Keeping Busy

It is break time for classes here on this lovely Wednesday which means that I only have two classes left for the week. I am anxious for this week to be over so I can get to the water rafting trip that is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. There are a few things standing in my way before I can have some fun though. I volunteered to give an extra presentation tomorrow based off of two factors. The first, and most important, is that bonus points will be considered on the final grade. I was a tad nervous for my first test and surmised that it would be a good idea to get as many points as I could to cover my tracks, just in case of a meltdown. I choose my topic because of the second factor. It looks rather interesting. The article discusses the foreign policy with China and if conflict is inevitable in the future. The only thing that I forgot to look at was how long the article was. It just so happens to be one of the longest readings in the class, but hopefully my interest in the subject will vanquish the vast number of paragraphs that stand between my social life and a higher grade.

I also have decided on my research project topic for my Korean Culture class. My group will be presenting on the educational structure in Korea. If you are not up to date with the Korean educational system let me school you (pun intended).

Koreans exhibit an admirable zeal regarding educational forwardness and always strive to get into the best universities. They are focused mostly on entrance exams for college which means there is a test based curriculum that sometimes could be described as "teaching to the test". This is a strategy that I don't really agree with and the plan is to interview Korean students and find out what their experiences with schooling involved. The basic consensus is that Koreans spend no time doing social things and allocate most of their time to studying and will put everything off until the exams are completed. This extreme focus on education also contributes to the insanely high suicide rate in Korea because if students are not accepted to the best universities they feel as if they have disgraced their family. What we want to find out is how students deal with the pressures put on them and how they handle any failures that might come their way. It is an endlessly fascinating topic and I am happy to be able to receive the views of students that are my age so I can contrast their experience with mine.

As you can tell, I'm quite busy. Though if I wasn't busy, I would be bored. So far this experience has been anything but boring, and I do not plan on going down that track now!

Heading to the library.

Until later

Trey