M is for the Motherland (344 hits)
Category: GeneralRating: 1.8 on 6 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by saeki (View user info) at 2006-09-05 23:56:03 EDT
M is for the Motherland
The Korean education system is failing horribly.
Here in this upscale area, lawyers, doctors, and mothers think that "kids are just smarter today" to account for the difficulty of the New England college admissions process. The same pattern is in Korea's education system, but with a few differences.
From the earliest I can remember about school, learning has been a completely objective, factual process with no emphasis on discussion, creativity, debate, interpretation, et cetera. Everything that I know now is something I've memorized along the way; I'm not very good at spontaneously doing things.
Theres also the pressure of scoring perfect score on the university entrance exam.
In my junior year of high school, I saw four of my senior friends commit suicide at school- three of them during class and one at their graduation ceremony. The stress of being admitted to a college is immensely greater in South Korea than in the United States, according to my experience.
Adding to the stress is the fact that being accepted to anything less than the three top ranked universities means absolutely nothing.
I wonder how many of my friends (all are top students) still in Korea will work in construction and the sanitary division.
On the other hand, the students attending the best universities are almost guaranteed to become rich in their lifetimes, especially if they study the sciences, which grants them god-like status in our society. The rest will attain the most menial jobs.
And speaking of menial jobs, there was large issue on the news several years ago about Korean farmers who buy brides from the Philippines and some poor countries around Korea. Most Koreans hate the effects of globalization along with the disruption of the homogeneity of society (and are VERY open about it). Pakistanis also are beginning to immigrate into South Korea, and are severely discriminated against, at least as I saw it.
In a typical city/town, excluding the biggest cities, a foreigner will notice that there are very few houses and hundreds of apartment complexes. The largest house that you will find is shaped probably like an American townhouse.
Of course, there are some American style homes, but usually only actors and actresses live in them or are hotels for one family to rent for the night.
My grandfather, by some stroke of luck 50 some years ago, owns a considerable amount of land and arranged our family graveyard to be built on the top of a small mountain near his home.
You may have expected this but Korean graves are a bit different from their American counterparts. There is a headstone(s) of sorts with Chinese characters, but the clear difference is a small to enormous dirt mound (depending on the person's status), upon which grass eventually grows.
And a little about me: I grew up as an agnostic like many Koreans, harassing stray cats, and listening to bad K-technopop.
And something I thought funny: Last night, I was invited to my friend house for dinner and his mother asked me, "So what is Korean food like? Is it all mixed up like Chinese food or is all separated like Japanese food?" I didn't know how to respond.
User Reviews
Submitted by Dexter-Brown (user info) at 2006-09-07 21:12:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
By "harassing" I hope you don't mean "eating."
Submitted by Saeki (user info) at 2006-09-07 09:49:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yes, I've eaten curry occasionally while I lived in Korea.
Sorry about the repost- I forgot to upload the picture.
Submitted by rockdocc (user info) at 2006-09-07 07:34:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
And something I thought funny: Last night, I was invited to my friend house for dinner and his mother asked me, "So what is Korean food like? Is it all mixed up like Chinese food or is all separated like Japanese food?" I didn't know how to respond.
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ya really wanna show how american you are to a japanese?
mix up the curry and rice.
oh man do they hate that.
btw, do they like curry in Korea. I wasn't able to make it out for the deployments there this year, so i have no clue what korea is like.
and i loves me some curry
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2006-09-06 02:14:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
...rather enjoyable.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-09-06 00:21:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2006-09-05 23:57:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
very good