thoughts about the 7th session

I felt that the approach of teaching what Korea is NOT, was excellent. It did address many of the misconceptions about the country(ies) that many people probably have, including myself. I teach middle school world history which dedicates a two major standards to Asia, primarily China and Japan, however Korea's history is definitely glossed over at best; mostly seen as the cultural link between China to Japan.
I was amazed to see how technologically advanced Korea is: the ten year old pictures of students using flat-screen computers, the "media poles" lining the streets of seoul, and amongst it all, ancient imperial burial mounds...pretty cool!
The educational system, while seeming very high pressure, definitely can provide some kind of model for the US in terms of the support that is shown to students (i.e. Grounding flights and staggering the work day on college entrance exam day) and the high priority placed on education. The fact that students also are basically trilingual by the time they finish school is very impressive.

Besides the misconceptions cleared by the lecturer in its introduction to the session, one of my own misconceptions has been cleared, too.
I think that our contemporaries almost automatically relate the term “globalization” to the modern world and no matter whether its (the term’s) content is economic, political, or cultural, it is also automatically related to the modern informational technology. The last session made me think of the globalization as a universal phenomenon present at any time of the known (and unknown) history. Two factors led my thoughts in this direction. One of them, simplistic at a first glance) were the feudal wars resulting in territorial expansion and ethnic (or multiethnic) unification. The second one was the role of the religion as a factor of globalization.
By the way, what is globalization, how do we define and redefine it? Does globalization have sources, factors, levels, scale, and directions? What the consequences are going to be?

Re: Globalization thoughts of mchristov, I agree that Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Professor Jung made a great point that Globalization existed and cannot be only characteristic of contemporary world. I am looking forward to find out during the next lecture the other five eras of globalization. We were able to learn only about the Buddhist World Order.

More to the idea of misinterpretations of Korean folk, I have interacted with Korean women in Korea, Japan, and Korea Town, LA, from ages spanning high school to senior citizen, and I never had the impression they were meek. They seem quite outspoken and very much into letting a person know what they know. Perhaps a method for dispelling the stereotype is just getting into the communities? LA has so many different Asiatic communities. Maybe we could have a destination add on to the formal curriculum?

I particularly enjoyed the 10 (+1) things you should know about Korea. They were on a broad range of topics and but at the same time provided enough detail to make me feel like I really SHOULD have known such facts, ideas, and concepts. I would like to have the same presentation done about each Asian country we discuss in class, in fact!

Regarding the 10 (+1) things you should know about Korea, the one question I had was about reunification. One of the facts stated was that Koreans want to be reunified. With the economy of South Korea being so much more prospereus than that of North Korea, if they were to reunite how would they reincorporate North Koreans in to the economy and what would the economic effects be for both North Korea and South Korea?

It was a good session. I enjoyed the story of Ondal the Fool. In addition, it was interesting to know that, generally, Korean women are not submissive. This shatters a stereotype held by a lot of westerners that all Asian women are submissive to their men.

Professor Jung provoked a lot of thought after her lecture. She started the class with her 10 +1 things you should know about Korea. That helped open a lot of minds and also helped clear up misconceptions about Korea. The story of Ondal the Fool help shatter the notion that Korean women are not submissive. They are not and have not been. There are important women in critical political positions in the three countries (China, Japan, and Korea) we have studied.
I read some of the other comments and they are very different in their points. The one of Korea trying or wanting to reunify was compared to Germany. If we as people are to learn from history, then Korea must review what has happened to Germany now that it is one country. How much has changed to what used to be West Germany and how much it has lost in terms of economical and political power. I am sure it does not want the same fallout or headaches.
There was mention of the importance education is in all of the Asian countries. Maybe, one day it will be of great importance in this country.