Hello hello, my sons! How are you doing on this fine August day?
I do realise that it's been quite a while since I last updated, mostly due to me being lazy as sh*t. I'm sorry. If blogging was an exam, I would fail miserably. :(
That being said, you may be wondering what I've been up to in the past 2.5 months. (Or not. Not a lot of people really seem to care these days lol.) Well, to answer that question, I've mostly been mooching around, enjoying working only 3 hours a day -- dabbling in a little Korean studying, and working other odd jobs here and there, like substitute teaching and summer camps.
Perhaps when you hear the words "summer camp", you might picture something like a bright, sunny field with tents pitched up all around, and kids laughing and shouting and running all over the place, chasing butterflies, picking flowers, and having a wonderful time.... Right?
WRONG.
In Korea, "summer camp" basically means intensive classes that are held during summer vacation. How misleading. =__= Poor kids.
The summer camp I did was at a high school on the south-east side of Seoul. The camp was about learning how to make a presentation in English, and on the last day the students took turns giving their own presentations about a topic of their choice, all of which were really interesting to watch. It was actually my first time working with high schoolers, so I was a little nervous, but my co-teacher was just amazing, and the kids turned out to be really awesome and truly lovely. I honestly feel very lucky to have met them and been able to work with them, even though it was just for a short time.
During the camp, talking to some of the students made me realise just how fortunate I was to have grown up in Australia. The pressure on students in Korea to study, study, and study so that they can get into a good university is immense. Mind-bogglingly so. It is not uncommon for a high school student to have a 16-hour school day -- they arrive early at school to study, do their regular classes, stay behind after school to study some more, and/or attend private lessons and academies that specialise in different subjects like math, English, science, etc. (Think like Kumon or North Shore, only these academies commonly run until midnight or after. o__o) On top of that, they spend almost all of their free time studying.
I asked some of them what they were going to do that weekend, to which they replied, "Study." "Go to academy."
What did they do during vacation? Study. Go to more academies. Attend summer camp. .__.
I asked another girl what students liked to do in their free time, when they weren't studying. She told me that most students liked to watch TV, watch movies, go to karaoke, etc. You know, regular stuff. Except their free time is basically limited to one week in the year, only after all of the exams are over. The urge to have fun and be a teenager is definitely there, but it must to be suppressed until that one week, once a year, where they can finally let loose. Until then, students are required to cram, memorise, and study their asses off, day in, day out, from dawn until the wee hours of the morning. Forget sleep. If you want to attend the top universities in Korea, getting only 3 to 5 hours a night of shut-eye is just one of the small sacrifices you should expect to make.
She also told me that during lunch time, students mostly just stay in their classrooms and either listen to music to unwind, or.. collapse on their desks and zonk off until the next class.
All of this was quite shocking. I mean I've always known that students in Korea (and other Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, etc) work much harder than students in Western countries, but to hear it first-hand from the students themselves really just drove it home.
I do appreciate that schools in Korea and around Asia turn out some of the smartest, most brilliant, and most disciplined students in the world, and there's no doubt that a rigid education system plays a huge part in that. I truly admire how hardworking these kids are, and how much self-discipline they must have in order to do what they do.
But at the same time... Phew. I thank my lucky stars that I was born and raised in Australia, and went through school there. While it is important to study in order to get into the course you want at uni, it's definitely nowhere near as stressful or competitive as it is over here.
Talking to the students also made me realise that my lifestyle could do with a few changes... Work harder. Study harder. Do more with my time. Enjoy life as much as possible.
So.. With that in mind, I'm going to turn over a new leaf and study more Korean, read more, blog more, and attempt to work on a few other personal goals. Stay tuned to see if I make good on those promises. :P
No comments:
Post a Comment