A Lesson in Education

I read an interesting opinion piece on CNN today, "The U.S. must start learning from Asia." For many years, Asian companies--first in Japan, then Korea, and now China and others--have been accused of "reinventing the wheel" when it comes to exports and manufacturing. Or, to paraphrase Dave Barry, "Japan makes the same products we do, only better." Slowly but surely, Asia has been repeating this same process within the educational field. While it's no secret that Asian students have surpassed their American counterparts in most categories, their institutions are slowly catching up as well.

In education, Asian nations have learned from the U.S., improved upon it to make it more efficient and produce consistently better results, and now, the U.S. must learn from Asia. In essence, the teacher has become the student.

Clearly this is an oversimplification, and furthermore, I do not agree with this assessment completely. The U.S. faces widespread, institutional and cultural issues that Japan, Korea, and China do not. Furthermore, there are still areas in which American students excel. For those of you who read my work on the Japanese educational system from three years ago, you might remember this passage:

At most public schools in America, the societal core values are manifested by giving students the freedom (within a limit) to choose their clothes and lunches. Americans see choice and individuality as core values and this is expressed through the school system. In keeping within the Japanese social paradigm, the Japanese school system is notorious for using an antiquated “teach the test” formula with an extremely low reliance on critical and analytical thinking. Teachers stand in front of the class and pound the facts and the students write down, repeat, and memorize these facts.

My return to an Asian school system has not softened these views, but there are lessons that we can learn and apply to produce better results in the American educational field.

Most importantly, we must change the culture of how education is viewed in America. There are sizable portions of the American public who sees education as a negative. To become educated or go to the best schools is seen as "selling out" in some cases, or "elitist" in others. President Obama has talked about extending the school year; while this might be good for those who stay in school, it does nothing for the nearly one-third of teenagers who drop out of high school before they graduate.

At its core, the "American Dream" of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps necessitates two things: ease of upward mobility, and the ability to outwit or out-maneuver your competition. While education is not 100% vital to either, and there are many examples of high school and college dropouts becoming successful business owners, clearly it is helpful in achieving both goals. As time progresses, and we become further removed from the "real" threats of global fascism or communism, we face a bigger threat--our own complacency.

There is an enthusiasm gap between Americans and Asians (and more importantly, Asian parents). Asian parents understand that education is necessary, not just to pull themselves out of poverty, but to continue to thrive in a continually more complex globalized society. Let's consider my current occupation for a moment. I was hired by a private school, flown to Korea on their dime, to teach Korean kids in English. My afternoon students go to school during the day full-time at a Korean school, then come here for between 6-10 extra classes a week to learn more. Can you imagine a whole array of Korean private schools in America that parents pay thousands of dollars to immerse their kids for 12-20 extra hours of school each week? (or for that matter, any language)? No, I can't either. Yet, here, the parents do not only send their kids to one or two additional private schools per week, it's expected.

I must admit, as impressive as their dedication is, it is probably overkill and I genuinely feel sorry for some of these kids for being overworked. I also strongly disagree with the amount of emphasis put on testing from a very early age. When you study for the test and only the test, it cuts out independent thinking, an area in which American children still score very highly. Regardless, my point isn't so much that an enthusiasm gap exists, but that a massive enthusiasm gap exists.

A co-worker frequently likes to remind me that we are training our replacements. Sadly, this seems to be the case. With America and the West on their current trajectories, and the East on theirs, I wonder when and if it will be practical to return home. I'm enjoying it while I can, as Grandpa Duke likes to say, "The last of the dinosaurs eats well."

Please Fasten Your Seatbelt...

...we are expecting some mild turbulence ahead.

Been awhile since my last real update, so here we go.

Suddenly, job security has become iffy around these parts. In addition to moving to a new school, we're losing at least 100 students (out of about 600). I also got some "insider" information that the school's open house to recruit new students "went really bad." This info came about from a rather intoxicated co-worker who was there that day. Naturally, the preceding statement was, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but..." Two of my coworkers, both near the end of their respective contracts, had their hours and pay cut back to the tune of about $700 a month, in an attempt to save some money.

Well, I'm planning on being here for at least two years, so I'm not going to let my life goals be sidetracked or temporarily derailed by circumstances beyond my control. Inasmuch as I can help it, that is. I figure as long as North Korea keeps their troops and weaponry on the other side of the DMZ (or NLL, Northern Limitation Line), I should be OK, but I have to get out ahead of this and do what's best for me. As the days roll on, I'm doing my best just to work hard and keep up with each and every deadline that I come across, stay off the radar, survive and advance.

