Nedo and a Pod of Dolphins!

 Last week I had the good fortune of venturing to the island of Nedo off the southern tip of Geoje island (where I live). This took place on Friday, the last day of school for the students before their summer vacation. However, there are many students at school this week who either want to work on various subjects, or more than likely were forced by their parents to take classes over the summer since they are offered by the school.

Before our trip to Nedo, the school had their closing ceremonies for the summer before lunch. This was a half day for students and teachers as well. After all the students were gone and the school was cleaned, we gathered our things and headed to Gujora, the town were we were to catch out boat to Nedo. Before we caught our boat we indulged in a sort of raw fish cold soup. I have had raw fish before, but never with water, ice cubes, vegetables all mixed with a spicy sauce. I was not overly impressed but I supposed it suited the occasion since it was a scorthing day out. We then headed to our boat and had a nice little boat ride to Nedo where I meet another foreign teacher who was also on a trip with his school from Busan. (the second largest city in Korea).

The waters around Nedo seemed so fresh and clean. There was a sense of purity in the air! The beauty of the island was stunning. From Nedo I could see so many other little islands in the near vacinity. There were walking trails that we hiked which took us through the thick canopies of the island. Once we reached the other side of the island, we were treated with a display of dolphins feeding at the bottom of the cliff from where we were standing. There was about 10-12 dolphins in a sort of circle. I could ony think that it was a sort of fishing tactic that they use to group the fish into a little area and then capture them. The conditions were right and the day was a success! The beauty of nature and life can be an amazing thing.

Academic Rankings

So far from my experience there has been quite a few desk warming days in the Korean public school system. Today is one of those days for me. Unfortunately, next week I will have a few more desk warming days due to the three days of exams for the students.  During this time, I get to lesson plan and get ready for the English summer camp, though these things are already mostly finished. Everything that will be on the exams has been covered so I was told that students will be given a few periods to study each respective subject. Studying is intense for most students in Korea who spend most of their waking hours focused on school related activities. On exam day, students come in for their exams and are done by lunch, in which they either go home or to their hogwon (private tutoring institute) and study more for their exams the following days.

Thousands of dollars are spent each year by parents in order for their children to attend these after school institutes and compete at the highest academics standards. It is ultra competitive here! I asked my students what time they study until, and I got a lot of 9's, 10,'s, 11's and even one 2:30a.m. Keep in mind, this is their daily regiment for many of them. Because of this, they are often tired in school which creates a vicious cycle. This is only at the middle school level. Once these students enter high school it is a whole new ball game. To get into many of the high level schools, students have to put many if not most of their hobbies, entertainment and recreations on hold. Personally, I beleive that students in South Korea have to put way to much effort into their studies. Start school 8:00 a.m and finishing at 11:00 p.m is more than a well developed adult can handle (at least it would be in my case day in and day out).

Fortunately, all this studying is paying off for South Korea on the international scale. In world ranking of all the OECD countries, South Korea is at the top in Math, Science and reading. They were ranked 1st in Reading and Math and 3rd in Science which made them #1 overall. Here is the link to compare the different countries for yourself: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading.

Canada ranked 3rd overall behing Finland. In Reading, Canada ranked 3rd, though in Math and Science it came in 5th place. The U.S on the otherhand only ranked 14th overall ( which is better than I thought it would be). There is a big divide between Reading and Math abilites in the United States. For Reading, the U.S are at the 14th spot. From there they plummeted to the 25th spot in Math before jumping back to 17th in Science. Whether this  U.S academic gap has to do with teaching methods, social problems or some other means, it is clear that South Korea  has gained  the top spot, at least in part, because of the built in culture of study.