Thought about Korea Session on Day 3

[Anonymous]

I found it interesting that schooling stresses rote memorization of random facts in Korea. This type of teaching is in many cases frowned upon in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

The fact that Korean schools don't stress the importance of creative thinking was new information to me. It's hard to believe that Korea is possibly more technollogically advanced than the U.S. It would be interesting to look at more in depth studies between Korean and U.S. educational differences in philosophies and curriculum, and the impact on test scores. I also wondered how many days were in an average Korean school year versus the U.S.

[Anonymous]

A teaching strategy that I plan to use more frequently is to analyze photographs pertaining to historical topics. I really enjoyed viewing the Korean education photograph. A lot of discussion was easily developed and made memorable!

[Anonymous]

I learned Korean and Chinese culture is very similar for some reasons. like the families all care about school and marks, family oriented, the students chasing for the high score marks, but they are not happy. Memorization is the norm, but not creativity.
“Top Ten Things to Know about Korea in the 21st Century” is a great PPT, I will use it in the class room for our learner on Asian Culture topic in the future.
Here are the some key points I found the most interested to me:
4) Koreans have a passion for nature- Stoneware pots used to store food ( SMART! ans Sustainable )
7) The Koreas are not hermit nations - South Korea is also go Glocal. ( Think Globally, Act Locally.)
8) Korea is technologically advanced - Media Poles are every where ( Convenience, great for the public )

[Anonymous]

I was not aware that the Korean topography was so mountainous, and that the South was so densely packed. My perspective comes from living in Southern California, which I believe is pretty crowed but it does not even hold a candle to South Korea. I traveled to Japan and experienced the crowed train rides when commuters were coming home from work, but I thought that South Korea was a larger land mass. The lesson to learn here is to find out what the topography is, and apply this knowledge to the size of the population densities.

[Anonymous]

Even though I teach East Asia quite a bit in the AP World History course, Korea is hardly touched upon in the textbook and even less in class discussions. It's partly being justified because of its influence being dwarfed by its Chinese and Japanese neighbors, but mostly because of the knowledge gap/hole of the teacher. Prof. Jung-Kim's overview lecture definitely helps fill a little of the gap for me. Though I have a better grasp of the Korean culture and traditions, I'm still confused about all the divisons and unifications, kingdoms and kings/queens, and the progression of events that transpired.... It seemed a little more complicated than the more simplistic (overly generalized?) Chinese dynastic cycles. Or maybe it's just my lack of exposure to those events and personalities that were mentioned.

[Anonymous]

The fact that Korea culture is influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism is well known. However, Shamanism as a religion that is practiced in Korea is new to me. I searched online and went through several websites. When I read that the origin of Shamanism was from Tibet area, I became more curious. How could be Shamanism spread from Tibet to Korea? And what are the differences between Shamanism and Buddhism?

[Anonymous]

In my teen-age years we examined Japanese culture and admired their devotion, productivity and innovation. This was balanced somewhat by our awareness of the conflict with the United States in World War 2, so there was an element of wariness or skepticism about the "goodness" of Japanese society. A generation later we can study and celebrate the accomplishments of the Korean's, without the predjudice of our World War 2 experience to color our perception. Based almost solely on what we heard today, I wonder if Korea, South Korea in particular, is a copy of Japan 25 years later. So like the Japanese, are they destined to suffer a signficant economic collapse?

Korean accomplishments in communication technology and ship building make them an economic power worthy of study and the best elements adopted to help third world nations improve their standards of living. Among these, I believe an emphasis on family and education, along with a stern work ethic are foundations for developing a productive society.

[Anonymous]

I really enjoyed the session on Korea, especially the things you should know about Korea. Because of its small size, powerhouse neighbors of China and Japan, as well as the conflict between the North and the South, it is often overlooked. I would bet that if you gave students a list of products and brands (electronics, automotive, etc.) from East Asian countries, credit for most Korean products would probably be given to China or Japan. I believe that Korea has been overlooked in terms of technological advances through time, as well as its history and strength. I think that now, most students don't know much about South Korea and just know the bad things about North Korea. Out of all the countries in East Asia, Korea is the most overlooked and probably the most misunderstood. The video by the Korea Tourism Organization was a great video, but we still learned very little about North Korea (obviously this is a modern day division, so wouldn't be covered much in this seminar). I'd definitely like to learn more about the differences in culture and values between these two countries.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

Hi all,

Please share your thoughts about the Korea session on Day 3 by replying to this thread. You may raise questions and share thoughts either before or after the session.

Best,
Xin

[Anonymous]

How sad that Korean students are the unhappiest students in the world. They are so pushed to excel and achieve. Parents spend a great deal of money for tutoring, going above and beyond what the schools provide.

It was news to me that Korea is the home of many inventions: the observatory, wood-block printing, and ironclad ships.

It seems that there is much to learn about Korea.

[Author]

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