All Obama himself actually said was, "our children -- listen to this -- our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year. That's no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy." The Korean Herald claims that this is "looking to South Korea," but for all we know the point was actually, "good grief, folks, even South Korea has a longer school year than we do!"
Marisa, I hope you go straight to Pres. Obama's website and comment, before he commits the U.S. to importing thousands of teachers from Korea to fix our education system! And don't forget to point out that quote about the interesting things that Americans have time to do!
Oh, Marisa - You and Jordan are on a roll - I laughed and laughed again at your entertaining writing! You should "polish" your post and then send it to some newspapers as an editorial. It would be good for Americans to hear from people teaching in another country - especially Korea since Obama made a reference to it. The grass is rarely greener on the other side of the hill - just different. It would be amazing if Obama and other leaders asked teachers how to improve education. Some how the very people who know the most about education rarely get asked to comment on it. So, I won't waste my breath commenting on education even though I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. Keep writing - it's the high light of my day!
I'm going to say that this is one of those classic examples of a Korean pattern of management I have seen again and again during my time here: have a great idea, and tell your underlings to implement it. Do not (this is critical) make any attempt to alter or adjust your idea to account for reality. Just do it. For example, bringing in (a small army of) native English speakers to enhance your English education is an utterly fantastic idea: it lets the kids see English as a genuine spoken language and means of communication, it ensures that the (often low-level) Korean teachers will not continue to teach the same mistakes that they were taught, it brings some fresh blood and excitement into the classroom. A cynical mind might further stipulate that the foreign teachers should either be experienced (and familiar with the Korean educational system) or trained by the Korean government in basic Korean teaching techniques, but this would ruin the purity of the idea... not to mention increase the cost or difficulty of finding teachers. Additionally the idea should be implemented with a minimum of restrictive rules or oversight, ensuring that the individual POEs and schools can use their teachers however they want to... if they can figure out how that might be.
A longer school year is not a bad idea. It has worked famously well in Japan, which uses the educational system upon which Korea's is modeled. Several times Korean teachers have told me how angry everyone is that Japanese students consistently outscore Korean students---along with most of the rest of the world---on standardized tests. This is said in terms of righteous indignation, since it is a proven fact that the Japanese are all horrible people and are probably cheating. I have seen not the slightest indication that any Koreans believe the difference might be due to the Japanese government's careful management and allocation of school resources, or to some alternative form of classroom dynamics; the thought seems to be, "we are using the same idea, so we should be getting the same results." (To be fair, I do have one extremely cool co-teacher at Tangeum---Ms. Yu---who is perpetually telling me what's going on at the school and saying things like, "isn't this CRAZY?" And usually it is, but either we are the only sane people or everyone else has just submitted to the craziness around them.)
Your critiques, Marisa, are quite accurate---this is why all of the foreigners I know who have stayed in Korea over a year are people who are genuinely excellent teachers, and who simply take over their classes and use their own syllabus (and not a Korean textbook). Having seen Jason, Matt, and Stephen leading classes I can say that their activities involve far more learning (and motivation for learning) than any of the attempts I make; however, it is true that you need to be a far better teacher than I to do much with the students in a Korean middle school. Some of the things you describe are, of course, universal in middle schools (remember, only something like 2% of the students actually want to learn... that's why you have to provide the motivation, and why I'll never be a believer in things like Unlearning), but in almost every case they are indeed exacerbated by the Korean school system.
That said, much as I agree with you on these counts, I'm not sure that what we see daily in the classroom is really connected to the longer school year: like life, it's not so much the quantity of time as the quality of that time. Obama's instincts are accurate: if your educational system works, increasing the length of the school year will also increase your results. (I would have killed for another month or two in my World History class in high school, and we were always leaving topics behind because there wasn't time.) But if the system is broken (and I would not argue that the American system is in perfect working order), simply adding time is not going to do squat, and may even hurt matters. So basically, Mr. President: great point... really lousy example. (You may notice that Obama did not say that the US should model its educational system on Korea's... that was the Korean Herald, being its good old patriotic self.)
(This comment should not have been written before dinner, as it is now being rushed to press without proofreading so I can eat my overpoweringly delicious-looking tuna sandwich.)
