December 2 - Jung-Kim - Korea's Historical Development

If you had asked me what life was life in South Korea today, I would have been completely wrong. I'm embarrassed to say, but I had more of an image of what I saw on MASH than what was presented by Dr. Jung-Kim. I was surprised to learn how technologically advanced South Korea is and was amazed by Seoul's vast size. As far as the presentation, I was glad that Dr. Jung-Kim focused more on modern than ancient Korea because it gave me a feel for what life is like there today. We have a fairly large Korean population at Saugus, and it was interesting to learn about their heritage.

I, too, was blown away by Seol's size and advanced population. I have to admit that I knew little about Korea before this class, and it was helpful to see some images and get a sense of the trajectory of Korea's vast history. It is interesting to compare the influence of Confucianism on Korea and other Asian countries to the influence of Christianity in the West. Even though Confucianism is not a religion, the institutional features and value systems created by each school of thought are remarkably influential.

I was very excited to learn about Korea. It is one of the places not mentioned in our Ancient Civilizations Standards. I thought North and South Korea had always been divided, but realized how very wrong I was. The United States is/was more involved in world events than I had previously thought. South Korea is a flourishing country and I hope one day to visit.

Don't know how I forgot to get in my two cents worth on this entry.

Loved the insight into Korean, especially since my POV was MASH. Been looking through my notes for the short story that was recommended to me for kids -- since many stories in the tome we received were not suitable -- but left it at school. Will get back with a title and a link. I know it was written by one of the authors in the book we have, Linda Sue Park, who has written some amazing Korean fiction for young audiences and is a Newberry winning author. Check out her stuff!

As for the lecture, invaluable, insightful and fantastic. I am happily amazed at the great talent found for this class.

:~ A couple of years ago, a student gave me what is apparently a very famous children’s book in Korea. Loosely translated it’s titled Puppy Poop by Kwon Jung-saeng. Although it sounds completely crude and just plain disturbing, it’s surprisingly touching. Its title character is abandoned (by its “creator”) and alienated by all sorts of other characters like chickens and a clump of dirt. He finally finds purpose in his life when a dandelion shrub tells him she (yes, it’s the dandelion’s a girl) needs him to become fertilizer. I used this story this year with a group of 10th grade honors students to introduce existentialism before reading Camus’ The Stranger. The book was made into a stop-motion animation feature film a few years ago. Here’s the url to the imbd info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411295/

Dear Stacy,

The documentary is called "North Korea: Beyond the DMZ." I used it when I was a teaching assistant at UC Berkeley as it was available from the library there. After doing some searching, however, it appears that it may be difficult to obtain from any other source apart from the production company:

http://www.twn.org/catalog/pages/cpage.aspx?rec=1102&card=price

An alternative AV resource to use for a lesson on North Korea and the DMZ is the film "JSA." This was a blockbuster hit in South Korea and is widely available (in Korean, with English subtitles) at video rental stores, via Netflix and online vendors (Amazon, half.com, etc.) You can also read reviews of it in the "Film Festival" section in the "Asia in My Classroom" forum.

Hope this helps,
Miranda

I went to Seoul in 1999. I can't believe how much it has changed even since then. One thing I found so interesting when I was there was the sense of tradition and superstition. Also it amazed me how everything was built upwards cause they are pretty much out of land. The appliances and all the other modern technologies that Jung Kim showed us, topped what I saw when I was there almost ten years ago. Obviously the economy is stronger now too much i didn't know either Katie. This was a good lecture.