Tuesday, April 6, 2010
2:25 AM | 
Posted by
FUSION
Additional Educational Problems and Issues in Korea
I think now is the good time to talk about some different issues involved in other educational problems in Korea not only students but also faculty, society and parents. As you know, 11th and 12th grade of high school in Korea is like an invisible life for most students in order to enter high level private college, not for scholarship but just for admission. For those two years, these students get up at 6 in the morning and come back home at 2 in the morning with additional studies in private academies. Can you guys imagine that? 4 hours of sleep every day, and during exams, they cannot sleep at all. I was lucky living in Guatemala during my high school years. Because of this harsh educational environment during their high school years, one of the main problems that happens is that those students whose parents are in high class level, tend to pay large amount of money to the teachers and even those who are in charge of university entrance exams. Since teachers are the center of education in Korea, after receiving illegal payments, teachers steal real exams and study the exact same material with those students as it appears to be completely normal which is not. Another main issue is that there is still huge discrimination among rich and poor in Korea (especially teachers who discriminate students); some teachers are very income and money oriented caring and helping only those students that live in high class environment.
As I mentioned before, Korea is the number one or the largest private tutoring market and academies. This is also a major issue to students because it is causing large expense on household financial conditions. People in Korea tend to search for specific geographical areas where strong private tutoring market is held with strong educational background; therefore, high-income families are gathered in specific region where famous academies are surrounded increasing even more the gap between rich and poor. One thing that is very different from US culture or other cultures in Central America is that Korean Parents are so much more obsessed with their children education: exams prove everything, and competitive admission in only few prestigious universities located in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, which “guarantees” high social status, easy and rich life, stabilized financial status, and recognition. Also Korean specialty is only looking at the legal and official documents from a student. Something that can prove high level education is everything when recruiting for most small firms. This is why if someone is a graduate student from a famous and highly recognized university in Seoul, most of the company would hire this person. Additionally, let me give you a real story of a friend of mine. Koreans love to do meetings, but meetings meaning with 3 men vs 3 women in the opposite side of the table where people talk each other, choose the favorite opposite sex and go somewhere else for a date. What 90% of women ask to the men in the first meeting is what university he is currently attending. No matter how high is the GPA, these girls are only interested in the level of University. Anyone from any university should have the same opportunity and recognition from others.
I think now is the good time to talk about some different issues involved in other educational problems in Korea not only students but also faculty, society and parents. As you know, 11th and 12th grade of high school in Korea is like an invisible life for most students in order to enter high level private college, not for scholarship but just for admission. For those two years, these students get up at 6 in the morning and come back home at 2 in the morning with additional studies in private academies. Can you guys imagine that? 4 hours of sleep every day, and during exams, they cannot sleep at all. I was lucky living in Guatemala during my high school years. Because of this harsh educational environment during their high school years, one of the main problems that happens is that those students whose parents are in high class level, tend to pay large amount of money to the teachers and even those who are in charge of university entrance exams. Since teachers are the center of education in Korea, after receiving illegal payments, teachers steal real exams and study the exact same material with those students as it appears to be completely normal which is not. Another main issue is that there is still huge discrimination among rich and poor in Korea (especially teachers who discriminate students); some teachers are very income and money oriented caring and helping only those students that live in high class environment.