Hello~ I`m Sean and live in Seoul.
I read your posts. They were so impressed.
As I know, your are English Teacher. right?
haha~~Whatever~~XD Nice 2 meet u !!
Have a good weekend~~~~lol
So, I'm reading this in the library, and laughing OUT LOUD. Not something that happens often. And I guess it's good it's not the Bodleian I'm laughing in, or I'd probably be kicked out (Kohleun and I decided, that since we're seniors, and work in the ARC [which is now upstairs in the library], none of the rules really apply anymore :).
Love you.
I wrote a post that said, "nice one, Jed!" but then I didn't post it 'cause thought it would look silly. Anyway... nice one, Jed. And I agree with the sentiment, too.
My fingers itching,
Brain beating "5-7-5":
I must write haiku.
Your argument that most of the population in the USA would be eradicated due to Mad Cow disease didn't fly because the media twisted some Korean scientific studies to announce that Koreans have a gene that makes them extra vulnerable to the disease. There were some ridiculous stories in the news that US beef would be used in the public schools resulting in the death of masses of middle school students. Emphasize that Korean Americans eat US beef and are fine if you decide to continue the debate.
My conspiracy theory driven mind believes that this is mostly the work of the intelligence agents of the Dear Leader in the North, in an effort to decrease public support for the new Korean president who cut off the large flow of unconditional aid to the North.
Ahh, Jordan, this post made me laugh! And I really needed a laugh today. I think we need to see a picture of your fancy new haircut. Keep writing - it's really entertaining. Give Marisa a kiss for me - I miss her so much.
I think I want to try the hair salon when we're in Korea.
I've been working on my intercultural training, and I'm reminded by your experience that one of the competencies for intercultural adaptation is tolerance for uncertainty / ambiguity, which you seem to have plenty of (both the ambiguity, and the tolerance for it). Apparently this approach to starting new school years is typical for Korea? Sounds like a M.E. style of doing things. :-)
Yeah... last Friday one of my co-teachers informed me very knowingly that drinking water is bad for you, because it fills up your stomach and weakens your digestive muscles. (Apparently the water hidden in soup and tea is fine.) But I'm surprised you hadn't run into the whole Mad Cow thing before: Korean middle schoolers (well, at least first-years) take it as an article of faith that American beef will kill them. Possibly the only sane thing Lee Myung-bak's done so far in his time as President was to resume American beef imports, yet when he did so, there was a massive protest in Seoul by all the Koreans convinced that he was inviting disease into the nation. (I think that this is what your co-teachers were trying to tell you about; it was still very much on the popular mind when I arrived. Supposedly "the damages caused by protesters to the businesses around the demonstration reached about 3,751,300,000,000 won," or $3 billion, which resulted in a flagging of public support for the protesters.)
So are you only at the new school on Fridays? And at your old school the other days? How have things gotten resolved there (old school), e.g., new classes, etc.?
And how's the jetlag hitting you (what time of day)? We're coming that way in less than a month!
Well, we are waiting in suspense of where you will be teaching and what classes. It looks like I will be teaching 5 & 6 year olds next year - 10 of them. After correcting well over 500 pieces of writing in the last couple of months, little ones sound like a dream - coloring, painting, reading stories out loud . . . And I know how to get them off the table :)
Who is in the new office and cool classroom? I'm hoping that maybe you will still get to use it.
My LCD projector got hooked up today! (It was installed in the ceiling in December.) So, now I have to become even more tech savvy.
This sounds so wonderful. Now our whole family has been to Istanbul, except me. Need to rectify that fact. And I love your style of site-seeing. Drink some tea for me.
All Obama himself actually said was, "our children -- listen to this -- our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea every year. That's no way to prepare them for a 21st-century economy." The Korean Herald claims that this is "looking to South Korea," but for all we know the point was actually, "good grief, folks, even South Korea has a longer school year than we do!"
Marisa, I hope you go straight to Pres. Obama's website and comment, before he commits the U.S. to importing thousands of teachers from Korea to fix our education system! And don't forget to point out that quote about the interesting things that Americans have time to do!
