Hero Worship

There are some myths floating around Korea. Some made and perpetuated by Koreans and some of them seem to have been made by foreigners based on something they thought they heard from a Korean. Korea has four distinct seasons and it is the only country in the world to be so lucky. There are no homosexuals in Korea and anything and everything that has ever happened on this peninsula or by a person descended from a Korean is, by definition the greatest thing to have eve happened. Yi Sun Sin is the world’s greatest naval commander, Korean food is the greatest of all world cuisines, kimchi is the single best food ever to have existed and Park Ji-Sung is the greatest footballer ever to don a pair of boots. 

Koreans are incredibly nationalistic and there are reasons for this but other countries have gone through similar histories, been subjugated and controlled and yet they are not nearly as conceited.  My own country has contributed a few things to the world and my countrymen and women are proud of our own little country but conceited and arrogant we are not. Only recently I was told, matter-of-factly that if it weren’t for Korea I wouldn’t have a job and the implication was that I should be grateful to my hosts for saving me from the employment scrap heap. On another more recent occasion I was berated by another teacher for insulting national heroes. She actually approached me gingerly and said that a mother of a student had called and her son was upset that I had said something about something. When pushed she said she didn’t really understand what the mother was complaining about but it was basically about my comments about national treasures Park Ji-Sung and Admiral Yi. I am a Liverpool fan and as such I am not ready to lie about Park being the greatest footballer the world has ever seen and I also use this fact as a topic of debate and to get a bit of banter or fun chat going with various classes. I like to challenge the established order, which in Korea is that he is some kind of demi-god who can do no wrong. Besides in the UK he is revered by Manchester United fans as being a workhorse who never stops running but the team would not and has not fallen apart when he has been absent.  I told the teacher that I would not be changing my ‘style’ of teaching and that as 12 and 13 year old kids they should not be so sensitive. 

                                 

 

Occasionally you will come across a kid, sometimes a very young kid who will admit, usually in a round about way that, shock horror, Korea isn’t the best country in the world (yes, I know there isn’t a single best country). Middle school students often admit that Japan is much cleaner and when I tell them that in the UK we don’t hit or even touch kids in school they say they would like to go there. Genuinely open kids are a treasure and can enlighten a class beyond measure. They cause trouble amongst fellow students and debate ensues, debate which can be the cornerstone of English learning. 

In the UK 12 and 13 year old kids smoke, drink and sometimes even have kids. This is not an endorsement of such behaviour and I do not think that is they way these ‘babies’ should go but maybe there is some middle ground. Korean 12 year olds have been somewhat robbed of a childhood by going to hagwon after hagwon and having academia drummed into them from day 1. They are not like normal 12 year olds, normal in the western world that is but, I am not prepared to pander to whims and mood changes because their parents have failed to act in a manner that constitutes parenting. I treat them as mini adults not 6 year olds and as such I have opinions and I tell them if the subject comes up.

I like Park, he is a good footballer, Admiral Yi was surely a great naval hero but not necessarily the best and while Korea has four seasons it is not the only country to be blessed in such a way!