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people with kids~ where do your little ones go to school?
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Corporal



Joined: 25 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
Why stay here if your kid has the opportunity to study in your homeland where the educational system is certainly superior?


Let's not have this argument AGAIN, please. Rolling Eyes It can get nasty when one parent attacks another parent's parenting skills and decisions. We all do what we think is best for our child at the time and depending on our life circumstances and what opportunities are open to us.
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mack the knife



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoah, hey, whoah there!

I'm not attacking anyone, this time. I'm just voicing what Koreans are certainly THINKING. I know what they are thinking because I hear it from them personally, all the time:

"When are you have kids?"

"Um, I don't know. In the next year or two maybe."

"And you move back to U.S?"

"Um, maybe. It just depends on the financial situation."

"Oh! You better go back! Korean school is so bad."

"Um, OK."
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Ody



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
Whoah, hey, whoah there!

I'm not attacking anyone, this time. I'm just voicing what Koreans are certainly THINKING. I know what they are thinking because I hear it from them personally, all the time:

"When are you have kids?"

"Um, I don't know. In the next year or two maybe."

"And you move back to U.S?"

"Um, maybe. It just depends on the financial situation."

"Oh! You better go back! Korean school is so bad."

"Um, OK."


I suppose Koreans know about Korean schools. However, Most know only what they've heard about schools in the U.S. or Canada.

Maybe Canada has good schools across the board but the educational system stateside stinks if you ask me. Now, if you ask someone who lives in a well-to-do neighborhood, well then you might get a different answer. Of course quality varies from state to state as well.

We're from NJ, which on the whole is rather low in the quality of public education.

In the Korean school where we plan to send our son, he will study Korean, Chinese, and English in addition to the Sciences, Math, Music, AND Art. That doesn't sound so bad to me.

Come middle school time, we hope to be able to send our kids abroad. I went to boarding school myself so I just hope we can swing it financially for my own kids.

Ironically, if we didn't have children of our own, we would still live in the depressed neighborhood we moved here from and I'd most likely be an underpaid teacher in the same crappy school I didn't want to send my son to. As much as I love teaching here in Korea, I'd rather be contributing to the growth and development of the children in my own country. But it's like Corporal says,
Quote:
We all do what we think is best for our child at the time and depending on our life circumstances and what opportunities are open to us

� hope that clears things up for you.

Anyway, I was eager to hear from parents with kids around my son's age (born in '98 ) so we could compare notes. Any takers?


edit Question


Last edited by Ody on Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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mack the knife



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We all do what we have to do depending on our circumstances, but sending my [future] kids to school in Korea seems like a big compromise.
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Corporal



Joined: 25 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, isn't it nice that you have your life so figured out that you already know what you plan on doing with your as yet nonexistent kids.

Some would say teaching English in Korea is a pretty big compromise too.
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Ody



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
We all do what we have to do depending on our circumstances, but sending my [future] kids to school in Korea seems like a big compromise.


you don't know any more about Korean elementary schools than those mothers know about schools in your country. you are operating (rather speculating) out of hearsay and maybe a minutia of experience.

how 'bout we try to be constructive?



edit: tone


Last edited by Ody on Sat Dec 13, 2003 6:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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Mr. Pink



Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
We all do what we have to do depending on our circumstances, but sending my [future] kids to school in Korea seems like a big compromise.


If you do marry a Korean, and if you have kids, how long do you think you will be here? For the first 3-4 years your kid doesn't have to go anywhere, though kindergartens are pretty cool.

Then let's say you are here when it is time for elementary school. What's the big deal? I can't imagine grade 1 being that much different than grade one back home. Grade 2-3 is probably the same too. It seems like grade 5-6 is when they start to prepare you for middle school.

If I am still here when my kid is to goto school, well upto grade 3-4 is no problem for me. You also don't pay for elementary school, like you pay for highschool in Korea...so that is another plus.

Afraid of your kid getting teased...same could happen back home. Get your kid out there making friends with the neighbors before they goto school and shouldn't be a problem.

Now about middle school/high school. I personally don't know anyone who has stayed in Korea THAT LONG. I think by that time, if it is a guy who is the foreigner, he has left the EFL/ESL business and is doing something else. If it is a woman, guessing she does the housewife thing...though I did meet a woman who did the corporate thing, however she sent her kids to highschool in the states.

So whats the big deal on Korean elementary schools?
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Tiberious aka Sparkles



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ody wrote:

Maybe Canada has good schools across the board...


HEE HEE!

Ody make grown Tiberious laugh like little girl.

I've heard kids in the States read stuff like "The Count of Monte Cristo" (albeit, abridged) in grade school.

I was assigned "Of Mice and Men" and "A Seperate Peace" in high school.

The Canadian school curriculum stinks. Plus they don't teach grammar tougher than above "noun" and "verb".

There's a reason we say "eh?" all the time.

Canada made me stupid.

Sparkles*_*


Last edited by Tiberious aka Sparkles on Sat Dec 13, 2003 8:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Mr. Pink



Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote:
Ody wrote:

Maybe Canada has good schools across the board...


HEE HEE!

Ody make grown Tiberious laugh like little girl.

I've heard kids in the States read stuff like "The Count of Monte Cristo" (albeit, annotated) in grade school.

I was assigned "Of Mice and Men" and "A Seperate Peace" in high school.

