Youthful self-deprecation

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As Americans, we really take our freedoms for granted. Growing up, we are constantly told that we can do and be anything that we want to be in life. We are encouraged to pursue educational and recreational pursuits of our own - things that interest us. Social sciences, theories, art - the “soft skills” - are all highly regarded in our society. This could not be more different than in South Korea.

The children here are extremely intelligent. Like I said, they go to school for 95% of their day. They play multiple musical instruments. Some play sports, some are really into computer games (online gaming is a sport in this country). However, the overwhelming majority of the child’s life and activities are not of their own choosing. The things that kids learn in school are centered around mathematics and science. Children aren’t taught the importance of creative expression, interpersonal connections or social sciences in the way that American youth are taught these things. And even if they were, the opportunities for such things in this part of the world are few and far between.

This could not be more evident than in the classes I have taught for the past three days. As a way to get to know the kids a little better and remember all of their names, I asked each student to tell me something interesting about themselves or their favorite hobby. Amazingly to me, it was difficult for many if not most of my students to answer this question. Many of them even told me that they were not interesting, they had no hobbies (no time for them!) or their favorite thing was sleeping.

Today, in two of my advanced classes, I learned a lesson in Korean mentality. It was quite disheartening. Two 13 yr-old boys that are both intelligent and well-spoken, but also too talkative and distracting in the classroom, told me that they are stupid, not as good as anyone else and that the US is powerful and the people much smarter than they will be. In one of my debate classes, a girl by the name of Esther, who is constantly talking about how great and better the US is (and who told me I was crazy for leaving California to come to Korea on the first day of class), spent 20 minutes arguing her case for why we should not drill for oil in Alaska (today’s topic). Every time that she was given the chance to speak, she inadvertently would talk about solutions by stating that in the US, where the people are much smarter, they would create a new tourism industry in the country instead, if we preserved it’s natural state. Or, they are so much smarter that in the future, they will have developed new technologies and fuels so we don’t need to drill anymore. Repeatedly, the message is clear “We are not as smart as people in the US. We learn English so we can be better, so we can go to the US where we can be rich and get the “monies”…”

However, it is important to note that although the majority of students have a high opinion of American ability and intelligence, believing our country’s development makes us more superior than the rest of the world, most of the children also hold a negative belief about the U.S. as a world leader. As is the case to many other countries, the children say the U.S. is controlling, unfair to other countries, greedy, wasting all the world’s resources and basically the big bad wolf of international politics.

Regardless, when I got back to my one room apartment tonight and thought about the day, how much I enjoy working with the students in my M,W,F classes, it really struck me just how much Americans take for granted without even realizing it. I and every other person privileged enough to have been raised in the US, with the “can do” US mentality, have every opportunity available to us and are provided with an education in an environment that further supports this fact and motivates us to succeed in life by doing things that we are passionate about. Making our own choices and having the confidence to do so. We are always taught that we can, it’s just a matter of effort and belief in ourselves. The value of confidence has never been more evident to me than in Korea. A country so rich with intelligence, yet so severely lacking the motivation and confidence needed to make the most of it.

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