Comments on: Hey, It’s Sino-Korean Cultural Exchange!

By: globalvillageidiot

globalvillageidiot — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 10:05:07 +0000

“Reading this made me feel positively disappointed at my own high school trip in retrospect. The Ontario legislature and Niagara Falls… How much more education these Korean lads were getting than that offered by those.”

I hear you. This is one of those rare stories that suggest that going to high school in Canada or the States in not automatically more fun in every aspect than high school life in Korea.

“As minors, I believe the teachers are responsible for their students.”

This should be the case, but have you ever been on a plane with a group of Korean students? The teachers are nowhere to be seen and members of the flight crew are left to monitor/discipline them.

By: Wedge

Wedge — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:26:47 +0000

The army is the great disciplinarian in this country, which is why those who finagle out of it tend to be some of the worst practitioners of self-indulgent behavior in later life. As a corollary, you have to wonder what will happen if Roh’s vision of a kinder, gentler army comes to pass.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:13:11 +0000

Hoju, today’s parents need to learn better. I have seen some mothers here allow their small child to batter and pester them in a way I do not allow any child to act, especially towards their own parent.
Perhaps you are very much correct and perhaps there needs to be an influential instructor on TV to address this issue in greater depth because this sort of problem leads to social problems such as broken homes and various types of crime.

I have noted that, when I ask kids here who their heroes are, they always answer that their parents are. If Mister and Misses hero are not doing their job, the society will pay for it in due time.

By: hoju_saram

hoju_saram — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:51:28 +0000

R.Elgin,

The teachers share some of the blame, but I think it starts at home, too. I’m no child psychologist, but there has to be some reason why Korean children are some of the most badly behaved kids, anywhere. I also think that carries on into adulthood - the tantrums do, that’s for sure.

I’m reminded of a time I took a group of Korean children to Australia on an english camp I ran one year. I booked a nice little getaway at a recreation farm for students. They were happy to accept my group - until they found out they were Korean. Then I had to pay an extra insurance premium of $2000. The manager was apologetic, but told me that they had had so many problems - in the form of damage - caused by Korean kids that they had no choice in the matter.

By: soondae

soondae — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 03:10:17 +0000

Don’t blame the teacher. Everyone knows that sex in a Chinese hotel is 900 RMB. Ooops, did I say that?

By: dda

dda — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:38:45 +0000

there is no adult supervision of these teenagers.

Them adults be enjoying demselves at the next-door KTV, then onwards to the sauna, and back to the hotel, with the KTV ladies

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:14:08 +0000

The JoongAng Ilbo fails to grasp an essential problem and that is that there is no adult supervision of these teenagers. Even when one visits a historic place like Kyongju and stays in an average local hotel that is over-run by six or seven bus loads of middle-school students, there is little or no supervision from the teachers. The kids run screaming throughout the hotel on every floor, unchecked by the hotel or teachers until the kids finally get tired around 3 or 4 o’clock, in the morning. Obviously, this is bad for local tourism and reflects badly upon the educational experience here in general. (One can only imagine why there is not more tourism to Kyongju when one considers the accommodations! We discussed this in an earlier thread on Kyongju and tourism there.)

As minors, I believe the teachers are responsible for their students. Why are the school officials and teachers not held responsible for their actions? Why should such a large body of students be sent abroad on school trips!? I only wonder if the reaction would have been different if one of the students had been killed and we still do not know about any STD they may have picked up.

Instead of focusing upon wrong-doing by students, the JoongAng Ilbo should be looking at the educational policies that neglect and abdicate their responsibilities as social mentors — a role that seems to have fallen upon hard times.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:12:05 +0000

Reading this made me feel positively disappointed at my own high school trip in retrospect. The Ontario legislature and Niagara Falls… How much more education these Korean lads were getting than that offered by those.

By: gbnhj

gbnhj — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:31:37 +0000

Sonagi, as a man, I’m not too sure about the going rate for paid sex in China, either.

By: Hatch SZ

Hatch SZ — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:22:06 +0000

Prices at a sauna in the hotel would be higher than at other saunas. 86 does seems right for a regular massage at a moderately-priced hotel. But 900 does seem high (or so I have, umm, heard). In the cheaper hotels, the sauna does call up to the room to drum up customers, but that is usually for an in-room ‘massage’. But give the kids the benefit of the doubt, just because they went to a sauna does not mean they were engaging in closer ROK/China relations.