Teaching: Korean Style

     Hello it's me again. I'm sitting here in my classroom reflecting on a conversation that I just had with a group of students from one of my classes about a group project that I assigned them. A couple of years ago when I first started teaching in an alternative school, no one would have ever been able to convince me that I would be in Korea one day teaching kids in a private school. But, here I am! I can't help but to wonder what God has planned for my life at this stage when I consider the steps that it has taken me to get here: a)Started teaching four years ago at an alternative school b)started teaching 2 years ago at a regular middle school c)teaching at a very expensive private school in Korea. Do you see my point? This experience has been very eye opening for me. In some ways I can see why the American school system just does not produce the type of students that Asian schools seem to pump. On the other hand I can see how if one tried to institute a lot of the methods that Asian people use to teach, that it wouldn't work in America any way.  The kids here are amazing to say the least. At first glance they seem like your typical middle school students. I quickly learned however that there are those who would do just about anything to ensure that there grades are satisfactory, even to the point of sheer and utter annoyance of the teacher....lol!  I have never had students who will email me at all, let alone email me late at night to ask about assignments. That certainly was not the case at my first job where I had days where whole classes would be absent!

     Being a private school of this caliber I have to admit that the kids are a lot more down to earth than I expected them to be. They are very respectful.....going so far as to send me apology emails for any misbehavior on their part. In the states misbehavior would only be answered with....well.....more misbehavior to say the least. I have to say that I was already a fan of uniforms in school, but being here just accentuates the need that I see for this idea. Sitting here typing this, I am trying to recall one conversation that I have heard which reflects the teenage obsession with fashion. I simply can not. This is quite different to me when I think about the fact that in the American schools that I taught in, fashion was the cause of much aggravation for many a teacher, myself included. Although I am sure these students are very much into fashion, it doesn't seem to overshadow the school day. Don't get me wrong, every child isn't the model of the typical Asian stereotype. But even in those cases, they are still probably light-years ahead of the average American public school student.