This afterenoon I read the much talked about article in the New York Times about the "Tiger Mom" in America who raised her daughters in the so-called Chinese style. To quickly sum up the article her daughters were banned from sleepovers, play dates, school plays, extra-curricular activities that their mother didn't approve of and basically disobeying their mother in the slightest. This has got me thinking about the children I teach here in Korea, some of whom attend 3 academies a day finishing studying at 7:30.
A few months ago I had a conversation with two of my students who were about to finish elementary school and move up to middle school, meaning they were going to leave my academy for another one. I asked them how they felt about going to the "English Genius Academy" - they weren't excited. They knew it meant more studying and that they would be at schools until 8-9 o'clock in the evening.
I then asked them how they felt about their future in general and their expressions changed dramatically. They looked so grave and miserable at the prospect of this. Eric and Alex told me about all the extra studying it will mean, all the extra academies they will have to attend every single day in order to get the top possible marks in English, Korean, Maths and the Sciences (I assume they study a musical instrument too).
From what I have heard and read, Korean high school is nothing short of a two year endurance test. Eric and Alex already only get 6 hours of sleep a night, so they anticipated that during high school they would get even less.
But what about university? I asked. Surely that would be fun? The boys seemed slightly more enthused then as they realised that they would be away from their mothers (sort of) and free to do whatever they wanted (sort of). Universities aren't exactly the same as in the West here, there are rules and regulations to adhere to and mothers will still expect visits home and phone calls I'm sure.
After university comes the thing the boys are really not looking forward to - Military Service. They will have just had their 3-4 years of freedom and then be forced to conscript into the military for two years as all Koreans do. They winced when they thought about this (I wondered if they had heard the same rumours that I had heard about beatings). Then they asked me a question: "What was military service like in England?" they couldn't believe me when I told them that we don't have it. Then they looked on in shock as I told them that high school was sort of fun and that my mother hadn't told me what to do for about 8 years. It was too much for them.
The reason I'm writing about this is because of the general sense of pity that I think most of the foreign teachers feel for the children they teach. They study so hard and often make it clear that they don't want to be there at 7 o'clock on a Thursday evening. When I (and Meghan) ask our children what they did on the weekends they answer is almost always "I studied".
Another thing I have noticed is that the children are always complaining that they are hungry. I know that they are children, but if you think about it most parents in the West have problems getting their children to eat (especially at the ages I teach), but Korean children are always hungry. The fact that they go from academy to academy after school means that they won't get their dinner until about 9 o'clock at night. You should see their little faces at the slightest mention of pizza or cookies.
Clearly, the West does not have the perfect education system, our flagging exam results and downright dangerous children in the schools account for that but what we do have is freedom. Korea has the best exam results in the world, by quite a long way, but the question a lot of people ask is "at what cost?"