As I mentioned before, Korea is the number one or the largest private tutoring market and academies. This is also a major issue to students because it is causing large expense on household financial conditions. People in Korea tend to search for specific geographical areas where strong private tutoring market is held with strong educational background; therefore, high-income families are gathered in specific region where famous academies are surrounded increasing even more the gap between rich and poor. One thing that is very different from US culture or other cultures in Central America is that Korean Parents are so much more obsessed with their children education: exams prove everything, and competitive admission in only few prestigious universities located in Seoul, the capital city of Korea, which “guarantees” high social status, easy and rich life, stabilized financial status, and recognition. Also Korean specialty is only looking at the legal and official documents from a student. Something that can prove high level education is everything when recruiting for most small firms. This is why if someone is a graduate student from a famous and highly recognized university in Seoul, most of the company would hire this person. Additionally, let me give you a real story of a friend of mine. Koreans love to do meetings, but meetings meaning with 3 men vs 3 women in the opposite side of the table where people talk each other, choose the favorite opposite sex and go somewhere else for a date. What 90% of women ask to the men in the first meeting is what university he is currently attending. No matter how high is the GPA, these girls are only interested in the level of University. Anyone from any university should have the same opportunity and recognition from others.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hm… Want to know what caused the problem of education in Central America? Well, I think you would think that it is a matter of poor life conditions. In reality, it is true. Because of the huge gap between rich and poor, unemployment or underemployment of young people, easy access to fire weapons, and lack of ethical and critical thinking people in Central America make crimes very easily. Guatemala, the country where I was grown up, is a country of that had over 50 years of civil war history. Because of that long period of civil war, many people and especially the government have spent the country’s budget in weapons and power. Also they obligated children who were suffering from hunger and lack of education to fight with fire weapons. Beginning from this huge period of civil war, the overall quality of education in Central America began to decrease rapidly. Hence, nowadays many adults who were children in the period of civil war are gangs, beggers, thiefs, or kidnappers because the only thing they could learn was fighting with real life threatening weapons rather than reading or writing. Education was fundamental for all these people, but most of them had no single opportunity to attend a class or school.
Although the overall quality and program of education in Central America have been improving since then, it is not sufficient yet. Compared to the developed countries the access of educational programs and quality in Central America fall much more behind, so these improvements must be even more intensified. The main programs that faculty and professors must focus on, is those that is designed to prevent high dropout rates. Since many are living in a low salary environment, the probability that a student must work to earn some living expenses leaving the school behind is very high. Most of the Hispanic families in Central America are very unsecure in their own welfare. Research shows that enrollment to the public or private schools in Central America decreases as age group goes up. This means that people from 16 years old have very low chance to get a proper education than younger people. This research result is clearly showing the affects of the civil war. We can see that it is getting better and better in terms of educational system in Guatemala as younger people are receiving proper education frequently. However, this fact is only for urban areas, especially major cities. Still, many of the poorest areas do not even have school. Every child that is born in these areas starts to work at age 5 to 7.
Let me give you a real life example of children working in so earlier ages. In Atitlan, the most beautiful and biggest lake in Central America, there is a little village just in below the volcano of water. When I went there for customer service I saw children of age 6 who were traveling with the tourists. These children were the guides. They were holding the rope that was in the neck of the horses and on those horses, the tourists were sitting. These children walk all they way to the top of the volcano holding the rope still. It was just amazing and sad for me. I also have walked all the way up to the volcano, but it takes 6 hours to go up and down. Can you imagine? They are only 6 or 7 years old, and they carry the horses with them to the top of the volcano and come down again. Nevertheless, the most shocking thing was that after their guide is finished, they only receive 3 dollars from the tourists, and still they say “Gracias, Gracias, muchas Gracias.” I almost cried. But I had to admit that this was real life for them.
The main difference between these young individuals and I was the quality of education. I thought that the education is the main thing that makes an individual successful and wealthy. However, I realized that when I was 6 or 7 years old, I could not even think of doing such work. They were 10 years more advanced than me. Their harsh life made them powerful and willing to live with full potential. I was able to imagine that if I were just thrown into the street with nothing in that age, I would probably sit and cry until I faint of hunger, but if they were thrown into the street, they would immediately find a way to survive and earn money.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What do you guys know about education? Even more simply, what is an education? Is it just making an individual a mature or smart person? Or is it a form of a long term standardized plan to make an individual a successful person? Well… From my personal opinion, it is neither of those. It is an understanding of important values of knowledge, inspiration, collaboration, motivation, vision, creativity, and ability to stand up from failure. Thomas Edison never finished grade school and still he is recognized as the greatest inventor. He could achieve his position because he knew how to research, collect organized data, and incorporate into his motivation and creativity. Sadly, current schools do not work that way. They just simply give too many facts to memorize for exams without any important purpose giving students no motivation at all. Absolutely, exams do not measure people knowledge, intelligence, or personal ability; it does not measure how to collaborate with others effectively, how to do critical thinking, or how to motivate personal values to achieve. It just fills bunch of words like a dictionary in people’s mind. How would a collection of words have value to students? No, word itself doesn’t have a value. People must learn how to incorporate those words into their motivation, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking, and of course, education exists to help them put into action.