Oh, Marisa - You and Jordan are on a roll - I laughed and laughed again at your entertaining writing! You should "polish" your post and then send it to some newspapers as an editorial. It would be good for Americans to hear from people teaching in another country - especially Korea since Obama made a reference to it. The grass is rarely greener on the other side of the hill - just different. It would be amazing if Obama and other leaders asked teachers how to improve education. Some how the very people who know the most about education rarely get asked to comment on it. So, I won't waste my breath commenting on education even though I have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. Keep writing - it's the high light of my day!
I'm going to say that this is one of those classic examples of a Korean pattern of management I have seen again and again during my time here: have a great idea, and tell your underlings to implement it. Do not (this is critical) make any attempt to alter or adjust your idea to account for reality. Just do it. For example, bringing in (a small army of) native English speakers to enhance your English education is an utterly fantastic idea: it lets the kids see English as a genuine spoken language and means of communication, it ensures that the (often low-level) Korean teachers will not continue to teach the same mistakes that they were taught, it brings some fresh blood and excitement into the classroom. A cynical mind might further stipulate that the foreign teachers should either be experienced (and familiar with the Korean educational system) or trained by the Korean government in basic Korean teaching techniques, but this would ruin the purity of the idea... not to mention increase the cost or difficulty of finding teachers. Additionally the idea should be implemented with a minimum of restrictive rules or oversight, ensuring that the individual POEs and schools can use their teachers however they want to... if they can figure out how that might be.
A longer school year is not a bad idea. It has worked famously well in Japan, which uses the educational system upon which Korea's is modeled. Several times Korean teachers have told me how angry everyone is that Japanese students consistently outscore Korean students---along with most of the rest of the world---on standardized tests. This is said in terms of righteous indignation, since it is a proven fact that the Japanese are all horrible people and are probably cheating. I have seen not the slightest indication that any Koreans believe the difference might be due to the Japanese government's careful management and allocation of school resources, or to some alternative form of classroom dynamics; the thought seems to be, "we are using the same idea, so we should be getting the same results." (To be fair, I do have one extremely cool co-teacher at Tangeum---Ms. Yu---who is perpetually telling me what's going on at the school and saying things like, "isn't this CRAZY?" And usually it is, but either we are the only sane people or everyone else has just submitted to the craziness around them.)
Your critiques, Marisa, are quite accurate---this is why all of the foreigners I know who have stayed in Korea over a year are people who are genuinely excellent teachers, and who simply take over their classes and use their own syllabus (and not a Korean textbook). Having seen Jason, Matt, and Stephen leading classes I can say that their activities involve far more learning (and motivation for learning) than any of the attempts I make; however, it is true that you need to be a far better teacher than I to do much with the students in a Korean middle school. Some of the things you describe are, of course, universal in middle schools (remember, only something like 2% of the students actually want to learn... that's why you have to provide the motivation, and why I'll never be a believer in things like Unlearning), but in almost every case they are indeed exacerbated by the Korean school system.
That said, much as I agree with you on these counts, I'm not sure that what we see daily in the classroom is really connected to the longer school year: like life, it's not so much the quantity of time as the quality of that time. Obama's instincts are accurate: if your educational system works, increasing the length of the school year will also increase your results. (I would have killed for another month or two in my World History class in high school, and we were always leaving topics behind because there wasn't time.) But if the system is broken (and I would not argue that the American system is in perfect working order), simply adding time is not going to do squat, and may even hurt matters. So basically, Mr. President: great point... really lousy example. (You may notice that Obama did not say that the US should model its educational system on Korea's... that was the Korean Herald, being its good old patriotic self.)
(This comment should not have been written before dinner, as it is now being rushed to press without proofreading so I can eat my overpoweringly delicious-looking tuna sandwich.)
Hello~ I`m Sean and live in Seoul.
I read your posts. They were so impressed.
As I know, your are English Teacher. right?
haha~~Whatever~~XD Nice 2 meet u !!
Have a good weekend~~~~lol
So, I'm reading this in the library, and laughing OUT LOUD. Not something that happens often. And I guess it's good it's not the Bodleian I'm laughing in, or I'd probably be kicked out (Kohleun and I decided, that since we're seniors, and work in the ARC [which is now upstairs in the library], none of the rules really apply anymore :).
