Olivia+Edwards+-+Korean+grade+pressure



Speech 1st Draft:

Throughout my time here at Korea International School, I have been constantly impressed and astounded by the attitude of the students towards their work load. In a world of hagwon, studying, and dreams of Ivy League collages, is a B- the end of the world? Will it set us back, and ruin our chances of a perfect GPA? Or is the grade pressure just an overreaction?

A few weeks after joining the school, I was asked where I saw myself in 5 years. I told the class I would want to be in my local university studying my subject of choice, midwifery. This statement alone caused shock. Why wasn’t I applying for a state or Ivy league school? If I wanted to go into medicine, why not a doctor or a surgeon? No one understood, and will almost definitely not understand now, that I am incredibly happy with attending the local university and studying a subject that will make me happy, not one that will make me money. It seems that the mentality of the Korean students in this school is that you are failing by going to community college, a thought which in the UK, where many people don’t attend university at all, would be lost on people. Although having a good job is incredibly important, being happy with what you do is just as, if not more important.

I am not one known for spending excess amounts of time studying for exams however, I do care whether I get a good grade or not. Where I differ from the students at KIS, is my opinion of what a good grade is. I see a C as an average grade, a B- as a good grade, a B as a great grade and anything above that as amazing. If I get a C- or a D, I am slightly disappointed but I look to the next exam and work harder for that one. Last year there was a story in a Korean newspaper about a little boy who had received a bad report card. Once he found out about that bad report card he wrote a note to his parents about how sorry he was and killed himself. I know that this is an extreme of the normal situation in Korea, most of you will be very surprised to hear that, however, the very fact that something like this is possible, shows that the grade pressure is far too high.

You will always know when the exam results have just been passed out in a class when you walk through the corridors of the school and see people crying, or desperately trying to negotiate with the teachers for a better grade or extra credit. The most astonishing thing about the grade pressure is that it isn’t the students idea. It is the parents, and in many cases, although they will deny it, the teachers. I have never been in a school where the teachers have pushed their students as much as this one. I know it must seem tame to those who have studied in Korean schools, however, coming from a school in the UK, it is amazing to me how much pressure the teachers put on their students, how much information they attempt to cram into our tired brains and how much they expect from us in exams. And the parents seem to be even more intense.

From the story of the little boy who killed himself because he would rather face that than tell his parents that he may have failed a class, it is easy for a westerner to assume the worst of Korean parenting. I’m sure it is not all as bad as that, however, it is clear that Korean teenagers do not want to stay in hagwon until 10 o’clock at night. They are forced to by their parents. Therefore, the students get only around 4 hours of sleep a night, if any at all. I am not saying that hagwon is not useful, I’m sure it is, but is it so useful that it should take away sleeping or any form of social time with students? Now, as a teenager myself, I know that we cannot blame this lack of sleep entirely on hagown, procrastination is something we are very good at, but a little sympathy from parents and teachers could go a long way.

I have only been in one situation where a teacher has actually congratulated me on a B grade in this school and that only occurred a few days ago. All of my other teachers would simply say nothing, or if commented at all, would say “better luck next time” or “you should try harder next time”. If teachers were to encourage the idea that a B grade is a very impressive grade, and that a C grade is an average grade, the pressure put on students to get straight As would be significantly lowered. I cannot ask parents to reduce their expectations of their children, I can however, ask students to lower their expectations of themselves. A B grade is a respectable grade, a 3.0 GPA is not something to laugh at and you don’t always have to spend the entire night studying for an exam. There are other forms of intelligence other than academic, and believe it or not, having a social life is important. So live your life like a normal teenager should, and stop thinking that the world will end if you get a bad grade, believe me, it won’t.

__Speech Final Draft:__

Olivia Edwards 21 September 2009 Miss Jacob

__Korean grading pressure. Is a B the end of the world?__

Throughout my time here at Korea International School, I have been constantly impressed and astounded by the attitude of the students towards their work load. In a world of hagwon, studying, and dreams of Ivy League collages, is a B- the end of the world? Will it set us back, and ruin our chances of a perfect GPA? Or is the grade pressure just an overreaction? The grade pressure is too high to in Korean schools, therefore teachers and parents should encourage students to accept that life is not all about grades.

A few weeks after joining the school, I was asked where I saw myself in 5 years. I told the class I would want to be in my local university studying my subject of choice, midwifery. This statement alone caused shock. Why wasn’t I applying for a state or Ivy league school? If I wanted to go into medicine, why not a doctor or a surgeon? No one understood, and will almost definitely not understand now, that I am incredibly happy with attending the local university and studying a subject that will make me happy, not one that will make me money. It seems that the mentality of the Korean students in this school is that you are failing by going to community college, a thought which in the UK, where many people don’t attend university at all, would be lost on people. Although having a good job is incredibly important, being happy with what you do is just as, if not more important.

I am not one known for spending excess amounts of time studying for exams however, I do care whether I get a good grade or not. Where I differ from the students at KIS, is my opinion of what a good grade is. I see a C as an average grade, a B- as a good grade, a B as a great grade and anything above that as amazing. If I get a C- or a D, I am slightly disappointed but I look to the next exam and work harder for that one. Last year there was a story in a Korean newspaper about a little boy who had received a bad report card. Once he found out about that bad report card he wrote a note to his parents about how sorry he was and killed himself. I know that this is an extreme of the normal situation in Korea, most of you will be very surprised to hear that, however, the very fact that something like this is possible, shows that the grade pressure is far too high.

You will always know when the exam results have just been passed out in a class when you walk through the corridors of the school and see people crying, or desperately trying to negotiate with the teachers for a better grade or extra credit. The most astonishing thing about the grade pressure is that it isn’t the students idea. It is the parents, and in many cases, although they will deny it, the teachers. I have never been in a school where the teachers have pushed their students as much as this one. I know it must seem tame to those who have studied in Korean schools, however, coming from a school in the UK, it is amazing to me how much pressure the teachers put on their students, how much information they attempt to cram into our tired brains and how much they expect from us in exams. And the parents seem to be even more intense.

From the story of the little boy who killed himself because he would rather face that than tell his parents that he may have failed a class, it is easy for a westerner to assume the worst of Korean parenting. I’m sure it is not all as bad as that, however, it is clear that Korean teenagers do not want to stay in hagwon until 10 o’clock at night. They are forced to by their parents. Therefore, the students get only around 4 hours of sleep a night, if any at all. I am not saying that hagwon is not useful, I’m sure it is, but is it so useful that it should take away sleeping or any form of social time with students? Now, as a teenager myself, I know that we cannot blame this lack of sleep entirely on hagown, procrastination is something we are very good at, but a little sympathy from parents and teachers could go a long way.

I have only been in one situation where a teacher has actually congratulated me on a B grade in this school and that only occurred a few days ago. All of my other teachers would simply say nothing, or if commented at all, would say “better luck next time” or “you should try harder next time”. If teachers were to encourage the idea that a B grade is a very impressive grade, and that a C grade is an average grade, the pressure put on students to get straight As would be significantly lowered. I cannot ask parents to reduce their expectations of their children, I can however, ask students to lower their expectations of themselves. A B grade is a respectable grade, a 3.0 GPA is not something to laugh at and you don’t always have to spend the entire night studying for an exam. There are other forms of intelligence other than academic, and believe it or not, having a social life is important. So live your life like the Bon Jovi classic tells you, it’s your life, its now or never, and you aren’t going to live forever. Stop thinking that the world will end if you get a bad grade; believe me, it won’t; and enjoy high school.