The Boring Times are A-Over

My last week of sitting in the library for hours on end is over...I'm sure I will be missing it by next week. I completed a lot of lesson plans and even tried incorporating new activities that I found online. I turned economic questions into games like Jeopardy, Hangman, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Who knew economics had the potential for so much unbridled debauchery?---The kids won't know what hit 'em. I kid, of course, wondering if the students will participate or I will be stuck with vacant, glaring eyes and a awkward silence of students wondering why I thought to try and make economics fun. We shall see, I guess. I've got to keep them awake somehow and straying from their normal routine is one way I thought may help.
I have been pleasantly surprised at my CT's willingness to allow me to change the lesson plans that she and her American co-teacher have put in place. I have been sticking pretty strictly to the organization and flow that was set up per her original instructions. It is not working for me, though, and not only are the students bored, I am as well. Friday I showed her what I planned for this week, including new worksheets and internet activities and she seemed pleased. She even wants to incorporate one into a co-teaching observation by the Korea Ministry of Education next Friday and she has asked me to co-teach with her instead of her American co-teacher. Cross your fingers that I do not embarrass myself!

This week I also continued with my counseling sessions with the home room students. I finished the entire class this week meaning that I have now seen everyone at least once and now the new wave of counseling begins. The last four on the list were all boys...I think they were hiding from me a bit. But since it was a testosterone only meeting I decided to question them on their mandatory military duty, how they felt about it and how it would affect their education. All Korean men must serve two years in the service, there is really no way around it. Wanting to know if the boys were bitter about having to join the military I pressed for answers beyond "it's our duty," and most were very honest. One student said that he was angry that he had to serve in the military when he knew other countries did not force their young men to join. One student thought it might be fun in the military. I explained that many of my family members had joined the service and enjoyed it, another student jumped in to correct me by saying that was different, they (my family) volunteered.
When a young man has to join the service it disrupts the college education he scratched and clawed his way to get. He must serve two years before the age of thirty and many begin school for a year, take a leave of absence, and come back afterwards to finish. Many of these students said that they would also serve in this way. I asked the boys if they thought it would be strange to come back to the university after serving, older, maybe embittered, seeing friends already moved on to other things. Several said that yes, it would be strange, and they became quiet. It was obviously something they have thought about already, possibly not wanting to harp on it further. I decided it was time to drop the subject and move on.
While I do not think military duty is not a bad choice for a young man or woman, this is a scary reminder that the South Koreans live day to day with an enemy directly overhead. So important is this enemy that it interrupts this strong Confucian society's pursuit of education. And it is disappointing that most students have to decide if they should disrupt their education or lose out on post-college contacts to serve out two years from the Korean government. Picking the first option must be incredibly hard-- to drop it and pick it back up again later. Waiting until later could be just as devastating considering how hard it must be to get a worthwhile job after college. I don't believe that American students realize how lucky they are--no mandatory military service, they can go to any school they want to if they work hard enough, and they are allowed to be an individual. I know that I took everything for granted in high school--I had no idea about this kind of life.

On Saturday we had to work. Well...we had to wake up and go to school, I'm not sure how much actual work was involved. We went to see a play, all in Korean, but sweet and easily understandable. Plus an English teacher helped us interpret some of the dialogue. It was a lot of fun, surprisingly, and the play left not a dry eye in the house. After work (hah) we went to the War Memorial Museum and saw displays of the Korean War and also other wars since the dawn of the peninsula. It was interesting and I am happy we had to time to go.