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Amazingly Smart Korean People
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Hollywoodaction



Joined: 02 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLtrainer wrote:
Hollywoodaction wrote:
I would agree with Kwangjuboy on this one. Most people, including other Korean-Americans, don't feel the need to brag about their achievements. Humility is a virtue and insecurity isn't.


I'm completely humiliated by that comment.


Stop acting like an insecure 2 year-old. Wink
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Beej



Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Location: Eungam Loop

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The writer of the editorial forgot to mention other segments of the Korean American population that far outnumber CEOs and the like: Massage parlor owners, hookers, organized criminals, convenience store drones ,and bear poachers.
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Moldy Rutabaga



Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Of course, many would remember perhaps the most well-known example, Wendy Lee Gramm, a Korean-American woman who served as chairperson of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President George H.W. Bush from 1988 to 1993

Of course-- how could we forget such a household name as hers? And after all those hearings on putting her on the $5 bill!

Quote:
These positions are so mainstream and so high-ranking that even the most educated and the most talented Americans can only dream of reaching

That's quite true. As a young boy I often sat up at night looking at the moon, dreaming of some day becoming chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Alas, I only made it so far as deputy interior manager.

Ken:>
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ontheway



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, Wendy Lee Gramm is a silly example. She married Senator Phil Gramm and got a high level government job. A powerful man uses his position to secure a cushy, high level job for his wife. This road to success has been traveled by women throughout history. It does show a Korean woman using her talents to get ahead, just not necessarily her brains.
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flakfizer



Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I remember when the Herald seemed to print an article like this just about every week. They've cut back on letters to the editor and those were by far the most entertaining snippets the Herlad ever printed. Anyone else remember when a "Ten Commandments of Teaching English" article seemed to make the paper every year? Those were awful. Anyway, I just want to know what this guy means when he says Koreans in America have achieved so much "under nearly impossible conditions." What the hell is he talking about? Does he feel he has to paint America as being a tough place for foreigners to succeed in to enhance his thesis that Koreans succeed because of their superior minds?
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supernick



Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I remember when the Herald seemed to print an article like this just about every week. They've cut back on letters to the editor and those were by far the most entertaining snippets the Herlad ever printed. Anyone else remember when a "Ten Commandments of Teaching English" article seemed to make the paper every year? Those were awful. Anyway, I just want to know what this guy means when he says Koreans in America have achieved so much "under nearly impossible conditions." What the hell is he talking about? Does he feel he has to paint America as being a tough place for foreigners to succeed in to enhance his thesis that Koreans succeed because of their superior minds?



America is a place where those you come without privilege can succeed and this is something that America celebrates. It makes me sick when I hear people make claims based on their ethnic background, though family background may play a roll. Koreans are no smarter. The ones that have accomplished the most seem to be the ones you left Korea behind.

There was also no "Miracle on the Han". It did not take 30 or 50 years to attain what they have; it took 5000 years. It didn't take brains either. It was all done by hard work and nothing more. Also, if it remained poor, it would be a great place for grassroots communism, and that would have been too good for the North.
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Moldy Rutabaga



Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Miracle on the Han". "Dynamic Korea". "The hub of Asia". These are all empty marketing slogans invented by Koreans, and the author of the article has simply presented them as self-evidently true to support his prejudice. Korea has industrialized and rebuilt itself in 50 years. And no one else has ever done this? German cities razed at the end of WWII haven't rebuilt themselves? The infrastructures and economies of Canada and the USA weren't significantly different between 1900 and 1950-- and without foreign aid pouring in to assist? We need to challenge these slogans for the empty propaganda they are.

>Koreans in America have achieved so much "under nearly impossible conditions."

What impossible conditions? Poisonous flying monkeys have attacked Korean immigrants only? Everyone else had a coach and venison stew when they came to America? As usual, the most annoying thing is that newspapers which claim to be serious journalism print this self-congratulatory gorp.

Ken:>
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patchy



Joined: 26 Apr 2005

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 3:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bo Peabody wrote:
I agree with EFLtrainer. It's scary that a guy with these credentials wrote that article.

Quote:
Mr. Kim received a B.S.F.S. degree in 1986, magna *beep* laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He received his J.D. degree, *beep* laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1989.


Georgetown must be curving grades for foreign students.


