nanoomi

By Elena J. (with insights from Angel R.)

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6. 과제중… “Doing Assignments…”

Although Korean college life is famous for the excessive drinking and partying, student life does not always revolve around these activities. Studying mostly in high school and partying in college is an anachronistic dichotomy, a tale from our parents’ era. 과제 (“work”) never fails to keep students busy. During the semester, 과제중…(pronounced gwa-jay-joong) stands as one of the most popular lines of the day on MSN or Nate On, (Korea’s most popular instant messaging program). Many Korean students, myself included, have had an especially hard time with hands-on projects, weekly reports, and group work that the courses demand because they had never done such work in high schools. Though most high school students study, study, study, this “studying” consists of rote memorization of facts in every subject, and does not require much cooperation or deep contemplation. Besides, Korean high school teachers leave homework to be assigned by the hakwons, or the private after-school academies. In this respect, many high schools fail to adequately prepare their students for higher education; many freshmen are badly informed about avoiding plagiarism and formulating bibliographies. What was once fine to copy and paste off of Google can now result in a failing grade.

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By Elena J. (with insights from Angel R.)

Similar to the majority of 600,000 students that took the Korean College Entrance Exams last year, I held an image of college life that was a crude botch of images glued together by the media and tales from incumbent college students. College was a place where one could party, drink all night, throw up, and still look as glamorous as Jun Ji-Hyun did in “My Sassy Girl.” Girls would finally be able to wear heels, makeup, and get a perm, whereas guys would be able to dye their hair and drink to their heart’s content—indulgences prohibited for them until now. College also seemed like a place of absolution—once they had the acceptance letter in front of their eyes, most parents would relent to anything. ANYTHING—from fancy European tours to an expensive new wardrobe, because for Korean parents, having kids in college (and a “good” one in the capital city) contributes greatly to family honor, elevates the child’s social status later in life, and never fails to arouse envy among the ajummas at the local jjimjilbang.

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