Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nautilus]

Sometimes it amazes me the confidence and self control of the kids I teach.

I have one student, only a 10 year old girl but its as if she was born confident. nothing fazes her, and which ever class she goes into she always emerges very quickly as the dominant, most intelligent and outgoing student. The other 39 kids just pale in comparison when it comes to her outstanding sense of self . If I had had half of that at the same age I probably would've ended up president.

Some kids are just born winners, how it happens exactly I don't know. There is another girl about the same age who is permanently happy, joyful and good natured. Nothing seems to get her down, she always participates fully, is unfailingly polite and friendly, and has quite a sense of humour. I get the feeling you could transplant them to your worst hogwon class of 100 delinquents and they'd still come out on top.

[Lizara]

Yeah, I've got a few like that, who I'm sure have more confidence and poise than I do. It's really impressive. The girl I admire the most, though, is named Catherine, and is about eleven or twelve, and wants to draw manga when she grows up. She's always drawing all over her books in class, which was annoying until I realized she's still smarter than the other students, and she dresses kind of punk/gothy, not at all like the other girls her age.

Sadly, she's hitting adolescence and turning into a bit of a brat, but I think in a few years she's going to turn out amazing.

[faster]

Man, so many.

I had a boy for 4 1/2 years who has never lived outside of Korea, but who speads and writes English at an amazing level. By sixth grade (he's in 7th now), he had read Pride and Prejudice, 1984, Animal Farm, A Tale of Two Cities, Metamorphosis, The Chosen, and Notes From the Underground, just to name a few. His vocabulary exceeds that of most US University students (he scored a 600 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT a few months ago, the first time he ever even saw that test). Hard to say goodbye when I took another job recently, but I have a feeling I'll see him again.

Among the many high-school kids I've taught, a bunch stand out: a boy who got into Cornell, Cal Tech, and Stanford, another boy who now has a 4.0 in Aerospace Engineering at Penn State, a girl who became the first Korean ever admitted to Northwestern University's HPME program, and a few this year who I expect to exceed even them.

More than all these admirable (and enviable) achievements, though, I've been amazed by how resilient these kids are, how vibrant is their life force to resist being stifled by their unbelievably rigorous study schedules and overwhelming parental pressure.

Before coming here, I'd have assumed any Koreans with their accomplishments and lifestyles would be beaten-down drones, cowed by their system -- I'm heartened to report otherwise.