Doesn't that show American education isn't all that it's cracked up to be?
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patchy



Joined: 26 Apr 2005

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

That article is wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to start. I am sick and tired of these Korean Americans who talk as if getting a professional job is the be-all and end-all. It's not that hard to be working for somebody else. In all the examples the writer gives where is the mention of the big company or big-name law practice that has been founded by a Korean-American? One of the Korean-Americans in his list is famous partly by virtue of whom she MARRIED. I really think Koreans are brought up to be 'bots and this is a bigger problem than anything that life in a foreign country is going to throw at them.

I don't see Korean-Americans strong in the field of politics, creating start-ups, getting a name for innovation - I'm not talking about the FOB-Asian migrant thing like being good piano players or cellists or what have you (almost a cliche) but then once again, nothing creative about learning to play a musical instrument as perfectly as a robot .. where are the composers, the people on the cutting edge of the music scene making new styles if we're going to be talking music?

I see a whole lot of mamma's boy-Korean-Americans who write things like this because it gives them a sense of false reassurance that they're still okay even if they can't still get dates (the whine about 'disempowerment' and why women don't think of Asian-Americans as attractive is really loud), even with the Korean-American females. Korean-Americans are really FU'ed up, like a lot of Koreans who have migrated, in that they define success in very narrow terms. They should just stop kidding themselves and realize they have currently very little power in US society. Even less power than the Korean boy selling trinkets in the streets of Seoul has.

And more universities is something that Korea does not need: there are like twenty in Seoul - almost a third of the subway stations are named after a university. Rather, Koreans need fewer universities and the understanding that getting a bachelor's degree is not for everybody. You're not a failure if you don't make it to a SKY university. Korea needs to develop itself more broadly vocation-wise and get rid of the outdated scholar-success syndrome - it's no longer the Joseon era where becoming a yangbang scholar was practically the only way to be considered a success.

I would be more impressed if I had read an article about a Korean-American with no tertiary education who had founded a franchise business from the ground up and had made it into a successful chain; or if I had read about a blue-color worker who had campaigned and gotten himself elected in a city or state election in the US.

Education is not just something you get from attending an institution.
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Yu_Bum_suk



Joined: 25 Dec 2004

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

EFLtrainer wrote:
to properly apply


Split infinitive! Gotcha!
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Privateer



Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
EFLtrainer wrote:
to properly apply


Split infinitive! Gotcha!


Laughing Laughing Laughing

I reckon patchy's was the most intelligent post on this thread, but unfortunately it doesn't look like the obsession with everyone having a degree is going to end soon. It's almost like you're trapped in this society anyway: even if you recognise the flaw behind the assumption (that a degree is proof of worth) you still have to get one or people will wonder why you didn't. The result is a degree isn't worth as much any more. You have to have a Masters degree, or better yet a degree from a foreign university, and thus the advantage goes to the wealthiest more than to the brainiest.

If only Korean universities improved their academic standards the knock-on effects to society could be huge. Unfortunately Korean professors are not likely to do anything about it as they are doing very nicely thank-you. They do not feel the need to justify their positions by research and/or publishing of articles or exploring new ideas. They believe they are owed respect due to their position not to their performance and that is not likely to change any time soon.
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endofthewor1d



Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: the end of the wor1d.

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
EFLtrainer wrote:
to properly apply


Split infinitive! Gotcha!


there's nothing wrong with a split infinitive. actually, there's no such thing as a split infinitive. "to" isn't actually a part of the infinitive form of a verb. the infinitive part of "apply" is "apply".
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EFLtrainer



Joined: 04 May 2005

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Privateer wrote:
Yu_Bum_suk wrote:
EFLtrainer wrote:
to properly apply


Split infinitive! Gotcha!


Laughing Laughing Laughing


I reckon I coulda just said "apply the rule" and left properly out altogether to successfully avoid splitting the infinitive. But, hey, sometimes I like to sillily speak.
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Hollywoodaction



Joined: 02 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

patchy wrote:
Bo Peabody wrote:
I agree with EFLtrainer. It's scary that a guy with these credentials wrote that article.

Quote:
Mr. Kim received a B.S.F.S. degree in 1986, magna *beep* laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He received his J.D. degree, *beep* laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1989.


Georgetown must be curving grades for foreign students.


Doesn't that show American education isn't all that it's cracked up to be?


Most Ivy League schools inflate their grades. A few years ago, it was found by reporters that 94% of Harvard students graduated with some kind of honors. Yes, 94%.
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Bo Peabody



Joined: 25 Aug 2005

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[deleted]

Last edited by Bo Peabody on Thu May 02, 2013 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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