Teaching in Korea

From the archives ~

For almost 3 years I’ve been teaching at a Jesuit college in Seoul, Sogang University. American Jesuits founded it in the early 70′s. Our enrollment is about 7,000. We’re regarded as the 4th or 5th best college in the country. (Hopefully, that won’t change.)

In Korea, most students try to get into the highest ranked school they can. Hence most students are here because they couldn’t get into schools 1 – 3 (or 4). Most have no idea what a Jesuit or Jesuit college is. (I’m afraid some faculty don’t either.) Since I graduated from Loyola University Chicago and came here because of my admiration for Jesuit education, I force my students to do web searches to discover the mission and meaning of our school. Most are amazed, some are just bored.

When I lived in America, I believed that US schools lagged behind most countries. Especially countries like Japan or Korea where learning is sacred. I’ve come to question every newspaper article that reports that American schools are near the bottom of any ranking. Sure, there are plenty of horrid schools in the US, but they’re everywhere.

In both Korea and Japan I have been disappointed. Here it can take two months to train kids to bring a pencil AND paper to class. Some kids don’t attend until the end of the first month. (I’ve found a way to deal with them.) I’ve had 2 kids come to class drunk.

The farther down the rankings and the farther south you go in Korea, the worse the behavior gets.
However, most students are very appreciative and respectful. I do give them that. I’ve had former students send me emails thanking me for teaching with passion and then send follow up emails to find out if their first one was polite enough.