Korean Job Discussion Forums

[happiness]

Whats odd, is that I work in a kindie (well, a company that has a kindie among other things) and when the early kids come in, they dont play with the toys unless someone tells them to, they take out their notebooks and write in them. 5 and 6 years old!

[Steelrails]

Considering that 25 years from now some of those kids may be owning Hagwons that a fair number of 50+ aged people on this thread will be applying for jobs from we should perhaps not cackle until the egg is laid.

On the other hand I sure am raising my kids back home for elementary school. Then back here again maybe. But I like American elementary-aged childhood a lot more than here.

Although they will have supplementary homeschooling and at least 2 intensive hobbies (anymore will be their choice- Saxophone, Baseball, and Madden 2025? Fine with me)

[Kuros]

[Unposter]

I agree with Kuros and Uran Myth that it is a failing of the analysis of the surveys. But, I also agree with everyone else that from my experience there are a lot of kinds in Korea who are unhappy - adults, too.

But, I think some of it is the Korean character - which is to always compare themselves to others and be upset with any differences. It is not that I think people in other countries don't do this, they obviously do, but I think the degree and severity is much higher than where I am from.

But, I also think that as global competition increases, and it will, and as scarce resources such as oil becomes harder to come by, we are going to see a lot of stressed-out, miserable people in the future. Welcome to the new reality!

[West Coast Tatterdemalion]

This mentality of always having to be number 1 or your life is a complete abject failure and you might as well commit suicide certainly sets up a lot of that unhappiness.

[cj1976]

My wife works in a kindergarten and one of her students is always tired because his mother won't let him sleep until he's done all of his homework. That can be as late as midnight. Christ, he's only 5!
With parenting skills as bad as that, no wonder these kids seem so off-beat.

[northway]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

[Adventurer]

If you had so much scholastic pressure you wouldn't be happy about that, either.

[Krishire]

One of my tutorees is a university professor in America now and she always commented about how American university students didn't seem motivated, but seemed much more happy than her students in Korea. . . .I don't think it's just child students. But I could be wrong.

[Sticks]

It's not just child students, think about it. From primary school up to the end of High school, western countries usually would have school hours from 9 to 3, come home do some homework for an hour or two (if even that ) then you've got the rest of the day to do whatever the heck you like to do with weekdays off. Then they get into uni/college and HEY, NOW YOU CAN THINK FOR YOURSELF!! Which results in tertiary level students having the sort of freedom that they missed out on while growing up, which is usually NOT conducive to their learning.

Wouldn't you be happier? After hearing about and seeing the kind of crap kids here are forced to endure, then thinking back to my own childhood i'm bloody well thankful I lived in Australia while growing up.

But then again the current state of public education in Australia is slowly going down the ****ter, it's not what I remembered it to be.

[Steelrails]

There's something in the water the world over- Whether here or back home, this generation is nowhere near as intelligent and worthwhile as the previous ones.

I think this current generation, both here and back home, focused more on "gaming the system" than actually learning.

I mean how many degree-holding numbskulls do you know? Reminds me of the thread awhile back where someone asked about Spanish restaurants and got a bunch of recommendations for Mexican ones.

As Earthquake the Comedian once said, "I don't get how anyone can be racist, we all got retarded kids."

[Koreadays]

the problem I see with Korean schools is are the lack of activities and subjects for the kids to learn.
all they focus on here is ACADEMICS! that's it.
no arts, no sports, no creativity.
no wonder they all graduate like preprogrammed robots!

at least back home we had so much more to offer to kids than just math.

guess this is why Korea things screw creativity. lets just rip off other peoples designs and resell them. much easier and more profitable.

[eamo]

[Koreadays]

my friends downstairs neighbors daughter aged 15 just killed herself the other week, she went up to my friends floor, used their baby push car to help herself up to the ledge and jumped out the window.
my friend just arrived home to the apartment while the body was still on the ground, cops everywhere etc.. BLOOD EVERYWHERE.. from the 18th floor..
my friend is a 37 year mother of two daughters,

why did she do it? her mum was so so upset that her daughter didn't get into the foreign language high school, you know the one all mothers want their kids in. so she must of been made to feel like a failure.. so she killed herself

the parents have since moved out.

poor girl.. she didn't even start her life, and these parents just push these kids to suicide..
yes , it happens all over the world. but back home is not for academic pressure so much.. this should not have happened.