Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mosley]

I found out today that a second yr. student(male, about 16) died over the weekend. Poor bugger was paralyzed from the neck down and of course was wheelchair-bound. To its credit, my school recently put in an elevator to accommodate him. Apparently, he died of organ failure.

Hell of a nice kid, bright and one of best English speakers amongst 2nd yr. boys. I sometimes thought:"Yikes! It's tough enough to be a HS student in this country w/o having a condition like that!"

Not the first time I've come across this. While on JET, a girl(also about 16) at my school committed suicide. She was a nice kid too.

Only the good die young...I guess it's true.

[lowpo]

[The Hierophant]

That's terrible news
I hope everyone left behind is pulling together to cope. Very sad. You have my condolences

[Roving_gypsy_gurl]

I went through something similar while working at a special needs school. It's really hard to cope with, especially keeping to the routine of school with the person missing. You and the boy's classmates have my condolences. Stay strong!

[laogaiguk]

Very sad. I can only imagine the kid was a fighter, especially being in high school.

[contrarian]

I'm sorry to hear about the kid. He tried! The school tried and you tried. I believe in a life after this one. In the great scheme of things he went to a better place.

Koreans in general were much more intolerant of defects and the severely injured than they were. In my first year in Korea I had a kid with a cleft palate in one of my classes (in a hogwan). He worked harder than anyone and his speech was good (even with his difficulty).

We moved on and he was not in the next class. I asked why and was told his parents couldn't afford it. I asked the owner to bring the kid back and deduct his fees from my pay. You could see the owner's brain churning. He established a scholarship and I didn't pay.

The PR was great and the kid got more classes. That is what counted.