On schools in Korea

Written by Taeyon Kim:

I have always regarded Korean schools with at best unease, at worst outright horror. It may be the stories I heard from my cousin ("I had no life, all I did was study study study, every waking moment"), or the descriptions of mind-numbing rote memorization, or soul-crushing conformity that seem to permeate the national imagination of school.

I envisioned hives of worker bees toiling in individual cells called koshiwon, memorizing all manner of minutiae in preparation for some exam or other (though this happens later, in college or afterwards). I shuddered at the images of macho bullies ganging up on isolated kids, boys who are new, boys who are quiet and shy and wear glasses and don't speak Korean.

So you can imagine the apprehension with which I tottered forward and offered up my children to this beast of an institution, certain that they would be devoured instantly and mercilessly. I entered the school grounds with dread, one foot in and one foot ready to hightail it out of there. I had backup plans ready and in place in case it didn't work out. So it has been one of the most delightful surprises and greatest reliefs that Rémi and Tristan's schools have been such wonderful experiences so far.

Let me begin first with Rémi. My first impression was not good. Office staff weren't particularly helpful or encouraging, and there was no playground, just a big dusty soccer field. But the first day of school changed everything. You already know how it went from the previous dispatch, and it was a good indicator of things to come. Rémi goes to school not just willingly but cheerfully. The kids are friendly and nice, and one of the girls in his class has taken Remi under her wing. She is so sweet and yamjeonhae, kind and gentle, and she really looks out for him and helps him whenever she can. Rémi told me today that she is his best friend.

Rémi is shy, so it's really up to the other kids to make friends with him, and they do their best to draw him out. Every time I pick him up or drop him off, kids are saying "Hi Rémi" in Korean, and Rémi shyly waves his hand or says hi quietly under his breath.

I don't know how true it is, but I'm told that it's different in Seoul. The kids are more competitive, not as nice, big city kids. If that's the case, then for that alone I'm glad we came to Chuncheon. The difficulty of being a single parent during the week is worth it if it means Rémi and Tristan have a good experience at school. If they were unhappy, then single parenting would be a lot harder. Their happiness is mine.

Tristan's preschool I loved immediately. The first impression was great. The warm, wooden interior practically glowed with good feeling, and the administrator who helped me was SO helpful and friendly I wanted to cry. She had even translated their registration documents into English, just for me! Their philosophy is very child-centered and reminds me of Tristan's preschool at home. So, in contrast to Rémi's school, I couldn't wait for Tristan to start.

He's been going now for four days, and tomorrow will be his first full day from 9-1pm. His only complaint is that it's long, but he loves the snacks and singing, and he reported to me today that he made 8 friends and they played superheroes and he was the captain of the superheroes. He also sang a song for us that he learned at the preschool. I couldn't recognize any of the words, though they sounded vaguely Korean. So aside from the long bus ride in the morning (1 hour), he seems to be enjoying it.

One of the best things at the schools is the food. Rémi loves it, and Tristan will also get a hot lunch in addition to snack every day. All the lunches are cooked on the premises, nothing is packaged, and all of it is Korean, of course. Which means it usually consists of rice, soup, side dishes, and sometimes a main dish like bulgogi. When I visited once they were serving curry over rice, with side dishes and soup. It's just a very full, well-rounded, home-cooked meal. And yummy, according to Rémi. He scarfs it all down. The teacher is impressed with how well he eats, and he's proud that he even eats the spicy kimchi.

What's more, everything is stainless steel. The trays, the utensils, the cups. The food is served on stainless steel trays that have individual compartments for each side dish, the kids can help themselves to water with stainless steel cups, and everything is put away and washed up, nothing is thrown away, except perhaps the milk cartons, which are recycled.

I have to say, while littering may still be more evident here, there is a lot less waste in Korea. I guess coming from North America, the most wasteful place in the world, I could make this observation about any country. But I'm impressed by how much stainless steel is in evidence everywhere. It's like they had a heads up about the problems with plastic that we're now coming to see, and skipped the whole plastic craze and went straight to stainless.

So now, in this, my fifth visit to Korea, I'm finding that there is a lot I can learn from Korea. A lot of my earlier visits were occupied with how "wrong" things were. Now I'm finding that actually, there is a lot that Koreans do better than us. Don't get me started on the medical system...actually, do. That will be another dispatch.