Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kuros]

If his students are aged 18-25, it cant be that bad. If it were with 13 or 14 year olds it might be a little inappropriate. I dunno, Hammer could just be having fun with them.

[HamuHamu]

Things I have heard from the Korean teachers at my school, repeatedly:

- All American women are fatter than Korean women.

- All vegetarians are fat.

- There are only 5 continents in the world - Europe, Asia, Antarctica, Australia and "America" (the Arctic, South America and North America are all one continent, and NZ "doesn't have a continent")

****

Although I have mixed thoughts on this kind of a quiz, I also kinda feel it's not my place to question the morality of it without knowing the recent topics of discussion, the purpose, the discussions that are expected to come from it, the course syllabus, and the things being specifically taught, etc, etc.

BUT, I would also suggest putting in a large percentage of things that ARE TRUE (things like...oh I don't know, nothing good comes to mind right now..."In some countries women with a higher education make less money than men with a lower equivalent education, in the same job..." or "In some countries, you can NOT refuse to hire a person because of their skin colour/ they aren't attractive/ they refuse to work more than 44 hours per week" -- or something like that). Encourage students to find the things that ARE true and that can be backed up by evidence, and the things that have no evidence to support. Tell them how many FACTUAL statements there are, and see how many of them they can find. It might surprise you (and lots of us) to see that when told only 4 things are FACTUAL, which ones the students pick....

Questions might be written on the paper as "How strongly I agree with this statement on a scale of 1 - 5, with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree). It's a little less harsh than claiming simply TRUE or FALSE. Students should not put any identifying marks on the paper to influence the unfortunate but natural bias that the intructor may have on them during marked, subjective assignments. The same questionairre can be given again at the end of the semester for students to personally reflect on how some of the things they have discussed or learned this semester have affected the way they think or see the world.

You can also have students each circle or indicate which questions they agree or disagreee with MOST, or that they feel are most important to them. A quick tally can give an idea of the ones that might bring the most interest to a discussion and thus make the lessons most productive.

[Hagwon Muppet]

[quote="HamuHamu"]

- There are only 5 continents in the world - Europe, Asia, Antarctica, Australia and "America" (the Arctic, South America and North America are all one continent, and NZ "doesn't have a continent")

[quote]

Well how many Olympic Rings are there???

I hate to break this too you but they are at least partially right.

1) NZ doesn't have a continent. The continent is Australasia ... which for a Korean would be easily confused to Australia.

2) The Arctic isn't a continent. Don't ask me why, I'm no geographer, but it isn't a continent. I remember this from elementary school geography. I can't remember exactly the definition... is it simply an ocean? I'm also not sure where Greenland fits in but the Arctic isn't a continent.

3) I'm really not sure on the official line on the North America/South America thing and whether in fact America is technically a single continent. Not to mention the confusion as to whether Europe and Asia are actually separate continents or can be classed together as Eurasia!!
I never really worked out how these things get defined and who gets the last word on it all.

Maybe you knew all this already but your post seemed to suggest that the Korean person was saying stupid things when they weren't actually all that far off the mark.

I really don't know why some people in Korea want to go out of their way to try to prove how ignorant their hosts are. Certainly if I were North American I would not attempt to use geography knowledge as the deciding factor in this.

From my personal experience North Americans aren't exactly the most clued up people on the planet when it comes to this kind of thing. I've yet to find one who really understands the make-up of the UK and how everything fits together for example.

Of course if I were a Korean student I would be too damned polite to attempt to ridicule my teacher by trying to expose his lack of knowledge on this or any other topic.

[Apple Scruff]

There are seven continents: North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australasia, and Antarctica. The Arctic isn't an individual continent because it's just water, Canada and Russia.
Pay no attention to how many rings are in the Olympics' logo. The Olympics were started by a bunch of horny, naked Greeks.

[Hagwon Muppet]

[kiwiboy_nz_99]

OP, several of your questions were not true false questions, so to put them in that format is quite misleading.

[rapier]

Africa, Eurasia (includes the Arctic), Australasia, North America, South America, Antarctica. 6 distinct large land masses. These would be the 6 continents if it was up to me.

[agraham]

[quote="Hagwon Muppet"]

[Son Deureo!]

[HamuHamu]

Argh, I typed a whole reply to this and my computer crashed.....and now I don't feel like trying to write it all as concisely and well-thought out as before <sigh>

Anyway, I am going to *try* really hard to not sway too much from the OP here, with a geographical discussion, but unfortunely, at the same time, that is exactly what I am doing!

The actual relevant part of my post was not in the three statements "All Korean women are skinnier than American women; All vegetarians are fat, and that there are only 5 continents in the world." Someone, I can't remember who, write it exactly perfectly (!) by saying it all depends on what you were taught in school.

But the relevant part of my post was that just because you were taught one thing does not mean that it is an absolute or that it is a universal truth. As a kid I was taught that there are 7 continents, in Korea (and many parts of South America, too!) they classify the world as 5 seperate continents. I think that asking students to state their opinion in only TRUE or FALSE terms doesn't allow much room for people that have a mid-point belief....

Ok, so the continents issue is not the best example to include, because it'snot something that people think of as a "contentious issue" that you could either "somewhat agree or disagree with" but I was surprised to see here how divided people are on the question, which maybe means that it IS a good representative question!

It might have been easier if you chose to pick on my fat-vegetarians suggestion...

Oh, and even though I am from North America, I am fully aware and in complete understanding of the make-up of the UK and the consituent parts...and have been asked on many occassions to explain it to friends from England.

So from this we can take that - not all English folk understand their own country, not all North Americans are unaware of the rest of the world, not all people agree on the same number of continents, there are extremely intelligent people in every country, some stupid ones in every country, and not all vegetarians are fat...

And isn't that what the OP is trying to get at with his survery -- that not all Korean mothers love their babies more than all western mothers? (That's not rhetorical...is it?)

I just think it's hard to ask people to answer those kind of opinion questions solely as True or False....especially when attempting to teach them critical thinking skills.

[rapier]

I think the OP's idea has merit, to be honest. By challenging the usual Korean stereotypical ways of thinking at an early age, you are setting them on a course of critical thinking that will benefit them a whole lot. You have planted a seed, sown a thought- and that is rarely wasted in life.
Perhaps if you made the contentious statements less brazenly patronising somehow, and mixed in a lot of neutral statements, it would be swallowed a bit easier with them. If you cause offence or they think you're poking fun at them, the desired end result will be totally lost.
But I honestly think subtly challenging their way of thinking is a great idea- far better than the teacher who smiles, nods and continues when the students come out with racist rubbish or downright illogical B.S.

Don't forget: "Blood type is crucial in determining personality, and compatibility between marriage partners", T/F?

[jajdude]

Very easy for non-Koreans! All false!

But for many Koreans, not so easy...

[The Hammer]

[The Hammer]

[quote="Son Deureo!"]

[The Hammer]