tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post4861864367871048217..comments2024-02-23T23:53:54.842+09:00Comments on Gusts Of Popular Feeling: From such great heightsmatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-73460697860507445282007-12-18T05:09:00.000+09:002007-12-18T05:09:00.000+09:00We started hosting an exchange student from Seoul ...We started hosting an exchange student from Seoul 4 months ago who described to us the educational environment in Korea... and, as an American, I had no idea the kind of pressure these teenagers go through. I mean, one test determines the rest of your life? At least, that is what it seems like to many of them. Your future success depends on the name of the university on your degree, which depends on the score you get on this test. Some of the greatest people I've ever known became great after many repeated failures... but, it seems, in Korea there is little room for failure. From what I can tell, the social structure plays into it as well... if you fail, people look down on you. Because it takes connections to get good jobs, you can't afford to disappoint those "connections". In America, if you fail, you just find another opportunity. I'm sure that's possible in Korea, but it seems much more difficult, and the children do not seem to be equipped with that kind of thinking. All they see and know is this test. It is everything to them. They haven't been shown a perspective of growth through failure, and finding other ways to success.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com