In other news, it's December in Korea and even on the other side of the world, I can't escape Christmas. I have at least three good reasons for my general "Bah humbug" philosophy to the holiday:

1. I believe my birthday to be infinitely more important than Jesus's.
2. Natural jealously from being born Jewish. Christmas is pretty much way better than any Jewish holiday, and you are even allowed to eat ham at the meal.
3. I worked in retail for 7 years.
4. And finally, the holiday has gotten out of control. It's a good thing there is a "War on Christmas" because pretty soon Santa will be backing his fat ass back into Labor Day.
   

Hmm, one more reason and I'll have a nifty little "Top 5" list. I'm sure I can think of another reason. That said, I'll be attending Santacon 2011, which is a bar crawl in Seoul, to be completed dressed as, you guessed it, Santa. I figure that getting tanked while dressed as Santa is probably subversive enough to offset my hatred of the big guy.

For any and all interested, I've also begun a new blog: Dooley-isms. It's a good way to continue my Vol-obsession without devoting a whole lot of time to it. For those of you who are unaware, Tennessee's new football coach, Derek Dooley, is more or less a genius. He's good for an average of one or two comedic gems every single time he sits down for a press conference or interview, and this is my attempt to catalog the best of the best. Since starting this blog, several other blogs, and my former college employer, The Daily Beacon, have issued their own versions of Dooley-isms. The interwebs work fast, and while I have no way of knowing whether they were inspired by me directly, it does seem mighty coincidental.

World Cup Bids

This is an elaboration on a rant I started on Facebook:

Bullshit. Russia and Qatar were the least deserving of the tournament for a variety of reasons.

Lets start with the 2018 group:

• England: Invented the game and has the most popular domestic league in the world. They have all the necessary infrastructure ready to go, and a rabid fanbase.
• Spain/Portugal: Both traditional football powerhouses. Spain is also home to one of the best domestic leagues in the world, and who wouldn't want to spend a month in summer on the Iberian Peninsula watching football?
• Netherlands/Belgium: Netherlands is the best nation to have never won a World Cup and has never hosted. To add insult to injury, two of their three runner-ups were essentially road games to Germany in '74 and Argentina in '78. Belgium doesn't really add much to this ticket (in fact, it probably did more harm than good), but they've had a World Cup co-hosted before, so it couldn't have been that problematic.
• Russia: Didn't qualify for this year's World Cup after being eliminated by Slovenia, and lacks pretty much all of the major infrastructure provided in the other three bids. And if you think you're depressed now, just wait until you're in Russia when your team loses.

And 2022:

• USA: Sport has ballooned in popularity since 1994, and would offer FIFA the most ticket sales and return on investment of any country. North America still offers a huge area of growth for the sport, with many Central American and Caribbean nations focused mainly on baseball.
• Australia: No one loves sports like the Aussies, it would have been a great host.
• Korea and Japan: Both probably hosted too recently to really deserve a fair shake, but of all the Asian nations, these are easily the most deserving (and both have no difficulty qualifying).
• Qatar: Has never QUALIFIED for a World Cup (and now gets an automatic bid), smallest nation ever to host, and currently ranked #118 in the world (As a reference North Korea was ranked in the 70s when they were trounced 7-0 by Portugal in this year's tourney). Oh, and it's going to be hot enough to fry an egg on the hood of a car. Allegedly they'll have air conditioned stadiums, but what are you going to do between the hotel and the stadium. You know, besides trying to prevent heat stroke and instantaneous combustion.

...OK, end of rant.

Top 5: UT Memories

Well, the regular season has come to a close for my beloved Volunteers. Needless to say, it was a tough one, but we knew it would be as soon as That Last Guy ditched in the middle of the night (and worse, at the end of recruiting season). Aside from a highly entertaining year, he also provided us with a few good memories, and hey, we're going bowling! Anyway, looking back at my UT fandom, I've decided to write out my favorite memories.

The Qualifications

• Memory must be after I started at UT: I love Peyton Manning as much, if not more, than the next guy, and the 1998 National Championship season was an awesome ride, but my love really begins when I enrolled at UT in 2001.


• Athletic competition: Obviously. I'm not going to bore you with details of how cool my History of Rock class was, or how awesome it was to study dinosaurs for a semester. At least not on this list.