Students (especially young students in high school) are very likely to be influenced by parents. When they are young, most of them think that their main reason for education is to go to a college and then have a nice job. This is because parents have brainwashed them. They are very unlikely to think about the little details that will face them in college. In the video of Vision of Students Today from Kansas State University, Michael Wesch asked students “what is it like being a student today?” And more than 200 students collaborated to his question. There were many shocking comments. First, one student said that most of his classes there are more than 110 students in a lecture hall and many of those students are doing something else either texting, or playing with laptops. Second, many of them spend hundreds of dollars only in text books each semester and they never open it. Third, those who read the text book read only 49% of assigned readings and 26% are useful for their life. Finally, technology and internet are making students to spend additional hours in front of their computer web surfing or social networking. Their time reading books and studying is decreasing as the internet becomes even more powerful. In addition, the availability of wi-fi in college campuses, the availability of 3G network in mobile devices, and allowance of laptops during lecture will continually harm learning motivations of students.
Professors should control behaviors of students. They should not just give them some assignments and exams, and judge their performance only on those scores. Rather than just giving boring lectures with ppt presentations, it will motivate students better if professors provide a conversational and interactive lecture. In addition, a college or university must provide students as much as many professors possible. 1:100 ratios are nothing good in educating people. It must be at least one professor per 30 students where a professor can help each student motivate to achieve. The greatest achievers or outliers use motivation and inspiration to overcome failures and barriers. Teaching with exams and memorization takes away the desire to learn from students. Every student in the world is able to become a millionaire, only if they vision, research, and process alternative solutions and always seek for an opportunity.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Hello, World!
Did you ever think how different the education is among several different ethnic groups? And how all these different learning methods affect individual ways of thinking? Read my story for a while and your point of view about education will change.
I will discuss about the different educational problems in different ethnic groups, especially Hispanic, American, and Korean, and how its long-term process or strategy of education affects their own individual economic status and culture.
Being my first post, this is just my background thinking; it is an introduction. I am able to discuss this introduction because after finishing my second year of elementary school in Korea, I went to Guatemala and lived there for more than 10 years. And I am currently studying at USC. I have been observing these three different cultures and educations for a long time. I think this is the perfect time to share my opinions and points of view with you.
There are many problems and issues that affect individual educational processes for Hispanic people. First, because of low-income, harsh environment, and family problems, discrepancies still exist in American public schools, especially Hispanic/Latinos. Also, not only in the US, but also in Central and South America, there is a big percentage of Hispanic students who are dropping off from high school or even people who never attend high school. Let me give you a real life example from my experience in Guatemala. A good friend of mine called Roberto (this is a fake name) dropped from our school because his father was murdered by a group of gangs. His father was first kidnapped and they called relatives of his father requesting unimaginable amount of money (I think it was 2 million dollars). During the process of making the money, the gangs stopped contacting; and after several weeks later, his father was found dead. After the incident, he told me that he would be working with his uncle and would no longer be in school. I am probably sure that you are somehow scared now, but from now on, I will just go through general concepts not to scare you anymore. Second, because there are a lot of private schools and few public high schools in Central America compared to the whole population of teenagers, those who suffer from poverty find it very hard to attend a normal high school to receive proper education. Finally, because receiving early income from early years is very important for survival for Hispanic populations in Central America, they tend to graduate earlier or drop off earlier from school; therefore, all public high schools in Central America do not have the 12th grade at all.
Of course there are also educational problems in Korea. But this time, it is not surrounding issues like low-income or harsh environment. Because everyone must receive education in school by government law, students do not need to pay the school fee. Everyone must always wear their uniform so people are not distinguishable between rich and poor. Nevertheless, the biggest problem is the gap between rich and poor. Generally, people who attended private high school tend to be the ones who go to elite private Universities and get hired in the biggest companies with amazing starting salaries. This is also the main reason why other “normal students” who attend public schools study 20 hours a day for the University Entrance Exam known as “Su-nung Shi-hum” (say “soo-nung she-hum”). In order to excel over other students in any public or private schools and to be accepted into elite Universities, they attend not only schools but also several academies for their extra study guides. Different from America, where everyone deserves an opportunity, in Korea, students must be in the top lists to be successful, that is why Korea has a high rate of suicide among students.
