Assessment

My first examinations begin this week. Actually they're as much examinations as Paris Hilton is a good singer. I have a vocab quiz in Korean and a Korean map quiz for Modern History, two of the easiest types of quizzes for my learning style. I have a mental gift of short term memorization, and the tests are basic to boot. The vocab words are ones that I learned back in second semester Korean one, and the map quiz is only the most famous locations. This should prove to be a nice and easy introduction into a semester at the number two school in the nation.

To tell the truth, I've not yet gotten the impression that study life at one of the most rigorous universities in Asia is going to be much of a challenge. The first reason is that these classes are being taught in English. As I may have made mention of before, the teachers are not entirely comfortable reading large quantities of papers or engaging in intense discussion, so the classes are almost entirely based on readings. If one simply reads the book the class just passes itself. I don't feel like I'm going to have to squeeze really innovative or insightful revelations out of myself in order to get A's.

Secondly, I've always felt from the first days of Korean class at Georgia that foreigners are held to a lower standard than real Korean children. I'd go so far as to say racism, but perhaps it's simply a push for Korea to make a name for itself or something along those lines. Be that as it may, I've always felt that Korean language teachers act as though it's not possible for a white person to master their language, so the expectations of pronunciation, accent, and word choice are much lower. This makes for both an easy atmosphere to practice in (everyone's impressed no matter what you say) and a difficult atmosphere in which to actually learn the language (no one seems intent on correction).

Even in a work environment, Koreans admitted to expecting more from each other than from me since I wasn't actually one of them. It's a somewhat disconcerting superiority complex that's at once exclusive and insulting. I understand that they want Koreans to be better than the people of other nations: that's just national pride. When it comes to my education, however, I don't want to be pandered because I'm white. I don't like the fact that I am not much more to the faculty and staff here but an "international competer" put here to spur their students on to greater things. The emphasis of many of the classes is not on helping white people understand Korea but on helping those of Korean descent reconnect with their great and illustrious country. I'd have to say, I'm kind of pissed.