The List

1. LSU at Tennessee, 2001: This was my freshman year of college. I had been living at the dorms for less than three weeks when some crazy bastards decided it would be a good idea to hijack planes and fly them into buildings in New York and Washington D.C. The next game, Florida, was postponed to the end of the regular season. Football would not return for nearly two weeks, and when it did, we had two undefeated, Top 15 teams facing off for a night game at Neyland Stadium. The atmosphere was electric, and more than one person in the stands had tears in their eyes after the "Star Spangled Banner." In addition, it was a tense, hard fought game, with UT ultimate prevailing. LSU would get the best of us later in the season, costing us our last real shot at a national title under Fulmer, and of course, costing us the first of two SEC championships. However, no one can take away that night, it was something else.
2. Bruce Ball Arrives, 2005: There was really no specific game to point to here. When he was first hired, I remember thinking, "Great, another coach from a mid-major school," and boy was I proven wrong. In the fall of 2005, the Vols football team went into the season ranked #3 in the nation, and ended it by completing their first losing season in 17 years. Over winter break, the Vols won on the road, at #7 Texas, which turned some heads, but many of us just saw it as a bit of an anomaly. However, this team just kept winning games, taking the same 5 starters that went 5-11 in conference to a 12-4 record, with two wins over eventual National Champions, Florida. In his first five seasons, Pearl has taken UT to three Sweet 16 appearances, and the school's first Elite 8 appearance last year. You can say whatever you want to about him as a person, but the man can coach.
   
3. Beating Florida, 2001: As previously mentioned, the Florida game, normally scheduled for middle September was postponed to the end of the season. Vol fans had bemoaned for years that this game was far too early in our schedule (as Fulmer's best work usually happened at the end of the season, though this could be as a result of drawing Vandy and Kentucky to end the season), and here was our chance to prove it. Both teams were ranked in the Top 4, and the dorms were going NUTS with every big hit and every big play. We won in Gainesville for the first time in nearly 30 years, and secured a trip to the SEC Championship Game the next week.
   
4. Outback Bowl, 2008: I love bowl games. Unfortunately, my post season record as a fan (when I was in attendance) was 0-4. This game had heightened circumstances, seeing as a significant portion of my family, both parents included, had attended The University of Wisconsin, our opponent. As a birthday present, my dad bought tickets for my friend and I to go. As his own practical joke, he must have thought it funny to get tickets in the middle of the UW section. All the same, me and my buddy Rhett cheered and sang "Rocky Top" as loudly as possible. We won, and I had the family bragging rights.
   
5. 6-6, 2010: I always hate it when a list puts a recent event really high. Well, I guess sometimes I have to make an exception. Last weekend, Tennessee continued their 26-game winning streak over Kentucky to become bowl eligible. This is a small miracle considering we were 2-6 a month ago. Now I can officially say that I'm looking forward to seeing what Coach Dooley can do. Our freshman QB, Tyler Bray, has blown us away with his ability, and I think this team could be a threat to compete for the SEC in a couple of years. It's nice to be trending up!
   

Chaos Revisited

Turns out, I have strong circumstantial evidence that North Korean officials read my blog. Before I get started, thank you for reading. As you may recall, I stated previously that North Korea is part Dr. Evil, part Wille E. Coyote; that is, possessing desires for world domination, and matched with an inability to do anything about them. And just last night I wrote:

...there is that crazy little bastard of a neighbor up north, who, at any given moment could decide to provoke a war.

Better yet, I listed it as a positive for South Korea. A little bit of unpredictability to spice up your life! So, it seems that the North Korean brass read my post, and thought, "Yeah, we'll show this little smart ass" (though it was probably the Korean equivalent), and they went ahead and did this:


OK, North Korea, you have my attention. This was, more or less, the largest exchange of firepower between the two countries since the signing of the armistice agreement in 1953. North Korea fired over 200 artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong while South Korean and US troops were performing military exercises. Two soldiers (both South Korean) died in the attack, which leads me to believe that North Koreans have terrible aim. I shouldn't make light of any soldier's death, but seriously, two hundred shells for two lives and fewer than twenty injuries? That's the best you can do? I guess artillery is not included with horseshoes and hand grenades in objects where being close counts.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the meaning of these attacks. First of all, it is only about 6 months after the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship, that cost about 40 sailors their lives. Secondly, it has only been six weeks since Kim Jong Il named his son as his successor. Is this the last hurrah of a dying despot? Or the emergence of a new breed of crazy in his son? Most experts are leaning toward the former, but the escalation in activity this year begs many questions.

South Korea, for their part, are more or less stuck between a rock and hard place. Any escalation with North Korea could get out of control very quickly, cause the won to quickly drop in value, and be extremely costly to their long-term economic growth. Oh, and the North Koreans have nukes. That said, they can't just sit back and wait for North Korea to attack again on a whim.

The locals don't seem terribly concerned about it, and well, when in Seoul, do as the Seoulites do. The subway ride home was almost surreal, a war nearly broke out less than 150 miles away, and everyone was on their cell phones, playing video games and relaxing after a long day of work. TVs were on in every restaurant I passed, but they were not tuned to the news networks, they were watching the South Korea-UAE soccer match.

I think there's a lesson here for Americans, who, it must be noted, often panic over much smaller threats than nuclear annihilation. As such, I will stand by my original assessment of why a little chaos does a country good. Real threats make small, every day annoyances and concerns appear to be precisely that: small. In a strange way, today was the best day I've had in awhile.