Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kimchieluver]

Another example of Korean conformity, one which I want to bring to attention because it's developing in the early ages. Ever since I have been teaching here, when one child brings something they bought from the local stationery store, all the kids seem to jump on the band wagon.

For example, pink clip-on hair extensions (boys used these just as much as the girls), laser pointers, superballs, and state of the art tops (the spinning kind).

Notice I did not mention pogs or pog related products. Those you can trade. Kind of like Star Wars cards when we were kids.

The new thing now seems to be yo-yos that light up when used. Last Friday two students had them. Now almost every student, grade 1 -6, has one. Girls and boys. No big deal to me, just a wasted minute of teaching time telling them to put them away.

My question is, why the mass influx of yo-yos all of a sudden? They learnt what a yo-yo was in phonics at 7 years old. I watch Korean TV and have not seen one yo-yo commercial.

Could the answer to my question solve the mysterious Korean conformity issue?

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[peppermint]

Nah, I remember fads like that all the time in elelmentary school. Besides, yoyos seem more normal than the knitting fad of the winter.

[edgellskiuk]

[Leslie Cheswyck]

Ask and ye shall receive.

Thanks.

Whisky Galore! (1949)
Based on a true story. The name of the real ship, that sunk Feb 5 1941 - during WWII - was S/S Politician. Having left Liverpool two days earlier, heading for Jamaica, it sank outside Eriskay, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in bad weather, containing 250,000 bottles of whisky. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper authorities arrived, and even today, bottles are found in the sand or in the sea every other year.

Summary written by Jörg Ausfelt {[email protected]}

When 50,000 cases of whisky are stranded on a ship which runs aground, the inhabitants of a Scottish island cannot resist the temptation. Unfortunately, a Home Guard captain (an Englishman) stands in their way.

Yeah, I know. I'm hijacking a thread.

[Blind Willie]

So, the moral of the movie is that Scots are a bunch of drunkards, and the English are sticks in the mud?

[I_Am_Wrong]

well right now the big fad at my elem. school is yo-yos....

I love the people who complain about this stuff with elementary kids here without even realizing it's exactly the same in our countries all the way through til university.

I also love the people who complain about the children being spoiled without realizing than probably 90% of children in the U.S. are more spoiled.

I also love people who complain about conformity here without realizing how blatant the conformity is back home

[Leslie Cheswyck]

[animalbirdfish]

I remember there being a big yo-yo fad in my elementary school in the States when I was in about fourth grade.

Happens everywhere. Kids want to fit in.

[casey's moon]

[peppermint]

Hell, be grateful. I remember in second grade all the cool kids had pet tadpoles that we kept at school

[VanIslander]

Fads are fads are fads.

I remember missing out on a few back in elementary school simply because I got my allowance at the end of the month and some fads came and went by then.

As for here in Korea, I've noticed the yo-yo craze this week, but am much more thankful it's not a return to the wheelies of a couple of years ago: It was hard to get students to stay seated when they wanted to show off and play with the wheeled shoes they had on.

If I see a yo-yo after class starts, I simply confiscate it until the class is over, when all the other students have left. And the students know it! So, they disappear mighty quick anyways. No problem here.

[Chillin' Villain]

[tzechuk]

I don't think it is just a Korean thing... we used to do that in England too...

[eamo]