Deprivation of Childhood

This journal entry initially was going to be a topic on culture in Korea. However, I started with appearance, which led to children, which led to parents taking away their children’s childhood, to… well, let’s say it stayed on the topic of children and many of the frustrations I have with Korean culture and how they raise their children.


First, understand that every person- man, woman and child- are obsessed with their looks. Everyone thrives to be skinny and beautiful. This is their culture; something I do not like but I cannot say it is wrong. I have girls that will get up in the middle of class to look in the mirror and make sure their hair looks okay. Girls (5-year-olds) are afraid to run and do somersaults in gym class in fear it will mess up their hair. I had a kindergartner that told me she was on a diet. After attending ballet class, either her instructor or Mother noticed she was a little larger than the other girls, so she needed to start losing weight. A co-worker was once told to not feed a child much food so they could lose weight. These are growing children! They need to be fed! I did lunch duty for another class for a week. By the fourth day, the children said they didn’t like me. I soon learned it was because I actually made the children eat their food, whereas the Korean teacher never made them eat lunch (where they later would complain they are hungry). At the age of five, all I cared about was playing and having fun. Never did I worry about my looks or my weight. Pictures prove this; I was quite a chunk! ^^ Yet, this is the way it should be! It frustrates me and I become so angry when children are more worried about their appearance than having fun in life.


In addition, picture day at school was quite different than picture day back home. They literally dress the children up like young princesses and princes. The photographer brings in a supply of various dresses for the girls and outfits for the boys. It is adorable, but a little over the top I must say. Some of the girls wore a gold dress, with a sparkling choker necklace, sparkling headband, and sparkling bracelet. After the picture, the student takes the outfit off, gives it to someone else, and puts on another outfit. Due to time restrictions, some children had several different photos taken, and some children did not get one picture taken. I also noticed the more attractive children had their pictures taken. Two days later, we did pictures again. However, this time it was simple pictures, similar to back home. I never knew picture day could be such an ordeal.

While I am on the topic of children, and the frustrations I have with the culture, can I say how sad it is that children are having their childhood being taken from them? Children are stressed about school and studying while in kindergarten!! They are expected to sit in class for 40 minutes, and play for a 10 minute break. These children, at the age of five, are reading and writing English. English, their second language! Children back home are not even reading and writing until the age of seven and that is their first language! I am amazed by the intelligence, but also saddened that they study more than play. Majority of them also are in night classes for art, music or tae kwon do (boys only); or participate in   all of the above. As they get older, they attend a regular Korean school, and come to our academy after their regular school. English academies are their extracurricular activity. While I was participating in soccer at that age, they are becoming fluent in a second language. It only gets worse as they get older. Middle-schoolers have been learning all day and are at our academy until 9pm, sometimes 10pm. Some of them continue on after to another place until midnight for more studying! No wonder why they fall asleep in my class or just don’t care. I will not, and can not, punish them for not doing their homework whereas they will get punished if they do not have work completed for Korean teachers.  Although I can get frustrated with the middle-schoolers attitude, I remind myself of how much studying they have.

Lastly, when I ask the children what they did on the weekend, they either have visited their Grandparents or have studied. They are currently on a month break from school, yet they are still studying constantly. Remember, these are elementary children. The children’s intelligence is high, but is it worth it to take away fun in life? I could never raise my children in Korea. I want my children to learn, but also to play and enjoy life. Parents in Korea have in my eyes too high of expectations for their children.

I could go on about the behavior of children as they get older, and how parenting has positively affected it, but I will save that for another day.

As a side bit- I turned 25 years old this past weekend. We made it a girls weekend in Seoul (which I had never been to so that was exciting in itself!). The girls made it a very special birthday for me. On Saturday night we went out to celebrate. They surprised me with a cake at the bar, candles and all!! I was extremely excited! I definitely did not expect a cake for my birthday. I could not have asked for a better day with my girls.

Yesterday we had Open Class at kindergarten. This is when all of my students’ parents (and sometimes Grandparents), come and sit in and watch my class. I was told the only thing I could do was to be prepared because you cannot predict the students’ behavior. They most likely would be quiet or trying to show off their English. My students were extremely quiet, even the loudest ones in the class! Although this is better than them going crazy, it was sometimes even a struggle to have them speak when I called on them to answer a question. I am overall pleased with how it went, and am happy it is over! It is Friday and I am happy the weekend is here!