OH YES! Korean kids acted MUCH better in public in the 1970s and 1980s. Then for some reason, the parents in the 1990s, perhaps viewing their parents as too strict, were overindulgent to their children. Parents up until the 1990s did not tolerate crap from their kids. Now? It’s the complete opposite.

I had an American friend, this white lady living in Korea, who met some Korean mothers. The white mother’s 5 year-old kid asked for some extra dessert. The mother said no, that the kid had had enough. The Korean mothers there (this was the late nineties) were surprised and looked at the American mother as if she was an extreme dictator. And I STILL don’t know why Korean mothers let their toddlers run around public restaurants until I have to say something to them.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO KOREAN UPBRINGING!!!!!!

The only good news is that today’s Korean-American toddlers in the US, at least in Virginia, are brought up in the way Korean kids in the 1970s and 1980s are. That is unless the parents are FOBs (recent arrivals from Korea). But if the parents are US-born twinkies like me (term for an Asian who doesn’t know any other culture besides white America), they raise their kids the way their parents and their parents’ white friends raised them….not tolerating crap from the kids.

I’ve read many of the comments that she’s written on this blog, and I feel reasonably sure in saying that she values her experiences while living and working in Korea, including the period you mention. In fact, she has several times expressed her desire to have stayed and continued working in education here.

At the risk of being wrong, I’d guess that this situation represents an inaccurate assessment of your background, coupled with a misinterpretation of her expression.

I will try to proof my writing with more care in the future now that I am aware of the high standard you have set for this blog. By the way, could you do the same?

“There are a number of singular/plural inconsistencies,too, that one would not expect from a college graduate educated exclusively in English.”

Yes, I was born, raised and educated in North America. I won’t offer any apologies to you for my writing or my blind faith in Microsoft’s grammar checker to catch the mistakes though. I guess I am just a product of a society which has become lazy due to technology. Obviously, neither Bill Gates nor I have reached perfection yet but we will keep trying if only for you.

Here is my question for you? Why is it that you are ashamed for having worked in Korea’s educational industry? Did you some how feel assisting children to learn English was beneath you? Everyone starts somewhere you know. Personally, I hope I never wake up to the day where I consider myself or any of my coworkers to be “hagwon whores.” Instructing English sure pays less than any job I had in America but I find it more rewarding and interesting. We are both aware that my major wasn’t English and again I don’t apologize for that. I have been able to dodge getting screwed over in Korea several times and I don’t think any M.A. in English would have prepared me for that. Corporate America may not have taught me to correct my “singular/plural inconsistencies” but they did teach me how to deal with crooks.

Finally, I realize that Koreans view foreign hagwon teachers with contempt. However, when the opinion comes from a society where the people measure their value based solely on the college they went to and the job they currently have it doesn’t effect me much. At the end of the day, I know the kids I instruct (for the most part) appreciate my effort. Whether the parent’s appreciate me or not isn’t relevant.

Used to see the DKs at Mabuhay Gardens in SF all the time — damn I’m old

I HATE it when these mothers meet for lunch at a restaurant….and their two and three year-old kids are running around the tables, including mine….until I have to give them a dirty look. THEN the mothers do something.

That classroom must have become like an oven after fifteen minutes. Did school officials need to use Easy Off afterwards?…

Bill