Now, let me give you a brief insight of some educational problems in the US. First, among the biggest problems is that education in general is very expensive and government does not have enough to support all educational institutions in America. Additionally, public educational institutions tend to have lots of students with few teachers, resources, and supplies. This is also a problem in Korea where the ratio between a teacher and students is 1:100. Second, because of wrong moral standards and ethical behaviors students tend to cheat and fail to see this act as a major issue. According to one of the statistics in “Their Cheating Hearts” by William Raspberry, “80 percent had engaged in academic cheating and thought cheating was commonplace. Moreover, most saw cheating as a minor infraction” (Raspberry 1). I hope you got the knowledge about how educational problems in different countries affects individual ways of thinking and its long-term future success.
Profile
While searching for millions of blogs that relates to my topic: education, I found an angry blog that criticizes Korean education: Sorry, I was drunk by Fermentation. He was blogging since November 2009 and stopped blogging on December 14th.
My first impression about this guy was anger, but I ended up nodding my head several times, agreeing with his comments while reading his blogs. He was also very obsessed with his own opinion, trying to put down real facts and other peoples’ opinion, and putting his thoughts on top. It is an interesting way of expressing his thoughts (it does not mean that I like his thoughts) as complaining almost negatively about Korean issues such as christianity, surgery, and education. His point of view stands on critiquing issues and targets only on his negative thoughts. He is a Korean and writes everything from Korean games, movies, education, politics, sports, social issues and more, but mostly complaining about them. The most interesting thing is that even though his thoughts are negatively expressed, I mostly share the same thoughts and opinions with him.
Since I am writing about educational problems in different ethnical groups and comparing them to see why all these educational problems affect their entire economy, his thoughts and opinions offer great insight as to why students in many schools aren't really "learning."
“The issue of education in Korea is one of the biggest problems in the country, if not the biggest. In fact, I personally think it shouldn't even be called "education." Education to me means that one is gaining knowledge, learning how to critically analyze information, and knowing how to apply it in real social and professional situations. Or at the very least, it should help one grow as a person. The Korean school system does none of that.”
He gives his definition of education clearly, and I personally agree with him. He is right, and Korean education system must be reformed. Memorizing facts are good; however, these facts must be integrated into creativity and critical thinking in order for students to actually use and contribute it into the real world. Just Memorizing is not even an education.
I can see that his vocabulary usage and expression is very professional and academic. I was very impressed because despite the fact that he only attended some middle and high school in the US, his writing skills are highly matured. Fermentation targets the readers who are interested in complaining and throwing negative arguments about many issues that Korea has in general such as education, political behaviors, and social issues.
His arguments are very strong even though they are not necessarily true; therefore, people tend to follow his lead in making negative arguments and agreeing with him. But I will not be like that. I mostly share similar opinions with Fermentation, but I have other thoughts that contradict with him. For example, he talks about discipline where teachers were physically harming students to study:
“In Korea, an adult's idea of disciplining a child is to beat him/her like sociopathic child abuser.” But this fact was a long-time story. Nowadays, they are not allowed to do that. The behaviors of teachers are becoming more and more soft and easy with students and they try to follow the non-harsh discipline.
Since I am writing about negative concept, I would definitely follow Fermentation’s opinion and share my thoughts with him. However, this doesn’t mean that I will be always negative about my blog, I will try to throw some solutions about problems in education, and how people (teachers or educators) can solve this problem effectively and at the same time efficiently.
Voice Critique
Please allow me to critique ‘administration should be like the pit crew’ blog post by Vicki Davis. First of all, this blog looks boring. I was thinking why is he adding a picture of a pit crew in an education theme? Plus, the whole blog design is full of cluttering and is very difficult to navigate through or search for new things. HOWEVER! The reason I fell in love with this blog is because of his writing methods. He uses amazing stories and analogies to refer to how an educational organization must be improved: “The classroom should be like a well maintained car and administration should be like the pit crew.” It is a very creative thought to say that an educational organization as a racing team and pit crew. I can realize that he is giving a specific setting and imagery of how a classroom and administration must be. These few integration of words grabs the attention, and makes the audience imagine and think of the situation. Moreover, he shows actual pictures of a racing team with an explanation of how an organization must act similarly as this team. In other words, he makes his stories understandable with clear pictures and accessible very easily. Although he has some kind of formal writing, his pausing strategy and phrasing is well organized and if it is read out loud, the readers’ individual way of speaking method changes. It is like “magic.” In his voice, diction, rhythm, punctuation, and writing-but-speaking way of writing are the most effective tools that drag readers’ attention. First, his accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound are arranged in a slow and soft way generating a poetic diction.
