The Show

So, I was on the ferry to Nohwa-do one afternoon when an 아저씨(ahjussi) introduced himself to me in English. He had worked as a teacher/principal and was now enjoying retirement. His English was excellent so I asked him if he’d ever lived abroad. He said he’d gone to the United States once to visit a friend in New York. Unfortunately, he never met his friend. When he landed in California, and realized the distance between the East and West coast of North America, it became clear to him that visiting his friend in New York was illogical.

We chatted about life as an English teacher, Korea, and retirement. He was taking the ferry with his grandchildren to sight-see on Bogil-do. Suddenly the discussion turned political:

“Barak Obama is visiting Korea,” he said. “White man don’t like the negro, you know, the black man.”

“What!?” “Who told you that?” I said, respectfully, but wholly taken aback.

I believe he noticed a line had been crossed. He chuckled embarrassingly, excused himself, and went back to his family.

Clearly, he thought that I, or those like me (“white man”), do not like blacks (“the negro, the black man”). I can only speculate on the man’s motivation for sharing this racist information.

I wasn’t entirely surprised, given the man’s age. Comparably, my grandparents were, and are, prone to bouts of bigotry (however harmless they’re regarded by my family). I consider their attitudes as products of lives-and-times I cannot fully understand, nor access. That being said I cannot deny the concept of race and racism has played a role in my development. For one, my grandfather, prior to senility, was an endless supply of racist jokes that introduced me to the cornucopia of racial stereotypes. It certainly doesn’t end there, but that’s not the point.

In the USA racist rhetoric, in even its most seemingly benign forms, is a reminder of the tragic history it has informed. However, Korea is not the United States so race and racism must be constructed differently, right? The answer is: I’m not sure how to answer that question. In Korea, its difficult for me to tell the difference between racism and different modes of political correctness. Arguably there is no difference between the two, but I’m not going to get into that. What I want to write about is what I’ve seen and heard as a teacher and foreigner. My examples will, hopefully, go somewhere to understand a Korean worldview that might explain the ignorance demonstrated in my meeting the old man on the ferry.

First, Korea is rather homogeneous compared to other countries. The number of foreign-borne citizens and foreigners living in Korea is minuscule. The foreign demographic is largely East Asian with a growing number of SE Asians and Eastern Europeans (as brides to Korean men in many cases).  This homogeneity might be a point of pride. I’ve been told, prior to about 5 years ago, Korean schools taught that Koreans were a pure race. It’s my understanding that this Korean “race” is defined by nationality and culture, not physical traits alone. A person born of Korean parents, outside Korea, is not necessarily Korean. The fully Korean person must know Korean food, language, dress, mythology, social norms, and other cultural characteristics. However, this is not all abstract notions of culture.

Fair skin, among other attributes,  predominates the popular mode of Korean beauty.  Most moisturizer, and other skin treatments, contain bleaching compounds. I’ve heard students teasingly claim that darker skinned students are from Africa. So, for Koreans, its true that there are ideal physical traits. When my girlfriend showed her middle school students an India Arie music video they all responded in disgust. “Teacher! Ugly!” they hollered, she reported. I’m inclined to disagree. I’m not going to discuss that further, but its important to acknowledge that Korean seem to prefer fair skin over dark skin. The ethnicity apparently has an ideal skin color-a trademark of race construction.

On top of this it’s often problematic for Koreans to have romantic relationships outside their ethnicity. It’s especially true for relationships between foreign men and Korean woman. Often such relationships carry a stigma. A foreign man might be seen as a rapist or the woman might be viewed as morally loose. With less Korean women marrying, and slightly more men to women, one can understand competition or jealousy leading to rash beliefs.  Often I hear of foreign-Korean couples dating in secret or simply engaging in one night stands, to save face. The pressure for Koreans is to marry and reproduce. I believe the ideal would be to keep it between Koreans.

I’m getting a little off track with Korean-Foreigner coupling (I don’t have any first hand experience), but I hope this paints a VERY brief view of “The Hermit Kingdom” (a nickname for Korea), and its insular state, as I see it. Korea has a predominately homogeneous demographic, with an idealized concept of beauty (and race), and pressure to date/marry within the ethnicity. Traditionally success depends on following these (and other) cultural mandates. To act outside tradition is dangerous, risking failure and shame. Being, looking, and acting the part are all important aspects to Korean ethnicity.

Ironically, the official rhetoric of contemporary Korea contains messages of globalization and progress. The powers that be clearly want Koreans aware of the “global village” and act as successful participants. The most ubiquitous sign of this trend is English education. English, seen as a global lingua franca, is a priority on par with other core scholastic subjects. Parents push teachers to expose the students to more English material and will supplement the public curriculum by sending their kids to private 학원 (hagwon) after school. It’s typical for a student to study until midnight at a hagwon. A popular saying, related by a co-teacher, goes something like this: Sleep four hours, pass. Sleep five hours, fail.

With all the time and emphasis given to English education it’s important for students to receive quality instruction. Here I emphasize content, aiding instruction, as most important. Any ESL lesson is an important vector for cultural study. Class content demonstrates the message. It should be understood that culture goes together with language. Therefore instruction of language, and culture, should be handled carefully for the most positive results.