Love you.
I wrote a post that said, "nice one, Jed!" but then I didn't post it 'cause thought it would look silly. Anyway... nice one, Jed. And I agree with the sentiment, too.
My fingers itching,
Brain beating "5-7-5":
I must write haiku.
Jed, you have a gift.
And I agree, I wish Jordan had taken a picture of the apocalyptic blackboard scene.
@Jed: I love the Haiku!
I agree with your mom. We need to see pictures of your haircut AND Marisa's pigtails.
Your argument that most of the population in the USA would be eradicated due to Mad Cow disease didn't fly because the media twisted some Korean scientific studies to announce that Koreans have a gene that makes them extra vulnerable to the disease. There were some ridiculous stories in the news that US beef would be used in the public schools resulting in the death of masses of middle school students. Emphasize that Korean Americans eat US beef and are fine if you decide to continue the debate.
My conspiracy theory driven mind believes that this is mostly the work of the intelligence agents of the Dear Leader in the North, in an effort to decrease public support for the new Korean president who cut off the large flow of unconditional aid to the North.
Ahh, Jordan, this post made me laugh! And I really needed a laugh today. I think we need to see a picture of your fancy new haircut. Keep writing - it's really entertaining. Give Marisa a kiss for me - I miss her so much.
I think I want to try the hair salon when we're in Korea.
I've been working on my intercultural training, and I'm reminded by your experience that one of the competencies for intercultural adaptation is tolerance for uncertainty / ambiguity, which you seem to have plenty of (both the ambiguity, and the tolerance for it). Apparently this approach to starting new school years is typical for Korea? Sounds like a M.E. style of doing things. :-)
Keep us posted...
O! That I had seen
Your didactic renderings:
Giraffes all ablaze.
Yeah... last Friday one of my co-teachers informed me very knowingly that drinking water is bad for you, because it fills up your stomach and weakens your digestive muscles. (Apparently the water hidden in soup and tea is fine.) But I'm surprised you hadn't run into the whole Mad Cow thing before: Korean middle schoolers (well, at least first-years) take it as an article of faith that American beef will kill them. Possibly the only sane thing Lee Myung-bak's done so far in his time as President was to resume American beef imports, yet when he did so, there was a massive protest in Seoul by all the Koreans convinced that he was inviting disease into the nation. (I think that this is what your co-teachers were trying to tell you about; it was still very much on the popular mind when I arrived. Supposedly "the damages caused by protesters to the businesses around the demonstration reached about 3,751,300,000,000 won," or $3 billion, which resulted in a flagging of public support for the protesters.)
The new school and classroom sound great! Does anyone else use the classroom? I like the idea of the "chit-chat" class for the teachers.
So are you only at the new school on Fridays? And at your old school the other days? How have things gotten resolved there (old school), e.g., new classes, etc.?
And how's the jetlag hitting you (what time of day)? We're coming that way in less than a month!
Well, we are waiting in suspense of where you will be teaching and what classes. It looks like I will be teaching 5 & 6 year olds next year - 10 of them. After correcting well over 500 pieces of writing in the last couple of months, little ones sound like a dream - coloring, painting, reading stories out loud . . . And I know how to get them off the table :)
Who is in the new office and cool classroom? I'm hoping that maybe you will still get to use it.
My LCD projector got hooked up today! (It was installed in the ceiling in December.) So, now I have to become even more tech savvy.
Lots of surprises. Just when you think you might know what's going on...
Keep us posted, the ongoing saga...
I think all I can say to the day you've had is, "wow." What a cross cultural experience.
You seem to take this calmly... :-)
We will eagerly be awaiting subsequent developments in your unfolding story. :-)
Beautiful.
This sounds amazing! And I love all the pictures. :)
Marisa,
I really love your hat. It's very sexy. :)
(So is the purse, by the way).
This sounds so wonderful. Now our whole family has been to Istanbul, except me. Need to rectify that fact. And I love your style of site-seeing. Drink some tea for me.
Jordan, I didn't realize you had felt that way about Quebec. I thought that was just me. Oh, for black tulips and walled cities. :)