“Paperwork to be written but never read.
Time in meetings that are meaningless."
Second, one of the cool things that I can see is that he has a “musical” rhythm going on with his initial sentences with separate paragraphs:
“To me, times are lean and mean… We must be efficient and lean.”
Additionally, he is frequently bolding words in black not only to drag important opinions and facts, but to create heavy sounds and tones on different parts of the sentences.
"This is a position that is piling lead weight in the trunk of the car..."
Third, he uses punctuations as a long-pause technique that gives the reader time to rest with a deep breath to show a disappointing expression:
“Every person is so necessary that they do the jobs of at least a person and a half. And yet, there are always those who are taking up space... at every school.”
Last but not least, and most importantly, he writes his blog as if he is talking to the reader. While reading his post, I felt as if I were actually in a coffee shop chatting with him drinking a cup of tea. He explains and speaks his opinion on how should an educational charity be asking questions, giving commands, and suggesting answers:
“If you're not helping the cause of education, you're hurting it… if you're asking teachers to do more with less, so can you…Take a hard look at the pit crew -- are they equipping and helping the classroom improve or siphoning off energy and weighing it down. Ask the teachers, they'll tell you, that is if you REALLY want to know.”
Using such accurate and creative analogy technique clearly engages the reader. He absolutely makes the audience excited to share other opinions comparing and contrasting with schools and racing team. After posting this blog, he was waiting for people to give additional information and thoughts to eventually have and actual conversations with them sharing ideas, and giving other suggestions.
I have to admit, he gave us a very creative analogy, just like other readers, I had to nod my head over and over. Instead of just saying seriously of what a school administration must improve on, he was actually having a conversation with the audience and sharing an interesting story to make audience excited. I will also have conversations through my blog keeping asking questions and telling my personal stories.
Finally, I have done my research on how other bloggers set their voice and persona. Now, it is my turn. This is just the beginning. Welcome to my world.
By: FUSION
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
First of all, this blog looks boring. I was thinking why is he adding a picture of a pit crew in an education theme? Plus, the whole blog design is full of cluttering and is very difficult to navigate through or search for new things. HOWEVER! The reason I fell in love with this blog is because of his writing methods. He uses amazing stories and analogies to refer how an educational organization must be improved: “The classroom should be like a well maintained car and administration should be like the pit crew.” It is a very creative thought to say that an educational organization as a racing team and pit crew. I can realize that he is giving a specific setting and imagery of how a classroom and administration must be. These few integration of words grabs the attention, and makes the audience to imagine and think the situation. Moreover, he shows actual pictures of a racing team with an explanation of how an organization must act similarly as this team. In other words, he makes his stories understandable with clear pictures and accessible very easily. Although he has some kind of formal writing, his pausing strategy and phrasing is well organized and if it is read out loud, the readers’ individual way of speaking method changes. It is like a “magic.” In his voice, diction, rhythm, punctuation, and writing-but-speaking way of writing are the most effective tools that drag readers’ attention. First, his accent, inflection, intonation, and speech-sound are arranged in a slow and soft way generating a poetic diction.
Second, one of the cool things that I can realize is that he has a “musical” rhythm going on with his initial sentences with separate paragraphs:
Additionally, he is frequently bolding words in black not only to drag important opinions and facts, but to create a heavy sounds and tones on different parts of sentences.
Third, he uses punctuations as a long-pause technique that gives the reader to have a time to rest with a deep breath to show a disappointing expression:
Last but not least, and most importantly, he writes his blog as if he is talking to the reader. While reading his post, I felt as if I were actually in a coffee shop chatting with him drinking a cup of tea. He explains and speaks his opinion on how should an educational charity must be asking questions, giving commands, and suggesting answers:
It clearly engages the reader. He absolutely makes the audience exciting to share other opinions comparing and contrasting with schools and racing team. After posting this blog, he was waiting for people to give additional information and thoughts to eventually have and actual conversations with them sharing ideas, and giving other suggestions.
