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jazzmaster
Joined: 30 Sep 2013
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 Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:55 pm Post subject: Idiot teacher or idiot students? |
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http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3005432&cloc=etc|jad|googlenews
"A professor at Seoul’s Hongik University has come under fire for writing exam questions that appear to demean Korea’s late Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun."
Is this a case of a half-witted insensitive teacher, or a case of over-sensitive fragile ego students?
Here's my take - it's a case of both. If you're qualified and experienced enough to work in Hongik you should know how sensitive many Koreans are to any criticism of Korea/Koreans. You stay away from it and make sure you do nothing that could jeopardize your job.
But the students and Koreans are doing the usual cry baby, how dare you insult a Korean schtick. Grow some thicker skin and get over yourselves. To try to take someones job over a stupid question is overreacting. Get a fucking grip.
I've seen this a lot these days all around the world. Say something stupid or insulting and a load of PC warriors start crying. Then they demand an apology. Then they demand you resign.
Which leads to people editing what they say to such a point that no new, inventive, daring, or controversial subjects are ever discussed.
Whatever happened to the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" ? |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 12:17 am Post subject: |
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| Stupid allusions, atrocious grammar, idiot prof. I'd say the students have a fair gripe. |
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optik404
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| That's a lot worse than just being a stupid question. It's quite offensive. Not to me, but I can understand why some students had an issue. |
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Kepler
Joined: 24 Sep 2007
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slothrop
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| i wonder if this korean law prof's exam questions would have caused as much contoversy if they'd been about the legalities of former politicians and their children taking bribes, moving illegal money offshore, tax evasion etc... |
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jazzmaster
Joined: 30 Sep 2013
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:01 am Post subject: |
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Nice post Kepler.
I initially thought the poor grammar was part of the question. The students had to spot the mistakes and change them. If the professor that wrote these questions is teaching anything related to English he shouldn't have the job in the first place.
Anyway, back to the original point and I stand by my first post. Idiotic professor and overreacting students.
Maybe they want him to retire because he is a terrible professor, and this is the straw that broke the camels back. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:18 am Post subject: |
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I had professors at univeristy who would work politics into their in-class examples, even when the issue being discussed wasn't about politics. For example, a philosophy professor asked if the question "Mulroney is the best prime minister Canada ever had, but I don't believe it", was a contradiction.
But that's pretty generic, and not really any more inflammatory that the prof just admitting to a distaste for Brian Mulroney. It's quite another thing to make references to a politician's real-life suicide in an exam.
And jokes about brain-damage aren't really cool, either. This is a university classroom, not Southpark. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:24 am Post subject: |
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jazzmaster wrote:
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| But the students and Koreans are doing the usual cry baby, how dare you insult a Korean schtick. |
I don't think this is really an issue of ethnic nationalism, like Ohno or Die Another Day. The prof is Korean himself, and his questions weren't insulting to Koreans qua Koreans, they were insuting to particular individuals, for reasons that had nothing to do with their nationality.
Maybe the students were liberals or leftists, offended that the prof was insulting their heroes. That would make me a little less sympathetic to them than if they're just offended at the bad taste, but it still wouldn't redeed the prof's decision to put the questions on the test. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:29 am Post subject: |
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| Anyway, this prof is now going to have his English skills roasted across the internet, so I'd day there's probably a measure of justice in all this. They could probably justify dismissing him on those grounds alone, since Contract Law especially requires exact knowledge of meaning and grammar. |
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jazzmaster
Joined: 30 Sep 2013
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| Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
jazzmaster wrote:
| Quote: |
| But the students and Koreans are doing the usual cry baby, how dare you insult a Korean schtick. |
I don't think this is really an issue of ethnic nationalism, like Ohno or Die Another Day. The prof is Korean himself, and his questions weren't insulting to Koreans qua Koreans, they were insuting to particular individuals, for reasons that had nothing to do with their nationality.
Maybe the students were liberals or leftists, offended that the prof was insulting their heroes. That would make me a little less sympathetic to them than if they're just offended at the bad taste, but it still wouldn't redeed the prof's decision to put the questions on the test. |
Yeah, it certainly seems like it was more a politically divisive situation than nationalism.
It still seems like a bit of an overreaction to demand the professor resign. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| jazzmaster wrote: |
| On the other hand wrote: |
jazzmaster wrote:
| Quote: |
| But the students and Koreans are doing the usual cry baby, how dare you insult a Korean schtick. |
I don't think this is really an issue of ethnic nationalism, like Ohno or Die Another Day. The prof is Korean himself, and his questions weren't insulting to Koreans qua Koreans, they were insuting to particular individuals, for reasons that had nothing to do with their nationality.
Maybe the students were liberals or leftists, offended that the prof was insulting their heroes. That would make me a little less sympathetic to them than if they're just offended at the bad taste, but it still wouldn't redeed the prof's decision to put the questions on the test. |
Yeah, it certainly seems like it was more a politically divisive situation than nationalism.
It still seems like a bit of an overreaction to demand the professor resign. |
I dunno. I was thinking today about the regionalist humour(eg. the joking references to South Jeolla seafood), which is probably the closest that Korea has to long-standing ethnic jokes.
If a law professor in Canada were to write a question mocking a well-known Quebec politician, and include a reference to poutine in that, well, that prof had better hope that he has an ironclad tenure arrangement. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:10 am Post subject: |
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Young Koreans tend to treat Kim Dae-Jung and Noh Moh-Hyun as demi-gods. God forbide if you point out some of their flaws.
Anyways, the course is about contract law. The prof used questionable judgement throwing in names of well-known, and very popular, yet imperfect, political figures into his test. Maybe some slap on the wrist, but it shouldn't be something to get fired over.
Also, the students need to pipe down. Just because some guy doesn't like the mentioned polititans doesn't make the guy an ultra-conservative, pro-Japanese. |
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