student's shouldn't call teachers "baby"

OThe week here has been good, in spite of the “I wonder how much a plane ticket is outta of here” thought that flashed through my mind after my Thursday class. I don’t understand how indenting a paragraph and double spacing are such hard concepts to comprehend. I drew pictures. I had examples. I had them practicing the entire week how to do it so that come the in class essay, they would do it right…but did they?

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Well, at least not most of them. I definitely have some smart students who were quick enough to pick up on the concept, but most of them were just oblivious and totally confused about what I was talking about. I have been pondering about why this is. I have a few ideas. First, the education system here is set up for test taking. Therefore students merely memorize and forget. Memorize and forget. The Long-term memory gets almost no attention. Furthermore, they are in school from 7am until 10pm and when they go home, they have to do homework. As a result, these kids are not getting the amount of sleep required for children their age. There is no way they spend enough time in R.E.M. and the lack of sleep, in any individual, is going to affect how effectively one takes and spits out information as well as the retention of it. It’s no wonder there is a stat about Korean’s working 50% more than the rest of the world but being 50% less effective. Just being at work or just being at school is not enough. You have to be engaged. Of course, this idea of being at work without being productive fits well into their obsession with appearances as well. I found out that there is even makeup for men…it’s called “color lotion.” Good grief. It’s funny that I, who never really wore a lot of makeup or heels in the first place, find myself almost adamantly going out in public on my off days in the most casual attire and my oldest sweatshirt just to bring a balance to this obsession with apparent perfection.

But on a positive note, I only have that one really bad class twice a week and the rest of them are actually doing alright. In fact, I find quite a few of them pretty entertaining. I have some great co-workers and now that we are at the 2-3 month mark, we’ve dropped the formality and it is actually kind of homey in our itty bitty office stuffed with 5 Koreans and 6 foreigners. Drew and I have also dubbed each other Key Master and Skywalker (thanks Bill) and in an effort to lift morale on those tough days, we give each other stickers. I know it sounds quite silly, but you have no idea how much one of those little sticky pieces of paper mean after a really difficult class. I also no longer feel like I have to worry about hurting a students feelings. Have a made a few cry? Yes. Yes I have, but they get over it and they cry so easily! I know that sounds awful, but what’s worse is the shot of pleasure I get when I make one of the “cool” kids do partner work with one of the “uncool” kids, or even just a boy with a girl. I don’t even bother listening to their protests anymore. They starting whining, I give them a look and they stop. I would like to go on about expanding their horizons and explain just how stupid and futile the politics of middle school are, but I know they won’t understand, so I just giggle to myself and smile that I am no longer that age.

And then there is the Albert instance. Albert is this really loud Korean student who for some reason has found favor in the eyes of Rose, the head teacher. He is a smart kid, but REALLY obnoxious. I don’t particularly enjoy his presence so when I was headed to class and encountered him harassing one of my students by stealing her phone I had no problem laying down the law and getting it back to her. He proceeded to say over and over “fuck you fuck you.” Whatever. I didn’t even give it a second thought. I guess all that time at Sterling 24 desensitized me to such comments. It wasn’t until I mentioned it in passing to Rose that I realized that perhaps I should have punished him for that. Rose said she would take care of it and the next day Albert came in and told me he was sorry and that he was actually talking to his friend. Okay, that’s fine…except for the fact that he followed the apology up with “baby.” I had to ask the teachers around if that is really what he said, and they said yes indeed, my ears did not betray me. I couldn’t believe that! Rose informed me that he said that to everyone, but I don’t care. Thanks to many a dramatic T.V. show and video game, I am sure he thinks it is a polite or kind word to add at the end of sentence, but I did not understand why no one had corrected him. I did not understand why Rose was okay with that. I suppose that is just another thing to address.

Weeeeeeeeee. Bringing the fist of feminism to South Korea. I love it!

So that’s that. The weekend was good. I met up with a friend on Friday and chatted away over tea, pringles and horoscopes. I tried some odd street food with Joey in Insadong and almost had the guts to try out the silkworms, but decided the octopus dumpling and squid jerky (which is really quite delicious) was enough for the day. We also went to this great instrument shop that smelled of pine and where every inch was filled with guitars, pianos, mandolins and more. It made me miss my little brothers. We then got thoroughly lost, but since we are both good sports about such adventures, it was a good time. He discussed the Korean obsession with money which I found interesting. This obsession with money has not always been, but like I’ve said before, the U.S. exports the very worst of it’s culture and this is then exacerbated abroad. I saw it in Latin America and I see it here. It’s a shame that in one of my classes we discussed money and I was amazed that even after reading an article showing how money does not increase levels of happiness and may actually decrease it, ¾ of my students sill equated the Won with happiness. Incredible.

That is all, but before I go, I have to put a little plug in for my little brother. The great Stevie G will be playing November 22, 2008 at the Granada Theater in Lawrence Kansas. Everyone should go and check and him out. He’s really quite good…and I promise I’m not just saying that because I’m his big sister. If anything, the most honest of opinions come from me for that very reason.
Peace!
Michelle