crazy” – still not sure how to translate it. We went in both a little unsure of the whole situation, ordered a small bowl of soup and a couple of beers to kill the taste. The smell was bad (not as bad as the 뻔 데 기 but close. It was just regular soup. The meat was tender. It was just the psychological trauma of trying it… Dad and I sat there thinking of all the rationalizations we could for eating this food to convince ourselves we weren’t wackos. We’re both over it.. I think

Whose MY DADDY???

Imagine being in one room and calling out dad and two people answer…

Well, that’s how it was when my birth father and adopted father met for the first time last week. I was a little nervous but it didn’t last long. Both of my fathers were very easy going and were happy to meet each other. Birth father got mushy when he said “I want to thank you for taking such good care of Min Jin.” Adopted father said “Gamsahamnida (thank you… for having an illegitimate child and shipping her off to Korea).”

My Birth Father said bought CDs to learn English and said it’s really hard. My Adopted father responded with, “I did the same thing...and Korean is really hard too” --- great minds think alike I guess.

My birth father said, “I feel like we are one big family now” which I think is kinda true. My adopted father said, “Our situation is very lucky and very unique since it’s not very often adopted parents and biological parents can come together like this … and get along.”

My birth father was saying that he feels like I am his daughter and he wants to show me off. That is why he took me to Andong and Pohang, South Korea to see his family.

My adopted dad politely smiled.

After the dinner was over, I asked my dad (adopted dad) what he thought when my birth father said that. He said, “I’m not jealous or angry or anything because I know you’re coming home to me.” So in other words, he took it like a man!

And he’s right… I am so happy to have a family here in Seoul but I’m not going to ditch my family in America and stay in Seoul the rest of my life.

I am building life lasting relationships with my biological family which is awesome… and America is where my home is and where I’ll be returning after this year is up.

I Surprise Myself Sometimes

Last weekend I went out with Jackie Teacher for her last weekend in Seoul… Saturday night we were rocking out dancing and having a great time in Itaewon. I told myself I’d be home around 2am or so thinking I’m old and can’t hang all night.


Here's a picture of new teacher Sarah, me, Jackie, and new Teacher Jared @ Wolfhound Bar..

SURPRISE ... next thing I know, it’s 7:00am and the sun in shining. I was mildy impressed I did it but that soon went away since I had a hangover for about 2.5 days! No regrets but I have now learned from my mistakes.

On Sunday, I did get out of bed and Jackie and I went on the Han River Boat Cruise. It was a 1hr excursion to check out the night scenes of Seoul. It was cool despite being a wee under the weather. It’s supposed to be a “romantic” thing so Jackie and I took a picture in the “heart” of lights – when in Rome right?!?

Here's a picture of us on the cruise... and me rockin the "RAFFIA" shirt from my birth mom. Dont ask what "RAFFIA" means because I have no fricken idea! haha...

More transitions at work – Jackie leaving, 5 new teachers – all American or Canadian, 3 guys, 2 gals. All seem very cool! Which will make the next 9 months a good time :)

A night view of Seoul Tower from Yeuido Park...

Ode to the Pencil Case

Ohhhh pencil case, why must you be so fancy and attractive???

You have become so elaborate over time and are now complete with drawers, compartments, and even games. You have such great abilities and students are able to organize and store their most prized pencils with you ….

However, while you serve a purpose by holding the pencils neatly in a row, you drive all of us teachers F#&*ING crazy!!!! Each day you distract the students and sometimes you fall to the ground and need to be fixed. You take a beating and it’s painful for us teachers to watch. Your fanciness is a teacher’s tragedy ….

We cannot educate the youth of Korea and we end up taking you away and making young children cry. Please… please… re-consider your style over your purpose and go back to when life was simple.
Also, tell your pencil friends to become friends with the eraser and join together as one. Because they are separate, it makes the children use the eraser as a throwing device… hostage from another student… or they do not take good care of it and lose it.

I am not sure why the eraser takes the abuse but the truth is… it does. By joining together, the poor child who does not have an eraser doesn’t have to go around to each student asking for one when they make a mistake and the teachers will be happy because they can continue on with a lesson without distraction.

These simple things will make teachers less pissed off during the day and will reduce their discipline actions to a minimum… thus everyone is happy!!!!

Thanks for your consideration,
Meghan Teacher

(No Pencil Cases = Happy 6 and 7 year olds... and their teachers)

Australia Kindergarten Class - October Birthday Party!