Top Five Things I’ve learned while Teaching in Korea: Disillusions
With all of my idealistic and self-development thoughts I try to teach the kids not only the material for my classes, but also the life-long goals they can learn. Essentially, I don’t want them to make the mistakes I made. It reminds me of the quote “Experience is the best teacher.” There are what I have realized in the last three years in Korea the following:
1) Creativity is taken out of them - I’ve read several surveys on the internet about how creativity dies a gradual and painful death in elementary school. There is an excellent TED speech by Sir Ken Robinson titled Schools kill Creativity and I whole-heartedly agree with him. The presentation is a quick overview about creativity and education. Korean students creativity seems to be accelerated through the use of cram schools beginning in elementary school. I’ve seen fourth graders getting off of academy buses at one am in the morning near my apartment complex. Its really a sad thing and I’m coming to grips that I can’t help the masses, but maybe
one or two at a time.
2) Thus, Korean Students Lack Creativity - Its annoying and painful to read the same essays about Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, and the like. No offense to those great people, but these kids need to learn about a diverse array of people. However, the paradigm of math, language, and science are the best have been blown way out of proportion here. I’ve been trying to teach my kids to write, think, and read creatively and critically, however this is easier said than done. As for the best way: give them a framework, thorough instructions, and repeat it to them multiple times. After that take baby steps to teach them about creativity. Most of the time I still can’t get through them. The ones that are creative end up being ostracized and considered as a loners. It’s a total catch-22.
3) Its hard to motivate Korean students - I’ve used all kinds of techniques to try to motivate students: from trying to studying the underlying principles of motivation (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) to using money/bribing in my classes. Unfortunately, the quickest and most effective way is fear. For example, punishing physically (old school Korean system), humiliation, or the phone call to parents (which doesn’t work if the parents are apathetic). My idealistic and teaching via love and passion doesn’t seem to work well, especially if they don’t care about the subject (English, Critical Reading, and Writing). I’ve come to the conclusion my method of teaching is not ready and that I’ll have to conform or leave. I chose leaving. That’s where the whole entrepreneurial thing comes in.
4) Structure short term goals that correlate with long term goals - My new technique for the time being while I have to continue to be a teacher is this. Create these short term goals that hopefully add up to greater longer term growth.
5) Peer pressure is very effective - Koreans like to be homogenous. Anyone who has been to Korea or knows “Korean-Koreans” know this. They don’t like standing out of the pack and if they do they are again ostracized. Knowing this you can use it in your classes to encourage or manipulate them to be better.
As I write about this I find that I need to teach myself these things and its just not the Koreans, I hope I’m not the only one who needs this information. I hope this concoction of thoughts inspires and gives some useful ideas.
Peace be with you,
~Hoo
Photo: http://flickr.com/photos/mafuyou/
The Master Key To Riches By Napoleon Hill
I’ve been reading the Master Key to Riches by Napoleon Hill. It’s fascinating and I want to do my best to absorb the information. One way for me is to write out what I’m thinking and take notes. It’s been an interesting read thus far and I encourage you to check one out for yourself.
Here are my notes for chapter one:
The Twelve Riches of Life
- There is a “Master Key” to the twelve riches (pg. 15)
- There are two beings in every individual- the pessimist and optimist (pg.16-17)
- The greatest gift is the Master Key(pg. 18)
- The Master Key is the knowledge to acquire all riches through the expression of your own personal initiative (pg. 18)
- The Twelve Riches are the following
- A Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) - the foundation to the other riches (pg. 19)
- Sound Physical Health
- Harmony in Human Relationships
- Freedom from Fear
- Fear of poverty
- Fear of criticism
- Fear of ill health
- Fear of loss of love
- Fear of loss of liberty
- Fear of old age
- Fear of death
- The Hope of Acheivement
- The Capacity for Faith
- Willingness to Share One’s Blessings
- A Labor of Love
- An Open Mind on All Subjects
- Self-discipline
- The Capacity to Understand People - Understanding that that all activities are inspired by one or more of the nine basic motives of life
- Emotion of love
- Emotion of sex
- Desire for material gain
- Desire for self-preservation
- Desire for freedom of body and mind
- Desire for self-expression
- Desire for perpetuation of life after death
- Emotion of anger
- Emotion of fear
- Economics Security
That’s the basic outline of chapter one. It’s interesting to read, however the English usage in it is 40 years old so sometimes its difficult to focus. What are your thoughts about wealth?
Seven reasons to win John Chow’s Free Ticket to Affiliate Summit West
I’ve been spending time and money buying ebooks, experimenting with websites and advertising. I’ve failed a lot in my ventures trying to make money online. However, I am going to keep trying till I make it.
I’ve been subscribed to a blog called www.johnchow.com for a couple of years now and trying to implement the stuff he has been teaching. He’s holding a contest for his readers for a free $1,449 conference pass at Affiliate Summit West. I want to win it for the following reasons.
- A Boost of energy- I quit my job with 6 months worth of living expenses to focus on online ventures. This would be a good way for me to recharge and keep on going until I get over the dip.
- To treat John Chow - John said he may even treat the person to dinner. I’d like to treat him to a meal to say thanks for all of the information that he shares.
- Hungry and humble learner - I’ve been reading a lot and I know that I have many of things to learn, I’m still very green and willing to learn and grow. Why not learn and network with the veterans of affiliate marketing.
- Finances - I’ll be honest, I have enough money for airfare (from Seoul, Korea to the US) and hotel, but not enough for the conference pass too.
- Willing to help - I take a ton of notes and perhaps, if John is willing make a few guests posts about the event on his blog, so everyone can learn from it.
- To Network - One of the things I’ll get out of this summit is to meet and network with bloggers, affiliate managers, and learn from the people I respect.
- The Future - This will be a stepping stone for me to become a successful entrepreneur/philanthropist. What I learn from this summit will continue and help others in the future.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see John in Las Vegas.
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