::A Geek in Korea::

I teach some twins that are basically some of the most “hardcore” students I’ve ever met. The parents are very strict about their schedule, and often comment that the work I give them isn’t hard enough. The students will come to class and tell me that they must get more homework to make their mother happy. I do what I can to make their lives a little better.

I asked if they happened to be on break from school at the moment. They said they were not in school, but they were sad about it. These are the only students not bouncing off the walls about their vacation. I had to find out more.

I asked them about their holiday this week. Their “Christmas present” was a bag of Chinese medicine. This was to increase their health and vitality for all the tough studying they’ll have to do during the break.

Yikes. How much studying do they fit in during their vacation anyway?

The students started telling me about their day. Their day started after lunch. They had tests, classes, more classes, and after everything was finished, would go home to do homework.

“Well, at least you can sleep in, that’s good.”

“Oh no teacher, we can’t sleep in. Our mother is worried that we don’t get enough exercise because we study 9 hours a day during vacation.”

“So you have to play in the mornings?”

“No, we have to go to a health club with our mother to exercise before we start studying.”

They have to do this for the next two months. No wonder they don’t look forward to vacation.

Every SINGLE second of these students lives are managed. From the second they wake up, to the minute they go to sleep, they are driven to compete with each other, and with everyone else that is trying to do better on testing in their schools.

These students are simply lucky compared to others, as their parents make money off the same system that drives their lives. Their father is a math teacher who benefits from parents that spend excessive amounts of money on education. Their mother is English obsessed, and will take them to other countries to practice English for months at a time.

Because they are wealthy enough to go to good schools and travel abroad, they will have enough experience to get a good job and perpetuate this system on their own children. Each future generation will have more drive, more motivation, and harder competition. This is a bleak future.

Tags: future, children, education, Korea, christmas