I have to admit, he gave us a very creative analogy, just like other readers I had to nod my head over and over. Instead of just saying seriously of what a school administration must improve on, he was actually having a conversation with the audience and sharing an interesting story to make audience excited.
By: FUSION
“Paperwork to be written but never read.
Time in meetings that are meaningless."
Second, one of the cool things that I can realize is that he has a “musical” rhythm going on with his initial sentences with separate paragraphs:
“To me, times are lean and mean… We must be efficient and lean.”
Additionally, he is frequently bolding words in black not only to drag important opinions and facts, but to create a heavy sounds and tones on different parts of sentences.
Third, he uses punctuations as a long-pause technique that gives the reader to have a time to rest with a deep breath to show a disappointing expression:
“Every person is so necessary that they do the jobs of at least a person and a half. And yet, there are always those who are taking up space... at every school.”
Last but not least, and most importantly, he writes his blog as if he is talking to the reader. While reading his post, I felt as if I were actually in a coffee shop chatting with him drinking a cup of tea. He explains and speaks his opinion on how should an educational charity must be asking questions, giving commands, and suggesting answers:
“If you're not helping the cause of education, you're hurting it… if you're asking teachers to do more with less, so can you…Take a hard look at the pit crew -- are they equipping and helping the classroom improve or siphoning off energy and weighing it down. Ask the teachers, they'll tell you, that is if you REALLY want to know.”
It clearly engages the reader. He absolutely makes the audience exciting to share other opinions comparing and contrasting with schools and racing team. After posting this blog, he was waiting for people to give additional information and thoughts to eventually have and actual conversations with them sharing ideas, and giving other suggestions.
I have to admit, he gave us a very creative analogy, just like other readers I had to nod my head over and over. Instead of just saying seriously of what a school administration must improve on, he was actually having a conversation with the audience and sharing an interesting story to make audience excited.
By: FUSION
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
I realized that there are millions of blogs that relates to my topic: Education. Searching for all these broad topics I found an interesting blog about Korean education: Sorry, I was drunk by Fermentation. He was blogging since November 2009 and stopped blogging from December 14th.
My first impression about this guy was anger, but I ended up nodding my head several times, agreeing with his comments while reading his blogs. He was also very obsessed with his own opinion, trying to put down real facts and other peoples’ opinion, and putting his thoughts on top. It is an interesting way of expressing his thoughts (it does not mean that I like his thoughts) as complaining almost negatively about Korean issues such as christianity, surgery, and education. His point of view stands on critiquing on issues and targets only on his negative thoughts. He is a Korean and writes everything from Korean games, movies, education, politics, sports, social issues and more, but mostly complaining about them. The most interesting thing is that even though his thoughts are negatively expressed, I mostly share the same thoughts and opinions with him.
Since I am writing about educational problems in different ethnical groups and comparing them why all these educational problems affects their entire economy, his thoughts and opinions are giving me a general sense of why people are not really “learning.”
He gives his definition of education clearly, and I personally agree with him. He is right, and Korean education system must be reformed. Memorizing facts are good; however, these facts must be integrated into creativity and critical thinking in order for students to actually use and contribute it into the real world. Just Memorizing is not even an education.
I can see that his vocabulary usage and expression is very professional and academic. I was very impressed because despite the fact that he only attended some middle and high school in US, his writing skills are highly matured. He targets on readers who are interested in complaining and throwing negative arguments about many issues that Korea in general such as education, political behaviors, and social issues.
His arguments are very strong even though it is not necessarily true; therefore, people tend to follow his lead in making negative arguments and agreeing with him. But I will not be like that. I mostly share similar opinions with Fermentation, but I have other thoughts that contradict with him. For example, he talks about discipline where teachers were physically harming students to study:
Since I am writing about negative concept, I would definitely follow Fermentation’s opinion and share my thoughts with him. However, this doesn’t mean that I will be always negative about my blog, I will try to throw some solutions about problems in education, and how people (teachers or educators) can solve this problem effectively and at the same time efficiently.