The Canadian school curriculum stinks. Plus they don't teach grammar tougher than above "noun" and "verb".

There's a reason we say "eh?" all the time.

Canada made me stupid.

Sparkles*_*


I kind of agree, Canada's education system isn't what it was when I was young...and even then I think it sucked. My elementary school didn't teach me grammar per se, and neither did my middle school or high school. My high school didn't teach me how to write stellar essays either. Which f-cked me up the ass my first year at university, while I had to learn real freakin fast.

So what's so bad with Korea's educational system upto say middle school or highschool?
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anae



Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: cowtown

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is tough to lump all Canadian schools and curriculums together since education is a provincial responsibility. Each province has different standards, different measuring tools, and different teacher certification.

What I see everyday in classrooms in Alberta is very reassuring. Teachers are doing lots of very innovative things and raising the bar for their students so they are prepared to enter a complex world where they are expected to work independently and be problem solvers.
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mack the knife



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: standing right behind you...

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
...you don't know any more about Korean elementary schools...


I have never heard (or read) a positive thing about the Korean educational system. Sorry. That's just the way it is. I could lie to you and say everyone says the education here is great, but that wouldn't be fair (or true).

That's not to say the U.S. system is flawless. But at least with the U.S. system you have plenty of options. Options=good.

Sorry if all of this bums some of you out.
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Mr. Pink



Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mack the knife wrote:
Quote:
...you don't know any more about Korean elementary schools...


I have never heard (or read) a positive thing about the Korean educational system. Sorry. That's just the way it is. I could lie to you and say everyone says the education here is great, but that wouldn't be fair (or true).

That's not to say the U.S. system is flawless. But at least with the U.S. system you have plenty of options. Options=good.

Sorry if all of this bums some of you out.


I work in the Korean educational system. The reason I think North American highschool is better is because over there you get tons of options on what subjects you want to take. If you get to choose your subjects, ideally you should pick what you are interested in, not what you are forced into. That being said, there are some merits in Korean highschool, being math and science, they blow the stuff we learn in highschool out of the water...

About elementary school - where I come from it is pretty much the same. You sit in the same classroom all day with the same teacher. You don't get "choices". The difference is instead of learning English, you are learning Korean. Kids are kids everywhere, they are crazy everywhere, so that element is the same. In fact I'd argue in Korea they give kids MORE leeway, as they know once they hit middle school, kids will have no more freedom until university.

You can argue about hawgwons etc. But IMO a lot of parents just throw their kids in there as a daycare, not because they are necessarily wanting their kids to be ahead of the game.

I'd say 95% of my students have never been to an English hawgwon...I teach at a highschool and ask every student the first week about their background.
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Ody



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

first, thanks all for your thoughts on the matter.

mack the knife wrote:
Quote:
...you don't know any more about Korean elementary schools...


I have never heard (or read) a positive thing about the Korean educational system. Sorry. That's just the way it is. I could lie to you and say everyone says the education here is great, but that wouldn't be fair (or true).

That's not to say the U.S. system is flawless. But at least with the U.S. system you have plenty of options. Options=good.

Sorry if all of this bums some of you out.



i'm not bummed out because i apparently have more insight into this subject than you. (read Pink's posts where he comments on the difference between elementary and middle/high school systems here.)

as i've stated, i'm not talking about sending my kids to a korean high school. i'm not even talking exclusively about public education (they have private korean schools too).

my inquiry was calling for specific, not general information. your stereotyping may be well intended but it's practically useless.

corporal has berated my bringing up age in the past and she does have a point, however, age combined with experience does give one additional perspective. my consideration of schooling my children in korea is more informed now than it was 10 years ago when my husband and i were first married and our first child's birth was another 6 six years down the road.
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dutchman



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: My backyard

PostPosted: Sat Dec 13, 2003 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Mr. Pink"]
mack the knife wrote:
Quote:
...you don't know any more about Korean elementary schools...



About elementary school - where I come from it is pretty much the same. You sit in the same classroom all day with the same teacher. You don't get "choices". The difference is instead of learning English, you are learning Korean. Kids are kids everywhere, they are crazy everywhere, so that element is the same. In fact I'd argue in Korea they give kids MORE leeway, as they know once they hit middle school, kids will have no more freedom until university.

.


Really? Did your classroom have 40-50 students? Did you go to school at 9AM and finish at 1:30PM three days a week. It's BS that they spend more hours in the classroom. Sit down with some elementary students and asked them about their schedules. Yes, they go on Saturday but total hours are less than I had when I was in school. And ask them what they do for the last week of class in December and the two weeks of class in February. It's all bs filler. They watch videos everyday.

I'm not saying the elementary schools are terrible. But the class sizes alone make western schools superior.
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Tiberious aka Sparkles



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2003 12:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dutchman wrote:
Did you go to school at 9AM and finish at 1:30PM three days a week. It's BS that they spend more hours in the classroom. Sit down with some elementary students and asked them about their schedules. Yes, they go on Saturday but total hours are less than I had when I was in school. And ask them what they do for the last week of class in December and the two weeks of class in February. It's all bs filler. They watch videos everyday.


They need to enjoy it while it lasts, before they enter middle school and become endentured slaves to memorization for the remainder of their adolescent lives.

It's sort of like letting a murderer on death row have that one, special, last meal.

Sparkles*_*
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