Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Optimus Prime]

What the heck is up with these Korean kids? Today is mask making day, and every kid wants to be the exact same thing--I think it's an eagle or something. Simply because the first kid that grabbed the first template chose it. I wish I could tell them in Korea that the idea of Halloween costumes is not for all 250 kids in the school to all be dressed exactly the same.

My Co-teachers disagree with me.

[Dome Vans]

[GreenlightmeansGO]

I can't say I've prepped masks for kids, but I know what you mean. If one kid measures a pencil to see if it's the biggest, the next one is bound to check the size of his pencil, too. They always want the same colouring pages. My 5-year olds always want the same colour pencils.
One of the above-mentioned 5-year olds can be seen changing her mind about something right after her friend chooses something different. It's a weird dynamic. It's strange seeing a kid with almost no will of her own.

Any ideas of why this is?

[Ya-ta Boy]

Perhaps some of this could be avoided if the assignment is to design the most unusual, scariest, strangest, prettiest, etc mask.

[Optimus Prime]

[nobbyken]

You have to admit: Eagles are so cool.

[Mr. BlackCat]

Individulism and creativity are not valued as much in this society than in the West. You don't have to look to 5 year olds for proof of that. Being 'different' here basically means that you disagree with the society as a whole. Which, in general, is blasphemy.

I was doing a simple exercise in class regarding leisure activities. 10 kids, all names on the board with about 10 different activities. I'd ask who likes to such and such. The purpose would be to make a chart on the board so the kids could ask each other "Does Bill like to play ping pong?", etc.

Anyway, when I would ask who likes ping pong, all the kids would look around the room with their arms half up. It was so strange. Silently they would either all agree to raise their hands or keep them down. No individual answers allowed. So I started asking them individually. They would look around at the other kids and look for the collective answer. Then I had them do it by secret ballot. Of course that just turned into an exercise on how to copy what your neighbour wrote. Finally, I just gave up and made the chart randomly, which resulted in crying and shrieks of denial of liking snorkelling when the other children did not.

[Juregen]

Isn't there always a bandwagon effect with kids?