Shave their heads, they are ready for war.
Teaching April 16th. 2008, 11:02pmOne of the dangerous parts of teaching children not yet in middle school or high school is that they haven’t been taught to look at both sides of an issue, or to treat things objectively. This might be a child development thing, a Korean education thing, or a cultural thing, but I’ve been bumping up against super-nationalistic children all week and it’s getting on my nerves.
It all started on Monday. I gave the students their five topic choices for their writing challenge. They had to pick something and write an essay. One of the girls chose the following topic:
“Some people like to travel in Korea. Other people like to travel outside Korea. Which do you prefer. Why? Give reasons and examples.”
Her first question was “What is the word for ‘money from other countries?” She was writing about foreign currency, so I thought she might be saying that you had to buy other kinds of money, so it’s a little annoying or something. I asked her why the money issue was the most important issue to her when traveling.
She said that if she traveled outside Korea, she would spend some money. That money would not be going to Korean people, so she was in fact hurting her country. She would never travel outside Korea because she LOVES Korean people, and would never want to spend money that didn’t go to other Koreans. (Never mind she attends a school that pays my salary, and I’m not Korean.)
She said that she only travels in Korea because if a foreigner asked her about Korean culture, and she couldn’t answer their questions, she would feel embarrassed. Then the foreigner would think she hated her country, and she would hate that. So, she only wants to travel around Korea.
I told her that unless she’s spending a lot of money on vacation, her spending is not going to have a tremendous impact on the Korean economy. I asked her if living and working in Korea meant that I must hate The United States by her logic. I told her that I didn’t think that was a very fair way of looking at things, but my director chalked it up to the girl “loving Korea very much, and being very nationalistic.”
I didn’t mention that anyone as Xenophobic as she appeared to be wanted to travel outside Korea, she could book a Korean owned tour. They make SURE none of the money ever gets into a foreigners hands.
Next, the students had to talk about things they liked and disliked. For some moronic reason, the book used “Home Country” as a topic. I asked the students what they liked and disliked about Korea.
I don’t think students had ever been asked this question before.
“Korea is my home, so it’s just so-so, not good, not bad,” was the most common response.
After pulling a few teeth, some students said they liked Korea because their friends and family live there, or that Korean culture is from there.
Then, trying to get ANY student to write something they disliked about Korea was really, really difficult. I wasn’t asking them to write they hated Korea, or that Korea was bad, just that there were things they disliked in ANY degree.
Students told me there was NOTHING they dislike about Korea. This students complain about EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. They complain about homework, English, tests, weather, classes, buses, friends, games, EVERYTHING. How could they not think of a single slightly negative thing about Korea?
I offered “Yellow sand wind making the air difficult to breathe. Choking bad air pollution from factories. Oil spills. Overpopulation? Online crime? Gaming addiction?” Anything? They couldn’t think of ANYTHING wrong with any of those things. The boys wrote about how it was bad one of their classmates lived in Korea, and the girls wrote how it was bad that the boys lived in Korea. Ho ho ho, what a waste of time.
Whatever indoctrination they are getting at school, it’s working. These kids are fiercely loyal to their country, which is admirable…to a point. When people start ignoring obvious problems that impact their health or lives, or worse yet, give excuses to justify why those things are actually strengths, starts to get into “creepy” territory.
I like Korea very much, but every country has it’s flaws. Ignoring them isn’t what you should do.
9 Responses to “Shave their heads, they are ready for war.”
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April 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Sounds a bit like many Americans, or Germans, or South Africans, or…
April 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I’m sure you’ll find a similar attitude all over the world. I don’t recall ever being asked to explain the things I don’t like about my country. Maybe the things I didn’t like about school, or maybe I had to debate a hypothetical topic, but I don’t think I was ever asked to frame it in terms of my country. (Not a big stretch to make, I’m just sayin’.) I wasn’t given that “Nacerima” article until 12th grade. But, if your kids are old enough and skilled enough to write essays, then they ought to be able to talk about their country’s weak points.
But of course I’ve noticed the aggressiveness with which Koreans promote their own culture and seek to spread it to anyone who will listen. Given that tendency, the things we find in textbooks and on Arirang TV that may be commonplace around the world seem especially overdone here. Adding to that, I think, is the fiercly negative ideas many hold of other countries and other people. It’s not just that Korea and Koreans are good . . . it’s that others are bad. Not just that Korea is clean; China is dirty. Not just that Koreans have high IQs; Japanese are stupid. Not just that Koreans are kind; Americans are rude, etc. I guess for me on my bad days, that trend makes the little things like “you use chopsticks so well” in the elementary school book more that grating . . . they’re getting their education early.
I worked at Avalon my first year. It’s a hagwon that had lots of returnees and pretty fluent speakers. A group of 4th and 5th graders were writing an essay on the most influential person in their lives, and of course a good many chose Yi Sun-shin. After reading the first batch of essays, I had to institute a Sun-shin ban owing to all the paragraphs devoted to the glory of the Japanese-killer. Students were very willing and very able to rant and rave about Dokdo, the Sea of Japan, Goguryo, and occupation, reinforcing my belief that just because you can speak English doesn’t mean you have anything I want to hear.
I dunno, I’m still pissed about the Nazi commercials.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
The same class today, the Nationalistic students did EXACTLY what you mentioned. It’s not enough to LOVE Korea, it ALWAYS has to be at the detriment of other countries.
Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, and Nationalism are touchy topics in all countries to a certain extent, but I KNOW certain things ARE taught in school here (I’ve witnessed teachers passing on race based prejudice to students as young as Kindergarten), and students aren’t taught to be critical and evaluate their teacher’s opinions early enough.
It’s not always the student’s fault they are racist, but the amount of training spent on foreigner sensitivity needs some work.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Hi there. Just wanted to say that I’ve been reading your site for over a year but never commented. Wanted to say that I appreciate your perspective on living in Korea. Its been very interesting to read as a Korean-American. I’ll soon be moving to Seoul myself so I should be coming across some similar experiences myself!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Thank you. I hope you don’t encounter any discrimination from ignorant children.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I have a feeling that some students won’t do so well on that ETS Toefl exam since it is chock-full of university level questions like these. Universities are looking to get enlightened and well-rounded applicants, so I wouldn’t advise writing an entirely one-sided entrance essay about anything either if they are lucky enough to pass the Toefl exam. Luckily, I think most of my kids will eventually toss aside the brainwashing that everyone, everywhere, gets while growing up from various sources (relatives, friends, schools, religions, news outlets, clubs, politics—political parties and rhetoric, etc.) and judge the world with their own wide-open eyes thanks to the internet and media that is readily available from all around the globe.
What truly irks me in my classes is when some of my students constantly use the phrase, “maybe he, or she, die,” when I am taking roll, and that child is not in class. This really got to me when we actually had a child die in an accident outside our institute after their class was over. How I made it through the rest of that day and week after that tragedy is beyond me? I was pretty much a zombie, but those words spoken by those few really ignorant, or hurtful and spiteful, children almost pushed me over the edge many times that week and in the weeks after. Even today, months later, it takes all my will power not to just yell at the top of my lungs for them to shut the frack up.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:13 am
It’s interesting. If the parents of these children did any research into the history of Modern Korea they would realize without external intervention (US aid during Korean War) all of Korea would essentially be North Korea. The North Koreans were kicking the South Korean’s behinds until the US decided that it was worth helping the SK’s out in the grand battle against communism. Then of course the Chinese decided they did want Korea to be communist and so sent in a million soldiers to help out in the effort, which then resulted in the split Korea we know today. Just food for thought.
April 20th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Politics in the forums only please.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
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