By: Fusion
My first impression about this guy was anger, but I ended up nodding my head several times, agreeing with his comments while reading his blogs. He was also very obsessed with his own opinion, trying to put down real facts and other peoples’ opinion, and putting his thoughts on top. It is an interesting way of expressing his thoughts (it does not mean that I like his thoughts) as complaining almost negatively about Korean issues such as christianity, surgery, and education. His point of view stands on critiquing on issues and targets only on his negative thoughts. He is a Korean and writes everything from Korean games, movies, education, politics, sports, social issues and more, but mostly complaining about them. The most interesting thing is that even though his thoughts are negatively expressed, I mostly share the same thoughts and opinions with him.
Since I am writing about educational problems in different ethnical groups and comparing them why all these educational problems affects their entire economy, his thoughts and opinions are giving me a general sense of why people are not really “learning.”
“The issue of education in Korea is one of the biggest problems in the country, if not the biggest. In fact, I personally think it shouldn't even be called "education." Education to me means that one is gaining knowledge, learning how to critically analyze information, and knowing how to apply it in real social and professional situations. Or at the very least, it should help one grow as a person. The Korean school system does none of that.”
I can see that his vocabulary usage and expression is very professional and academic. I was very impressed because despite the fact that he only attended some middle and high school in US, his writing skills are highly matured. He targets on readers who are interested in complaining and throwing negative arguments about many issues that Korea in general such as education, political behaviors, and social issues.
His arguments are very strong even though it is not necessarily true; therefore, people tend to follow his lead in making negative arguments and agreeing with him. But I will not be like that. I mostly share similar opinions with Fermentation, but I have other thoughts that contradict with him. For example, he talks about discipline where teachers were physically harming students to study:
“In Korea, an adult's idea of disciplining a child is to beat him/her like sociopathic child abuser.” But this fact was a long-time story. Nowadays, they are not allowed to do that. The behaviors of teachers are becoming more and more soft and easy with students and they try to follow the non-harsh discipline.
Since I am writing about negative concept, I would definitely follow Fermentation’s opinion and share my thoughts with him. However, this doesn’t mean that I will be always negative about my blog, I will try to throw some solutions about problems in education, and how people (teachers or educators) can solve this problem effectively and at the same time efficiently.
By: Fusion
Did you ever think how different the education is among several different ethnical groups? And how all these different learning methods affect individual ways of thinking and points of view?
To fulfill your interests, I will discuss about the different educational problems in different ethnical groups, especially Hispanic, American, and Korean, and how its long-term process or strategy of education affects their own individual economic status and culture.
There are many surrounding problems and issues that affect individual educational processes for Hispanic people. First, because of low-income, harsh environment, and family problems, discrepancies still exist in American public schools, especially Hispanic/Latinos. Also, not only in the US, but also in central and south America, there is a big percentage of Hispanic students who are dropping off from high school or even people who never attend high school. Second, because there are a lot of private schools and few public high schools in Central America compared to the whole population of teenagers, those who suffer from poverty find it very hard to attend a normal high school to receive proper education. Finally, because receiving early income from early years is very important for survival for Hispanic populations in Central America, they tend to graduate earlier or drop off earlier from school; therefore, all public high schools in Central America do not have the 12th grade at all.
Of course there are also educational problems in Korea. But this time, it is not surrounding issues like low-income or harsh environment, because by government law, everyone must receive education in school no matter what happens; therefore, students do not need to pay the school fee. Additionally, everyone must always wear their uniform so people are not distinguishable between rich and poor. However, the biggest problem is the gap between rich and poor. Generally, people who attended private high school tend to be the ones who go to elite private Universities and get hired in the biggest companies with amazing starting salaries. This is also the main reason why other “normal students” who attend public schools study 20 hours a day for the University Entrance Exam known as “Su-nung Shi-hum” (say “soo-nung she-hum”). In order to excel over other students in any public or private schools and to be accepted into elite Universities, they attend not only schools but also several academies for their extra study guides. Different from America, where everyone deserves an opportunity, in Korea, students must be in the top lists to be successful, that is why Korea has a high rate of suicide among students.
