After work this evening I found out that my day was not quite finished. My boss informed me that I had to finish recording some educational materials for Sakwan Academy that I started last week and thought that I had finished this Tuesday. It turned out the people over at Sakwan decided at the last minute, that they wanted to add something. Sakwan Academy is a group of private schools owned by a man by the name of Mr. Kim, whose son Henry, by the way, goes to Letter and Sound Academy, one of the academies in the Sakwan group. All the schools in this group are called Sakwan Academy but Letter and Sound is so named because it is the only school that is strictly an English School--all the other schools offer math, science, and computer science ,in addition to English. Letter and Soound is not the greatest school to work for because there is no structured curriculum. This means that for my kindergarten and elementary classes I have to create all my all my own materials to use along with the books that are provided for me, and, I am not given any timelines as to when the textbooks need to be finished. I am not given any course objectives, told when to give tests, nor am I given tests to give to my students. So when my boss told me she thought I had a pretty voice and would I like to do some voice recording work, I jumped at the chance to do something new and something that I had always wanted to try.

When I arrived at the Sakwan Academy headquarters for the first time on December 27, I was introduced to Lana, who would be recording the Korean translations of the English words and phrases along with me. All Korean English teachers take on English names for the purpose of simplicity. As Lana didn't hesitate to point out: "My Korean name is too difficult to pronounce." How I wish they had used the same system in Thailand! When we sat down to record, Lana began complaining about the quality of the recording equipment we were going to use. I couldn't beleive my eyes when she showed it to me. It was a tiny white device you could easily slip into your pocket with a miniscule hole for a microphone at the top. Lana was shocked that given the importance of this project, that the company didn't at least spring for some suitable recording equipment. She told me that we were going to be recording new and improved profiency tests for all new Sakwan Academy students in order to more accurately place them. I was overjoyed! Wow, they do care, I thought. They do want the students to learn! I was excited to be part of this change. I was also pleasantly surprised to meet a Korean who wasn't afraid to criticize the flaws of the Korean educational system.

After we had finished recording for the evening, we talked about the lives of Korean students, at all grade levels, and how painfully and unnecessarily stressful they are. Korean parents start putting their children in hogwans (private academies for English, math, art, etc) beginning as early as kindergarten! As students advance into the middle and high school levels, so does the amount of required supplemental studies. In other words, in addition to going to middle school or high school, these kids also attend hogwans that their parents pay for for English, science, math, and computers, and more. These kids don't even get to go home for dinner--they have to eat a cup of instant noodles and call it a meal, and don't return home until 11pm or midnight! So, what's all this hard work for, you want to know? It's so they can take the university placement exam, score well on it, get into a good university, and get to the university and slack off. Yep, that's right. Apparently Korean universities are places where students are rewarded for all their hard work by not having to work hard. Students attend few classes that aren't the most academically rigorous. Now what kind of sense does that make? And what does the prestige of the university matter if you're not going to do much once you get there? According to Lana, it's all about status and image in Korea. Parents want to boast that their child got into a good school, and it's important for getting a good job. But what about knowledge and critical thinking skills?