My elementary school’s sixth grade English curriculum is based on the content of a by a CD-Rom. It is the same for grades 3-6. The contents of the CD-Rom, displayed in front of the class, provide multimedia for each lesson (in actuality, the CD-ROM does most of the heavy lifting). During class the teacher clicks through the sections of the CD-Rom corresponding to activities in the workbook. The course is pedagogically sound yet severely lacks in appropriate content, specifically that representing foreign cultures. I will demonstrate an example.

One CD-Rom strategy is video. At the end of the sixth grade’s 2nd lesson, chapter 1, students watch a claymation video then “role play” with the characters. The setting is a “Fashion Show.” It shows English in a “real” situation, using the key phrase-”Where are you from?”. Supplementing the language is the cultural representation signified by 3 women in traditional dress. The first scene features Miss Korea.

Korea

MC: Hi Everyone. Welcome to the fashion show. Hello. What’s your name?

Miss Korea: I’m Nami. Nice to meet you.

MC: Where are you from Nami?

Miss Korea: I’m from Korea.

MC: Do you like gimchi?

Miss Korea: Yes, I like gimchi.

MC: Thank You.

Miss Korea: Thank You.

In this scene Miss Korea dawns 한 복 (hanbok), or traditional Korean dress. This is a major cultural symbol. I’ve read that Korean adoptees, who return to Korea via government subsidized programs, are fitted with 한 복 to symbolically indoctrinate them into the Korean ethnic group. Most of the time people I see chase the latest fashion trends. It’s rare that I meet someone in 한 복. Next is Miss USA.

USA

MC: Hello. What’s your name?

Miss USA: Hello, everyone. I’m Ann.

MC: Where are you from, Ann?

Miss USA: I’m from the USA.

MC: Can you swim?

Miss USA: No. But I can play basketball. I like basketball.

MC: Oh, I see. Thank you.

Miss USA: Thank you.

The cowgirl outfit does signify an aspect of culture in the USA, but it’s a stretch to compare it to Korean hanbuk without proper explanation. To my knowledge the students never received any explanation of the cultural symbols in this lesson. The natural reaction of a student was to assume that people in the USA all wear cowboy gear from time to time (OK, maybe it happens). The second time I saw a co-teacher present this material a student asked me this question: “Teacher, you?” he said, pointing to the cowboy outfit. “No,” I said. To my recollection, I’ve only dressed as a cowboy once and it was for a Village People performance I did with my friends in Middle School. The irony of four kids’ choreographed rendition of the YMCA, originally sung by a group targeting gays, performed inside a Catholic Church…priceless (end tangent).  Next, is Miss Uganda.

Uganda

MC: Hello. What’s your name?

Miss Uganda: Hello. I’m Jane.

MC: Where are you from Jane?

Miss Uganda: I’m from Uganda.

MC: Did you have a nice vacation?

Miss Uganda: Yes. I visited my uncle in Japan.

MC: Oh, I see. Thank you.

Miss Uganda: Thank you.

MC: Next!

*Dialogue taken from the Teacher’s Manual. Don’t blame me for awkward language.

I’ve never been to Uganda, but I’m pretty sure they don’t dress like Fred Flintstone (or is that a piece of pizza?). It also looks like she may have used a little too much bleaching lotion on her body. I’ve assisted in teaching this lesson three times and every time Miss Uganda’s scene pops up there is an uproar of laughter. Ok, the rendition is ridiculous, but it’s more frightening when one thinks of the implications. The students simply do not have the knowledge to comprehend the absurd in the material. The first time I saw this lesson my co-teacher asked that I help him demonstrate the “role play.” I played the MC, he played the contestants. For Korea and USA he made played no special actions. For Miss Uganda he hopped on the stage, his left arm bent at the elbow with a side-scratching fist (like a monkey impersonation), and his right hand cupped over his mouth, to make the stereotypical war cry of a Native American warrior. The kids were dying of laughter. I was appalled.

Is this the map you would use to represent nations and cultural significance?

Korea expends a great deal of energy to keep and define its ethnicity-its culture, race, etc. Some lines I hear often are “Korea is most famous for _____” or “Koreans like ________.” Korea has some rough history with war and colonization so this mission of perceived solidarity is important to keep it together (whatever “it” is). From my perspective, as a foreign teacher, students are taught Korean history, literature, music, art, and even morals. They are constantly reminded of their role as students with stiff consequences if they step out of line. This doesn’t seem to change with age. What’s ironic is that one would think a nation so focused on educating its people about its ethnicity would accurately represent other cultures; at least get the map right (see above). Perhaps insularity is clouding the truth.

The evidence demonstrates how ignorance might prevail in Korea despite motions for the contrary. Investment in education is a great step toward bridging the gaps between Korea and other cultures. Unfortunately, just learning a foreign language does not open the doors to understanding, properly understanding and applying the content does. If racist or ignorant information is seeding the minds of young Koreans then that information, deeply ingrained by rigorous study, will fail them when engaging with a foreign community.

Ever seen Midnight Cowboy?

The next lesson begins with a couple trying to find York street in some unnamed English-speaking city. In need of help they ask a cowboy. That makes sense, right? Anyways, I apologize for the writing. With the blog I don’t worry too much about citation (unless I can use a hyperlink) or a perfect argument. Also, I live in a very rural setting where things are much different from in-or-around big cities. That being said standards tend to slide more around here. I believe, as with any modern state, the cities are much more progressive and aware of the rest of the world. That doesn’t let the national education system off the hook. There are major changes to be made.