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wawawawonder
Joined: 30 Mar 2008
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 Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:45 am Post subject: Korean kids ignorant? |
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I am making no judgments either way for now but here's why I ask:
Today, for one reason or another, I showed my kids (K-age 13-15, mostly fairly bright) various pictures of famous people as well as historical figures.
One was the iconic image of Kim Il Sung in black suit, teeth gleaming with greying hair parted on the left.
One was a picture of Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president.
Another was of Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
Nobody could name Kim Il Sung from his picture. Less than half seemed to know who Syngman Rhee was, even after I had told them and one of the kids had established the correct Korean pronunciation. Not even one student knew of Sun Myung Moon. |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:02 am Post subject: |
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More kids in the world can recognize Ronald McDonald's face than Jesus Christ's.
And neither one looks like the original. In Ronald's case, the face changed. In Christ's, we simply don't know.
But take some relevant figures from Western history, show them to Western kids and I bet you get the same result. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| Do you remember when Miss South Carolina was asked why 1 out of 5 Americans couldn't find the US on a world map? She answered the question using horrible grammar, and her answer didn't even make sense. Do you remember the thread in which many people from England didn't know Winston Churchill was a real person in history. Yes, many Koreans are rather ignorant. They have a warped sense of their own history. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| I bet you they could have named every K pop celebrity in the charts this year. |
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I-am-me
Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Location: Hermit Kingdom
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:07 am Post subject: |
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Kids are kids anywhere in the world.  |
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NAVFC
Joined: 10 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| Do you remember when Miss South Carolina was asked why 1 out of 5 Americans couldn't find the US on a world map? She answered the question using horrible grammar, and her answer didn't even make sense. Do you remember the thread in which many people from England didn't know Winston Churchill was a real person in history. Yes, many Koreans are rather ignorant. They have a warped sense of their own history. |
That is a joke right? 1/5 Americans not being able to find the US on a map? The US is huge..How can anyone NOT find it. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:47 am Post subject: |
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| Kids are ignorant. It's the nature of the beast (and why I refuse to teach them). |
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Brady
Joined: 25 Jul 2006
Location: Bucheon
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| That is a joke right? 1/5 Americans not being able to find the US on a map? The US is huge..How can anyone NOT find it. |
Well, how could anyone find it, all tucked away down there. |
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sjrm
Joined: 27 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Adventurer wrote: |
| Do you remember when Miss South Carolina was asked why 1 out of 5 Americans couldn't find the US on a world map? She answered the question using horrible grammar, and her answer didn't even make sense. Do you remember the thread in which many people from England didn't know Winston Churchill was a real person in history. Yes, many Koreans are rather ignorant. They have a warped sense of their own history. |
She's from S. Carolina!! What else do you expect?!  |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: Re: Korean kids ignorant? |
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| wawawawonder wrote: |
I am making no judgments either way for now but here's why I ask:
Today, for one reason or another, I showed my kids (K-age 13-15, mostly fairly bright) various pictures of famous people as well as historical figures.
One was the iconic image of Kim Il Sung in black suit, teeth gleaming with greying hair parted on the left.
One was a picture of Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president.
Another was of Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
Nobody could name Kim Il Sung from his picture. Less than half seemed to know who Syngman Rhee was, even after I had told them and one of the kids had established the correct Korean pronunciation. Not even one student knew of Sun Myung Moon. |
not that K kids have a lot of time for tv - but have you ever cruised the channels? not a lot of edu stuff on - most of that even is from the west -
ever checked out a K student's textbook? not a lot of images there either - that aren't every small, cheaply done and not very interesting.
so in between their lack of exposure to true knowledge and a rather pathetic media culture - where are they supposed to have learned this info in the first place?
why do you think so many parents complain about K education?
get it now?  |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| NAVFC wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| Do you remember when Miss South Carolina was asked why 1 out of 5 Americans couldn't find the US on a world map? She answered the question using horrible grammar, and her answer didn't even make sense. Do you remember the thread in which many people from England didn't know Winston Churchill was a real person in history. Yes, many Koreans are rather ignorant. They have a warped sense of their own history. |
That is a joke right? 1/5 Americans not being able to find the US on a map? The US is huge..How can anyone NOT find it. |
there is a tie here for the both of you being incredibly naive, or maybe just plain stupid? is that it?
this is just plain nonsense - ok?
NAVFC - you might want to read something besides the Inquirer once in a while - heck - for you wikipedia might be a step up -
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| NAVFC wrote: |
| Adventurer wrote: |
| Do you remember when Miss South Carolina was asked why 1 out of 5 Americans couldn't find the US on a world map? She answered the question using horrible grammar, and her answer didn't even make sense. Do you remember the thread in which many people from England didn't know Winston Churchill was a real person in history. Yes, many Koreans are rather ignorant. They have a warped sense of their own history. |
That is a joke right? 1/5 Americans not being able to find the US on a map? The US is huge..How can anyone NOT find it. |
No, it is not a joke. I wish it was a joke. Many Americans cannot find America on the map. Also, many don't know where certain states are in the country. Granted, America is much bigger than Korea, a superpower, and maybe some in America think the world needs to know America, but they are more interested in their own lives domestically whatever it means to them, and it applies to Koreans maybe, too. It doesn't make someone good or bad to be ignorant as long as it is not malicious or someone is not being discriminatory. |
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newteacher
Joined: 31 May 2007
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject: Re: Korean kids ignorant? |
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| wawawawonder wrote: |
I am making no judgments either way for now but here's why I ask:
Today, for one reason or another, I showed my kids (K-age 13-15, mostly fairly bright) various pictures of famous people as well as historical figures.
One was the iconic image of Kim Il Sung in black suit, teeth gleaming with greying hair parted on the left.
One was a picture of Syngman Rhee, South Korea's first president.
Another was of Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
Nobody could name Kim Il Sung from his picture. Less than half seemed to know who Syngman Rhee was, even after I had told them and one of the kids had established the correct Korean pronunciation. Not even one student knew of Sun Myung Moon. |
Yet, surprisingly, when I asked my class who was the president during the American Civil War, every student in class knew it was Abraham Lincoln. |
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whatever
Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Location: Korea: More fun than jail.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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It's remarkable sometimes with my kids...the same ones will know Thomas Edison's picture, but not Beckham's...Nelson Mandela's but not Park Se-Ri...know who Augusto Pinochet was, but never heard of Ban Ki-Moon...know all about Ghana, but not that it's a country and Africa is a continent (and massively bigger than Korea)...
I see no pattern... |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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First of all, GOOD that they don't recognise Moon Sun Myung.
I put together a feature for work that was going to be essays about 52 famous people. I had to select a list, and my boss went over it to say who he was interested in. According to him, Koreans have absolutely zero interest in Amelia Earhart. Also, he dropped Mark Twain from the list. That really surprised me. |
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