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640x480
Joined: 02 Apr 2008
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 Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject: Finally hit my culture shock... |
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...but in an unexpected way.
I gave one of my advanced classes an 8/10 for their grade.
This happened because their behavior was so ridiculous in class.
I got pretty angry in that class because it's been building up in me for a bit.
Then comes the smartys who never fail...
They are really fighting hard to get that 10.
I don't know about you guys, but I had earn my perfect scores.
An "A" is something that is supposed to be rare you know?
I couldn't believe how much 1 or 2 points means to these kids.
Then I realized that I still have a lot to learn about this place.
I'm a gyopo, so Korean by blood, but I'm pretty much "White".
I think it's going to take a lot of understanding from me and from my students for a happier future.
P.S. They say that they were behaving not far off from how they are in other classes. Wow..no wonder teachers are banging tables and yelling. How is this normal? |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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I couldn't believe how much 1 or 2 points means to these kids.
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If it means Omah's going to beat your ass when you get home it could mean quite a lot. But that may be just what you needed to do to get them to smarten up. With Korean kids it's often all-or-nothing when it comes to studying; the sad part is that the 'all' is probably what they're giving in the useless grammar and vocab class with a KET and the 'nothing' is what they're giving in your conversational class which could actually help give them a sound base in English communication. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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These kids parents want them to go to Seoul National, Yonsei, or Korea University. In order to get into those schools, you pretty much need perfection. 3.99 doesn't cut it when 10,000 other high school seniors have 4.0's.
Now, do you see why the students get so worked up over 1 point? |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
These kids parents want them to go to Seoul National, Yonsei, or Korea University. In order to get into those schools, you pretty much need perfection. 3.99 doesn't cut it when 10,000 other high school seniors have 4.0's.
Now, do you see why the students get so worked up over 1 point? |
Then they need to shut the F up in class. 10,000 other students figured it out!  |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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| bassexpander wrote: |
| pkang0202 wrote: |
These kids parents want them to go to Seoul National, Yonsei, or Korea University. In order to get into those schools, you pretty much need perfection. 3.99 doesn't cut it when 10,000 other high school seniors have 4.0's.
Now, do you see why the students get so worked up over 1 point? |
Then they need to shut the F up in class. 10,000 other students figured it out! |
Here here, I'll drink to that. |
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esetters21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
These kids parents want them to go to Seoul National, Yonsei, or Korea University. In order to get into those schools, you pretty much need perfection. 3.99 doesn't cut it when 10,000 other high school seniors have 4.0's.
Now, do you see why the students get so worked up over 1 point? |
Don't forget my gf's alma mater KAIST. Only 1 student for any given high school is admitted for the calendar year. Koreans call it the genius school  . |
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little mixed girl
Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Location: shin hyesung's bed~
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:19 am Post subject: Re: Finally hit my culture shock... |
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| 640x480 wrote: |
...I couldn't believe how much 1 or 2 points means to these kids.
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when i was in high school (in the US), people in my class would argue with the teacher for however long it would take to get half a point, a whole point, whatever added to their grade.
it's all about the GPA.
it was terribly annoying listening to 16 year olds whine and cry that "you didn't tell us this was going to be on the test!!!". -_- |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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KAIST? The same school that basically expelled a Nobel Prize winner as the president because he wanted to help modernize student and professor performance and accountability? Still a long way to go.
Korea is trying hard to get it's learning institutions up to snuff, but in an academic universe rules by market forces, the heavy-handed government input and heavily top-biased institutional management are just creating more and more red tape for the Korean academic world.
The end result? KAIST? SNU? Korea? Yonsei? Yawn. Sure, some of the kids stay around to get their undergrad, but everyone knows that the best students go abroad, especially for their grad and post grad degrees. So they can continue to chuck money at the system to bring in foreign professors, and they can prop up their international rankings, but the fact is, race horses don't do much running if their locked in their stalls. I highly doubt that the bulk of the scholars coming in under current conditions will stay more than a year, perhaps two on the outside. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| PRagic wrote: |
| but everyone knows that the best students go abroad, especially for their grad and post grad degrees. |
uh, I think it's the students who come from the wealthiest families who go abroad, not necessarily the best |
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PRagic
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Uh, then you'd be wrong. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| The smart of the wealthiest go abroad. Although some dumb ones do get through. But, if you're really really smart and poor, you'd get some kind of scholarship. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| The smart of the wealthiest go abroad. Although some dumb ones do get through. |
And those would be the the 44% who eventually drop out, too. |
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bassexpander
Joined: 13 Sep 2007
Location: Someplace you'd rather be.
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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| jvalmer wrote: |
| The smart of the wealthiest go abroad. Although some dumb ones do get through. But, if you're really really smart and poor, you'd get some kind of scholarship. |
There are a lot of families with "enough money." I've seen that the students who go abroad (the non-rich ones) are the ones who have a dream and really persevere. Their families will do their best to support them.
It's not always the richest students that go abroad. Where there's a will, there's a way.
My first Korean girlfriend from years ago finally made it to Australia to study. That may not seem too big of a deal, but she was an orphan who worked as a hagwon teacher. She scrimped and saved for years to follow her dream. She's there now. And no, she's not working there as a prostitute. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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| And no, she's not working there as a prostitute. |
Then she's in the minority. |
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