Stressed and crying (don't worry the title isn't about me)

Yesterday (Thursday) I was really really really REALLY dreading going to school. I wasn't super prepared, and after last week when the grade six teacher told me I find it 'very difficult to teach her students' I wasn't particularily motivated either.

Sighing and moaning and dragging my feet, I didn't make to school until 8:40am (I'm usually there five minutes earlier). I had a lot of photocopying to do, so I was anticipating a stressful 20 minutes before my 9:00 start. Ha.

I noticed as I was entering the school that I wasn't seeing kids anywhere, but I thought they were already locked up in their classrooms for the day. Nope. Thursday school didn't start until 10:00am due to the Korean version of the SATS. Of course no one bothered to tell me about this in advance.

'You are first' says the janitor when I walk in the door.

Oh well, I got all of my photocopying done in time!

Sidenote: In one of my previous entries I wrote about how stressed our helpful Korean friend was about his job interview. After living here I find it hard to believe that all Koreans don't have humongous ulcers. Their lives are STRESSFULL.

It begins as soon as they are old enough to go to school, this sifting between the intelligent and the medicore. In ELEMENTARY school I have students who attend up to three private academys every day after school. They are ELEVEN years old, and they attend school from 9am-8pm (some of them, not all). Plus, all of the students go to school every other Saturday. One Friday was a national holiday. All of the kids were excited to have a day off.
'What will you do?' I asked. 'Study' was the overwhelming reply. In Grade SIX!!

Then in grade six, they test to get into the best middle schools (can you imagine competing to get into grade seven?) My grade sixes tested for four hours straight last Thursday in Korean, math, science, and social studies. (Not to mention the three hour exercise session they had to pass to get into middle school).

Middle school is more of the same intense study, along with their equivalent of grades 10 and 11, all the while building and building towards grade 12.

Grade 12 is HELL year. The students go to school from 7am-11pm and have loads of homework to do on top of that. The SATS they wrote on Thursday lasted from 9am-6pm. Their scores will determine whether they can get into university (and the calibre of the university they can attend). The university (and calibre thereof) that they attend will determine the kind of career they can apply for. If they are incapable of securing a good job, they will be forever second-class citizens. Trades and manual labour jobs are NOT respected (or paid-well) here.

They can take this test once a year. And there is definitely a stigma attached to taking the test a second time.

So to recap, starting in ELEMENTARY school you have to bust your balls to study for ONE test or else you will be unsuccessfull for your ENTIRE LIFE. (this is a bit of an overstatement..but it is also how high school students are encouraged to view this test. Unfortunately, I've heard of many cases where high school students commit suicide either directly before taking the test, or upon receiving their results).

I'm glad my students are still young enough that they aren't TOO stressed yet.

Although...

They are young enough to have some awkward moments!

Today in my grade four class we were playing a team game. It was really close, and one boy said the wrong answer, effectively costing his team the game. He laid his head down on his desk and WEEPED these huge GASPING sobs. I felt TERRIBLE and I didn't know what to do! Thankfully three little girls stood up and started patting his back. He stopped crying. We finished the game in a sombre mood, and I skulked from the room, determined to do something REALLY good next time.