Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I have a couple of classes where there's a kid who just really looks like he needs a nap. And if he's going to school, piano hagwon, tae kwon do hagwon, English hagwon, doing two hours of homework, and then loitering around his parents shop til closing time he probably does. I've decided just to let him sleep and I tell the other kids he's not feeling well. Do you think this is all right? My attitude is that he'll learn more in everything else if he spends 15 minutes napping, and in the case of one of them, he's a bit socially dysfunctional when he's awake and not the most teachable kid.

If you've had a similar problem and have any suggestions I'd be interested to know.

[Mashimaro]

the whole of korea is sleep deprived, children and adults alike

[I_Am_Wrong]

[mindmetoo]

9 year olds here have midnight bed times. Enough said.

[Lizara]

I've got seven-year-olds who say they go to bed at 1 and get up at 6:30.

[d503]

Best thing about kindie, when the kids need a nap they get one

[turtlepi1]

One of my grade one students didn't have his homework done.
The Korean teacher mentioned it to his mother.

She said he was playing computer games until midnight then he pulled out his homework to start. She told him to put it away and he would have to put up with the teacher hitting him.

I didn't start pulling that until grade 6

[noelinkorea]

Seriously people - when you were kids, what time did you guys go to bed?? I never went any later than 11pm - and that's when I was in my last year at high school (and by choice - I left home at 16...). When I was like6 -7 or so, it was like 7pm or something- I can recall be 9 and going to bed at 8pm in the summer (the clock on the video would hit 20.00). I think Koreans are definitely sleep deprived - I think it's because it's probably on the lower end of the 'to do' lists for most here...unfortuantely...

[lookingtoteach]

When I worked in Ansan, I had a couple of girls in my advanced classes who went to public school all day then had four other hagwons to go to BESIDES my class. One of the girls' parents pulled her out of the English hagwon because she wasn't starting her homework until 1:30 and then had to get to get up for school at 6:30. And she was only 14. I thought it was crazy. If parents did that to their kids here, social services would snatch them out of those homes quicker than they could say 'kimchee'. I think it's sad to see how these kids aren't given time to be kids but go from elementary school kids to slaves of academia in mere days.

[SweetBear]

I know a middle school hagwon that closes at 11.45pm. My thirteen year old students ( western age) go to it sometimes six days a week. Before it starts they are with us from 3pm I don't know when they the homework from both hagwons and the school.
In the Let's go Three book we ask "What time do you go to sleep?" The answer from the eight year olds is never before 12am.
I had a difficult childhood in many respects but these kids are simply tortured

[JAMZ]

my students are ALWAYS tired... its ridiculous... no matter what age or grade they are in whenever i ask them what their favourite thing to do is i always get the same answer.... SLEEPING!!

[I_Am_Wrong]

yeah....but nothing is worse than the High School senior who is preparing for the University Entrance Exam: Wake up at 6:30 Monday to Saturday and go to school until 11:30 pm, Sunday wake up maybe an hour later....go to school and study all day....*beep*

[coolsage]

Hence the arrested development that is apparent when these kids arrive at university. To refer to them as socially retarded is not to overstate. As Uni freshmen, they exhibit the approximate social skills of twelve-year-olds (punching, hair-pulling), for this very reason; they've been locked into 'studying' thirteen hours a day for all of their little lives. I pity them all; I really do.