I try really hard to read the news everyday, Korean news, American news, World news, and I came upon this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
So, i've realized for a while now that my korean co-workers work a lot harder than I do. More importantly, they are expected to work a lot harder than I am. They get yelled at by the vice-principal, they stay until 11pm sometimes, they show up at 7:30 am and they don't take hardly any vacation. They literally run at work and they don't spend all that much time at home with their families.I think what is most upsetting about this article is that I can actually see this happening. I see the strain and the stress written upon the faces of my co-workers, hell I see the strain and the stress on the faces of my students. The culture here is to attain perfection from an early age. You choose exactly what you are going to do for the rest of your life in middle school and then you diligently stay on that path toward complete perfection forever more.
An average middle school student comes to school at 8am, they work HARD all day long with little breaks, then they go to Hogwans where they learn English, Japanese, Chinese, Piano, any subject really, until about 10pm and then they go home and study more; frequently they will have private home lessons after the hogwan tutoring. The learning just never ends it goes on and on and on. So it's easy to see why they begin to break down in their early 30's and late 20's, i personally can't imagine working that hard nor would I ever wish it upon anyone. It makes me cringe when I see my students striving for perfection, i'm so proud of them, of their quips and their innate childishness, but a part of me is screaming "Save their souls!!" I want them to be able to go and ride their bicycles, fall off walls, break their arms on the monkey bars; but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Maybe that's one reason why i'm here, to remind them to have a little fun and break out of the mold.
Aneyong.
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