Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Len8]

Film reminded me a lot about the rigidity of Korean education, and how some teachers are forced to subvert their creative selves for the sake of getting their highschool students into Seoul national university.

Wonder if the high student suicide rate here is for the same reasons the guy who wanted to be a drama student felt about being forced to study stuff he wasn't interested in.

[Medic]

Interesting. I did the two week stint as a teacher of the Korean highschool and middle school teachers during the break, and one of the teachers actually told everyone about how he was remanded for his teaching style, because he was giving the students too much leeway. His counter to the reprimand was that he believed in encouraging creativity instead of forcing the students to blindly do the ridiculous classwork that getting a good CSAT score requires. Not in the good books of the principle, but he has stuck to his guns and his still doing his own thing.

[kimchi story]

I loved the movie, I was a boarding student at a private school when it came out.

As a teacher now, though, it never fails to raise a critical question for me.

Is there value in teaching students to think outside the box, when most of them can't recognize the box in the first place? Or is the result, as was John Keatings experience, an ineluctable tragedy.

I resolve this by making my classroom a fun place to be, but would never, never want a Knox on my conscience.

Truly an ethical dilemma.

[Pendennis]

[cwemory]

If you ever decide to use the film in a class, a great teaching guide can be found here:
http://www.eslnotes.com/movies/html/dead-poets-society.html.
Most of the students I taught were able to relate to the film very well.

[kimchi story]

[crazylemongirl]