AnthroScope Korea

People in Korea tend to view Korean students attending US boarding or international schools (in Korea) differently from students attending mainstream Korean schools. Some use the term “white-washed” to describe a typical student from the States. I know this because I’ve been called this term multiple times. Moreover, during my numerous encounters with people in Korea, they talk to me as if I am not familiar with the Korean language. Some even began our conversation by asking, “Do you speak Korean?” 

In fact, after receiving a Western education all my life, I don’t know much about what it is like to attend a local Korean school where students are educated entirely within the confines of the Korean education system. It isn’t surprising that people expect me to be naive and unaware when they know I’ve never had a chance to study within the Korean education system. 

Although I don’t know what it is like to have been educated in the Korean education system, I often come across articles and journals written by Korean school students. These often reflect their academic stress from intense studying and high expectations. As I get more invested in hearing their stories, the academic schedule they go through everyday shocks me to the core. After a long day at school, they rush to Hagwons (private tutoring academies) for additional lessons and go to bed at midnight after loads of homework. This left me wondering how other local Korean students would perceive Korean students attending international schools in Korea or boarding schools in the States. 

I looked up journals and articles written by US boarding school students as they shared about their normal school day. After school, they participate in sports, hang out with friends, finish their homework, and go to bed relatively early. I could relate to the content of these articles more deeply than that of the articles written by local Korean students. I spotted notable comments left by local Koreans, such as, “They have so much freedom” or “I wish I could live their lives for once.” I have come to realize that the two very different groups of students sometimes wish to experience each other’s educational systems, wanting to encounter something unfamiliar and new. I sometimes look at local Korean students walking by me in public, wearing typical uniforms I see in Korean movies, and think, “I wish I could experience going to a Korean school like them.” I think of the same thing as that of local students when they see students like me from the States. 

As I’ve previously discussed, “Koreanness” in people correlates with the two differing groups of Korean students. Local Koreans are more aligned with the Korean lifestyle and culture, which perfectly suits the setting in South Korea. On the other hand, Korean students from abroad visit home and have a difficult time blending in with other Koreans in the environment. This contrast begins with the different educational systems that envelop the students, creating a sense of disconnection between the two groups and an obstacle for them to overcome if they are to relate to each other’s lives.