Voice of Korea: Martin Jones and Lana

*I will admit to being more than a little sly with my first interview.  In my defense, I was having a conversation in broken English about the horrors of Korean Middle School with a couple of Korean adolescence when the idea for this project materialized.  The feasibility of explaining my idea to these kids in a comprehensible manner given the language barrier would have been extremely unlikely.   For the purpose of anonymity, I will refer to each child by their self-selected English names.

Martin Jones: 12 year-old Korean male completing his final year at a Korean Elementary School.  In February 2011, he will begin his first year as a Middle School student.

Lana: 16 year-old Korean female in her 3rd year of Middle School. In February 2011, Lana will begin High School. She just finished her Middle School national exams which will determine her suitability for the rigorous demands of High School in Korea.

Q: What are some qualities of good teachers?

Lana: They understand students. When students make mistakes and they don’t get mad.

Q: Does your teacher practice (corporal punishment )hit you?

This is a legal and fairly common practice in Korean schools.

Lana: Yes!

Lana is laughing and demonstrates by swatting her brother multiple times on the shoulder and arm.

Q: Does is hurt?

Lana: Yes! I had a big purple bruise on my arm.

Martin Jones vouches for this by holding his hands in a circle the size of an orange.

Q: Is it an effective way to manage students behavior?

Lana: Yes.

Q: In the USA, if a teacher hit a student they would get arrested and go to jail.

Lana and Martin: Really?

Q: What are some other qualities of good teachers?

Martin Jones: No boring speeches!  My teacher is weird.  He will stop teaching class and talk about weird topics like ‘honesty’ for a long time. Then we don’t learn social studies.

Q: OK. Any other good teacher qualities?

Martin: They should be funny.

Lana: And buy us snacks. Like Duk bok ki.

Martin: And give us rewards for good test scores. Like Chicken and Pizza.

Martin seriously looks like he could stand to gain a few pounds. He is VERY thin.

Lana: And she should dress nicely. I like pretty teachers.

Martin: I like to watch movies in class.

Q: Do you like school? In the morning do you jump out of bed and throw your clothes on and run out the door to see your friends?

Lana and Martin: NO!

Q: What would cause you to like school more?

Martin: I like a nice new building and with air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter?

Q: Do you have that?

Lana: Our heater is ‘broken’ in our school.  It is so cold and we are not allowed to wear our jackets in class.

Q: WOW! What a nightmare.

Korea schools save money by limiting the use of AC and Heat.  It is a miserable experience. I wear my jacket and gloves all day long.

Lana: It is so cold.

Q: Is school stressful?

Lana: Yes. I just finished national exams.

Q: Were they hard?

Lana: Yes.

Martin: No.

Lana: They are hard in Middle School but easy in Elementary school.

Q: What happens if you fail?

Lana: Some kids that do bad have to go to a special High School and learn technical skills.  They don’t qualify for University. Koreans think University is the MOST important thing.

Q:  Are you worried about High School?

Lana: Yes.  We have to study from early in the morning until late at night.

Q: Do you think it would be easier to go to a High School in the USA?

Lana and Martin: Yes!

Q: Why?

Lana: All I know is what I have seen in the movies.  There are many handsome boys and parties and prom.   I want to go to proms.

Q: Does Korea have prom?

Lana: NO! I want to wear a prom dress. The only people in Korea that get to wear those dresses are brides and celebrities.

Q: Is it important to be popular in High School?

Lana: Yes. If I did not have friends, I would not go to school.

Q: Tell me about your best friends?

Martin: They should play with me all the time.  Video games and soccer.

Lana: I have a very funny friend.  I have a friend who can sing very good.

Lana pulls out her cell phones and shows me pictures of her friends.

Q: What qualities do you hate in a friend?

Lana: narrow-mindedness.

Q: Good word Lana. WOW!