The Future: My Parents vs. Me

 I began to think and reevaluate my decision to be a physical therapist at Pacific. If my parents were spending all of this money to put me through school, the least I could do was have direction and focus where I wanted to go. But, if I choose another major and essentially start again, how far behind would that put me? Would I be able to graduate on time? What if my desired career path was another mistake, like physical therapy was? What if my parents were not proud of me? These were all considerations that I felt like I had to take into account before I made any concrete decisions about changing my career path; or in a more dramatic sense, my life.  I thought that a good place to start with was getting into the mind of my high school self. I began to reflect and think, "what did I want to be, but chose not to pursue because of pre-existing stereotypes and rumors". The first profession that came into mind was teaching. There is a general stigma around teachers about how they...

 In a previous post, I talked about how children from Eastern Asian descent were expected to not only take care of their parents, but to be mindful of the sacrifice of their parents. This required a bit of "noonchi" (눈치), or a awareness of their surroundings. This meant that while you go to school, partying too much and spending time with your friends was a waste of time and money; money that your parents had paid to put you through university. The expectation for their children was that they would solely focus on their academics, get good grades and graduate, and make great money. This was my intention when I was accepted into University of the Pacific's HESP (Health and Exercise Science) program in Stockton California.  However, this was not the case for me, as well as many other Korean-American students around me. While we all tried our best to study hard and get good grades, we also played quite a bit. Most weeknights we would either go to gym to workout, play basketb...

One thing about me that will never change is my love for my home country. While there are many facets of my culture that I love so much, there are some things that I wish were not so ingrained and widespread amongst Korean people.   One aspect of South Korean culture that I found to be most discouraging when it comes to academic success was the constant comparisons I received not only from my parents, but from my peers as well. Growing up surrounded with other Korean students, it always seemed like a competition of who was better than the other.  Even though I grew up in a Korean church where its' inhabitants preach love and compassion for one another, it was not what you would expect. Parents would constantly gossip behind the back of their so-called friends and talk about how great and awesome their child was, as if they were a trophy that they wanted to show off to everyone. This actually caused many members of the church leave, not wanting to associate themselves with...

 In a typical Asian household, there is a general stereotype that children are expected to work really hard so that they can work as some of the highest paying jobs in the market. These jobs include doctors, lawyers, and dentists. Growing up in a semi-strict Christian household, something in the medical field is preferred as you would be in an environment where you are helping people.  This stereotype stems from a culture where children are expected to care for their parents once they retire. By earning a sizeable income, you would be able to take care of any financial difficulties that they may have or want. More often than not, parents are looking to be pampered with new cars, houses, and appliances. Basically, they are looking for recompense for all of their hard work raising their children while they were working.  My parents are under similar circumstances. Often times, my dad or my mom would cover the fees if my grandparents wanted to do any renovation around their ...

 To summarize from the last post; I talked about some key differences between the ways that parents raise their children academically in Eastern and Western culture. In my opinion, a mix of both cultures was what I thought would be the best way for students to grow in their academics.  For me, it's hard to say that parents should raise their children a certain a way as I am not a parent. And I'm sure there are many reasons and motives behind the actions of parents on how they raise their children.  Growing up here in America was a bit of a challenge for me. It's not that I was failing in my academics or I was socially ostracized by my peers. In fact, I got along with my peers very well! What was challenging was finding my identity; I had the option of either immersing myself in the culture and whims of the people around me or following the ideals and morals that my parents had taught me when I was younger.  It was tough when I was in elementary to middle school. My w...

       There are many schools of thought on how to raise your children when it comes to academic success. While most Americans follow more or less the same format and way when it comes to morals and values that all children are taught in their homes, there are many other different ways that citizens from other countries will raise their children. I have outlined two different ways that parents raise their children, and have made the argument that a mixture of both is the most beneficial, in terms of academic success not only in school but in life.  The Eastern Way Education systems in Eastern culture do not focus on the inherent intelligence of students but will instead focus on building up your work ethic to obtain the desired product. Signs of struggle is a sign of resilience and goes to show that you are willing to put in the work to obtain the desired product.  The downside of this belief is that many students are then trained to act like “robots”: focu...

 Today, we're going to have a bit of a history lesson.  In order to understand the perspectives of parents of Eastern culture and why they force their children to undertake rigorous educational activity, we need to understand from what place they are coming from. Being of South Korean descent, we're going to focus on the various hardships that many South Koreans, during my parent's time, had faced growing up. South Korea was not always the economic utopia that it is today. Although South Korea is dubbed one of the richest countries in the world (in terms of GDP), the country and it's people has faced many hardships. War Due to it's small size, South Korea was often a target for larger Asian countries to invade and plunder. Ever since the 14th century, Korea has fought in many different wars. Although the country has seen it's share of victories and defeats, we have seen in history how wars devastate the economy of a country. My grandparents and my parents were b...