So the church where I work is located on the campus of a girls' middle and high school. What is our parking lot on Sunday morning doubles as their field for physical education. Since the weather has been a little warmer of late, the school's PE class has moved outdoors. Looking out the window of my office the other day I saw the students lined up in military formation. I wondered if it was some sort of drill. It turns out they were doing calisthenics, which I assume constituted their PE class. It's a far cry from what students in America experience, or at least what I did. Where's the dodgeball?
Regimentation and order pervade Korean society. Meetings begin at a set time regardless of whether everyone is there. People fall into their place in society based on their age, gender, family background, level of education, and perhaps most importantly--place of education. The annual college placement exam is the most important event in a high school student's life to that point because how they perform on the exam determines so much of their future--not just where they will attend college but also their career opportunities and, in all likelihood, the cultural status of their future spouse. It's an incredible amount of pressure to lay on a seventeen-year old's still-developing shoulders. In fact, I read recently that as well educated as Korean students are, they are among the most unhappy compared with students from around the world. While the United States cites Korea's educational system as a model of success, clearly this kind of success has its price.
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