Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mr-Dokdo]

Discuss. But, please, only if you have thought about it.

[Ekaia]

An absolutely scintillating, clever, smart and the perfect amount; cognitively pleasing question.

[caniff]

There are two sides to that coin: He is black, but he also has an Ivy League degree.

This may pose a conundrum for many Korean mothers.

[jkelly80]

[Mr-Dokdo]

[Scotticus]

[Bramble]

Does he want one?

[Ukon]

I'm half black and the hagwons wouldn't leave alone after putting my profile up on only one site...I even got badgered by phone....

Other darker folks also got plenty of responses so I've read.

and for the record, the Korean people love me.

[Jeff's Cigarettes]

The better question would be why he would want to.

[Jane]

I think this article is very relevant to this thread topic.
You can find it here:

http://media.daum.net/foreign/englishnews/view.html?cateid=1047&newsid=20081112113012135&p=koreaherald

[Kaleidoscope] A future Obama for Korea
코리아헤럴드 | 기사입력 2008.11.12 11:30 | 최종수정 2008.11.14 00:05

If Barack Obama had been born in Korea, could he have become the nation`s president? Without a doubt, the answer is no. He would most likely not even be able to become the president of a university or a company. In Korean society, where blood, school and hometown ties are crucial for social ascension, there is virtually no place for minorities or outsiders. The United States, however, has just proven through their newly elected president that they are able to look past the color of one`s skin and choose a leader based on one`s abilities and qualifications.

Today South Korea, just like the United States, is rapidly turning into a multicultural society. According to statistics, approximately 1 million foreigners currently reside in South Korea. Every year, about 8,000 Vietnamese brides, as well as numerous South East Asian migrant workers, immigrate into Korea. In the countryside, one can easily find a number of foreigners working in factories, rice fields, and on farms. Their children can be found studying at school side by side with Korean students.

Unfortunately, however, Koreans do not seem welcoming of a multicultural society quite yet. Several newspaper reports state that children of interracial marriages are teased and harassed so often in schools that many of them are forced to drop out. Children who are half-Korean are bullied primarily because they look different and cannot speak Korean fluently, thus, they face a tremendous amount of stress both with their peers and in keeping up with their studies.

Children from interracial marriages naturally look different based on the genes they inherit from both their mother and father. There is nothing wrong with having a unique blend of ethnicities, but the problem is that Koreans cannot tolerate the difference. For some unfathomable reason, Koreans tend to think that they are homogeneous and purebred, so it is difficult for them to accept mixed-race children. Parents should teach their children to appreciate diversity and respect cultural differences. Instead of instilling in their children such open-mindedness, Korean mothers frequently protest to schools when a child from an interracial marriage becomes their child`s classmate. Teachers should also teach their students to embrace those who are different from them, but few seem to steer their students towards the path of a global community. In contrast, quite a few teachers lead their students down the dark road of parochial jingoists and exclusive ultranationalists.

Growing up with different household languages, children from interracial marriages may not be able to speak impeccable Korean initially. Gradually, however, they will become more fluent as they are further exposed to it. In a sense, these bilingual children will become invaluable assets to our nation in the future, as Korea will play a more important role in the global village. Being narrow-minded, however, we often make fun of their broken Korean or prohibit them from speaking their mother`s language.

The lack of Korean proficiency will inevitably lead to a lack of motivation and result in poor academic performance. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should implement a special language acquisition system for those who are from interracial marriages. In the United States, for example, the ESL (English as a Second Language) program has been quite successful in encouraging students whose native language is not English to compete with their American counterparts. Korea, too, should initiate a KSL (Korean as a Second Language) program as soon as possible to help those mixed-race students. Currently, Korean schools have as many as 25,000 students from interracial families and yet, the Korean government has not done anything substantial to help their situation.

The result is disheartening. According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, approximately 24.5 percent of mixed race students have given up on their educational pursuits in Korea. In the 16-18 age group, 69.6 percent have either not enrolled in high school or dropped out. Some of them are reluctantly sent to their mother`s country for schooling where they can be more easily accepted. However, instead of driving them out of the country, we should recognize these children as Korean citizens and accommodate their needs in our education system.

We now helplessly watch our biracial children suffer from alienation and identity crises simply because they have different physical features. They are the lost children in today`s Korean society. If we do not take care of them, who will? When social responsibility and racial prejudice become compelling issues in our society, we need to stand up and change our mindsets to positively improve our nation as a whole.

Regardless of whether a child is full or half-Korean, he or she is representative of our country. We should be accepting and welcoming of them, and celebrate all our nation`s children. They are our future, and who knows? Among them may be the Barack Obama of Korea.

Kim Seong-kon is a professor of English at Seoul National University and president of the American Studies Association of Korea. - Ed.

[jkelly80]

I like the spirit of that article. Claiming Korea is multicultural because 1 out of 48 million come from abroad (2.1%) is kind of silly though.

[jajdude]

It was a good article. Guess you can't blame the kids who adopt their parents' and teachers' views.

[Dude Ranch]

[Scotticus]

[hellofaniceguy]