Korean Job Discussion Forums

[actionjackson]

I'm surprised this doesn't actually happen more often.

[joeteacher]

Tragic. The pressure that some of these kids get is shear child abuse, no doubt. Not that it excuses killing her but it just made him crazy. He hid her body for 8 months? That's Bat S**t crazy.

[The Floating World]

It actually does. Reports like this come in every year around test times.

But remember, America had slavery and Britain has chavs, so the west is just as bad mkay?

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

[atwood]

I saw this on the news last night. I guess the woman had no friends, etc. because it wasn't until the smell got unbearable that someone reported there was a problem.


Serves the kid right for not using Febreeze.

[The Floating World]

Oh NYG, just wanted to get it out of way before the apols derail the thread.

It IS tragic and such a sad waste of young life, the pressure the kids are put under here and made to feel like they are failiures if they can't pass some rote memorized mutiple choice half day long test. Sad and tragic and most of all - irresponsible.

Koreans still do not understand quality over quantity and long term view perspective etc.

Quantity vs quality. Some of our parents at my school have complained that I only give ten keywords per week for word test. They complained that Korean teachers give 80 words per week and they want me to give more. I explained that rather than rote mesmerise 80 words that the kids will forget by the next week, I prefer them to learn in detail, ten - fifteen key words which are the most pertinant to understanding the texts we study each week. We translate them, make sentences with them, learn any other forms we can use with them etc. I explained that EVEN THEN, sometimes in word test, they only really show they know around 70% of the words, so until they can get 100% on ten words, I AM NOT upping the ammount of words they study.

Why give them the extra stress, extra study time etc when IT WILL SHOW ZERO RETURN?!

Long term view. A personal antitdote (yes the mistake was deliberate.)

I was the class clown all through high school. Psycologically bullied from age 11 - 14 also. Did drugs, drank, stole, got arrested etc. Pulled down only 4 grade d, one grade c and one grade e in my final high school exams. By Korean standards I was a write off, a failiure. Went to collge, got kicked out as I didn't like the accounting classes of the vocational (non university) business course I was taking and went to the arcades during that time instead. Lived in social security paid shared houses, went to juvie for 6 months aged 17 for gbh on a guy who was ten years older and who started the fight in the first place.

Upon release, got my act together and worked in insurance sales, did very well. Went to college, excelled. Started uni at age 23 and again, excelled.

Had I grown up in Korea it is highly likely I would've jumped off a building or ended up with zero mobility.

Now I have a degree, have worked for my government in a manangement position (hated it though and got fired after 8 months, but still, I got the opportunity, which is what matters) have travelled the world (only 11 countries, but hey, I'm partially there) and have much better prospects.

My point being - things and people can work themselves out in time. Just because Minsoo didn't get into college straight away at age 19 and is working in piuzza hut, doesn't mean he has failed his parents. Just means

a. He might actually be content as he is
b. He might just be a slow bloomer and need a few years yet to catch u with his more succesful peers.

Yeah I know it's more pressing here as parents traditionally looked to the eldest to take care of them in life and social security is lacking and it is perhaps more dog eat dog etc, so in Korea (IF your parents can afford for you to go to college) you kind of do only get ONE SHOT, but still, the kids are put under unrealisitic pressure and stress in Korea.

Their workloads are absurd and the results are not comensurate. They really do need to get the kids learning smarter, not longer and make the tests utilise more skills than the ability to memorise books full of 'facts.'

Christ at my last public school job here, the Korean English teachers still insisted on teaching the kids new words by memorisation! When I tried to explain that teaching them to recognise and think about words phonetically was better, as once they learn the 26 sounds, and the other however many blends and rules - you only need to remember those 40 or so rules and sounds AND CAN THUS SPELL ANY WORD IN FUTURE - rather than having to memorise the full 171,476 words in comon use. Ok, phantasmagorical is still going to be hard for a lot of native speakers - but exceptions do not smash the rule...

Memerise 40 or so objects which give you the tools to spell the majority of words - or memorise 171,476 objects - which is smarter?

Of course they would have none of it, still I did my best to train the kids to think out how words sound before trying to spell them. Work which will probably be undone, but heck, I feel I tried.

And that to me is a quintessential example of what is wrong with the Korean education system. Skills of deduction and analyzation and comparison are still not valued over rote memorization of every object / idea / fact in the world.

Thus the kids have to spend so much time in burnout mode at too young an age.

It keeps em out of trouble I guess, but still....

[Adventurer]

There is more to this story than that, obviously. A mother who will deprive a son of food, though he was a very good student and not let him sleep would be an abusive mother in general, and he didn't live with his father. And for 8 months how come his father didn't know what was going on with him? It's clear there was plenty of dysfunctional behavior at that home.

[atwood]

Good post, world. I sometimes think many Koreans believe there is some sort of virtue gained in doing things the hard way rather than the smart way.

Even at the highest levels here, Korean professors are teaching students to memorize key phrases in English and quizzing them on them weekly. The problem is they don't know what some of the phrases mean or how to use them correctly.

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[Steelrails]

[weso1]

[fermentation]

You're just wasting your breath their weso. Koreans can't grasp the concept. I've seen so many people work hard and long, but acheive very little. Seen in a company office, seen in schools, seen it in the military. People here are very inefficient with their time and effort. I think despite the advances in IT technology and internet use, people don't really use the resources available to them (such as new research on these matters).

I also see it in sports as well. I see boxers train their butts off for hours and hours a day then go home and eat a bowl of rice and kimchi or ramen to cut weight. It boggles my mind. Even some of the basic knowledge possessed by highschool wrestlers in the US are unknown to professional athletes in Korea. Korean boxers also don't incorporate modern polymetric exercises that are internationally accepted by other boxers/trainers as a conditioning method. It's strange how backwards Korea seems in so many aspects despite its huge advances in tech.

Some people may say training hard is important, and it is to a large extent, but simply "training hard" can only get you so far in the highest levels. Along with the balant corruption, I think this is one of the reasons there are no Korean male world champions. Unless Korea can keep up with the technological advances, it will fall behind other nations in the realm of atheletics.

[Steelrails]

[Old fat expat]

LMAO at some of this.

Gave one of my teachers a book to read to help her English skills. 4th grade book with a 670 lexile. When I questioned her about the book she couldn't answer. She told me she had worked really hard to understand all the words--not the story.

I am however often amazed at Korean memorization skills. truely.

[atwood]