STUDENTS

Today I taught my diligent winter vacation students how to write acrostic poems. We wrote one together (using the word STUDENTS) as a class before they wrote their own poems using their English names. The poem they wrote as a class:

Students are stressed.
Tests are terrible.
Usually they feel
Doomed.
Especially the
New Students.
Teachers
Slug them.

Quite a poem, huh? I couldn't believe how depressing it was. Se had lots of fun compiling the poem together and had lots of giggles... However, there is no denying that this poem is a rather accurate snapshot of Korean education. It's rather sobering.

Korean students are often stressed... and have LOTS of tests. (Education is ALL about testing here!) New students usually are not treated very kindly. And yes, the teachers DO "slug" them... often! Corporal punishment is used quite liberally here. I wanted to write, "Teachers are So kind." But they were quite adamant about the last line. I told them that I would lose my job if I ever smacked a student in America. Even gently touching a student's arm could jeopardize a teacher's job in the U.S., I think! My students were shocked when I told them about this.

When I told one of my co-teachers about the poem my students wrote, she said something about how sad of a reflection it is upon the Korean education system. Indeed.