Now, let me give you a brief insight of some educational problems in the US. First, among the biggest problems is that education in general is very expensive and government does not have enough to support all educational institutions in America. Additionally, public educational institutions tend to have lots of students with few teachers, resources, and supplies. This is also a problem in Korea where the ratio between a teacher and students is 1:100. Second, because of wrong moral standards and ethical behaviors students tend to cheat and fail to see this act as a major issue. According to one of the statistics in “Their Cheating Hearts” by William Raspberry, “80 percent had engaged in academic cheating and thought cheating was commonplace. Moreover, most saw cheating as a minor infraction” (Raspberry 1).
This is just my background thinking and research. It is an introduction. I was able to discuss this introduction because I grew up in Guatemala and Korea. And I am currently studying in USC. I have been observing these three different cultures and educations for a long time. I think this is the perfect timing to share my opinions and point of view with you.
Thank You so much, and I really appreciate it for your reading my blog.
By: FUSION
Sources:
http://www.articlemyriad.com/32.htm
Raspberry, William. “Their Cheating Hearts.” To the Point: Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller, Harvey S. Wiener. New York. Pearson Education Inc, 2005.
To fulfill your interests, I will discuss about the different educational problems in different ethnical groups, especially Hispanic, American, and Korean, and how its long-term process or strategy of education affects their own individual economic status and culture.
There are many surrounding problems and issues that affect individual educational processes for Hispanic people. First, because of low-income, harsh environment, and family problems, discrepancies still exist in American public schools, especially Hispanic/Latinos. Also, not only in the US, but also in central and south America, there is a big percentage of Hispanic students who are dropping off from high school or even people who never attend high school. Second, because there are a lot of private schools and few public high schools in Central America compared to the whole population of teenagers, those who suffer from poverty find it very hard to attend a normal high school to receive proper education. Finally, because receiving early income from early years is very important for survival for Hispanic populations in Central America, they tend to graduate earlier or drop off earlier from school; therefore, all public high schools in Central America do not have the 12th grade at all.
Of course there are also educational problems in Korea. But this time, it is not surrounding issues like low-income or harsh environment, because by government law, everyone must receive education in school no matter what happens; therefore, students do not need to pay the school fee. Additionally, everyone must always wear their uniform so people are not distinguishable between rich and poor. However, the biggest problem is the gap between rich and poor. Generally, people who attended private high school tend to be the ones who go to elite private Universities and get hired in the biggest companies with amazing starting salaries. This is also the main reason why other “normal students” who attend public schools study 20 hours a day for the University Entrance Exam known as “Su-nung Shi-hum” (say “soo-nung she-hum”). In order to excel over other students in any public or private schools and to be accepted into elite Universities, they attend not only schools but also several academies for their extra study guides. Different from America, where everyone deserves an opportunity, in Korea, students must be in the top lists to be successful, that is why Korea has a high rate of suicide among students.
Now, let me give you a brief insight of some educational problems in the US. First, among the biggest problems is that education in general is very expensive and government does not have enough to support all educational institutions in America. Additionally, public educational institutions tend to have lots of students with few teachers, resources, and supplies. This is also a problem in Korea where the ratio between a teacher and students is 1:100. Second, because of wrong moral standards and ethical behaviors students tend to cheat and fail to see this act as a major issue. According to one of the statistics in “Their Cheating Hearts” by William Raspberry, “80 percent had engaged in academic cheating and thought cheating was commonplace. Moreover, most saw cheating as a minor infraction” (Raspberry 1).
This is just my background thinking and research. It is an introduction. I was able to discuss this introduction because I grew up in Guatemala and Korea. And I am currently studying in USC. I have been observing these three different cultures and educations for a long time. I think this is the perfect timing to share my opinions and point of view with you.
Thank You so much, and I really appreciate it for your reading my blog.
By: FUSION
Sources:
http://www.articlemyriad.com/32.htm
Raspberry, William. “Their Cheating Hearts.” To the Point: Reading and Writing Short Arguments. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller, Harvey S. Wiener. New York. Pearson Education Inc, 2005.
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About Me
- FUSION
- I am a Korean, but grown up in Guatemala; therefore, I have seen important and sometimes harsh educational issues on various ethnical groups. I think it is very important for everyone to learn and think more about how different learning methods and problems affects society and economy as a whole.
EDU
