Christopher Myers Asch ETA :: 1997-1998 Daejeon Jungang Girls’ Middle School
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t was my first field trip with my middle schoolers in Daejeon. The entire eighth grade – several hundred girls – was scheduled to hike a couple miles up to a Buddhist temple hidden in the mountains outside the city. I confess, I was a bit apprehensive. Before coming to Korea, I had taught elementary school in rural Mississippi, and I knew that field trips were hell on teachers – they involved hollering, chasing kids, and searching for children gone astray. As we got off the buses, visions of chaos filled my head, particularly when I noticed that only about half a dozen teachers had come on the trip. The teachers congregated at the base of the mountain and began chitchatting idly as the students disappeared. The girls had organized themselves into their classes and were marching, two by two, up the mountain. Without any hesitation, the teachers eventually started ambling up as well. When we reached the top, I saw a dozen large circles of girls, all eating lunch and entertaining themselves with dancing and singing. The teachers and I sat together and enjoyed a leisurely meal as dozens of students plied us with their mom’s kimbap and other goodies. The rest of the day was equally stress-free – I did not holler at all (except for a hearty “yaaaa-ho!” at the top). I often tell that story to my friends and colleagues in education to underscore the profound differences in educational culture between Korea and America. Though many American education reformers focus on the high scores Korean students achieve on international tests, my Fulbright experience gave me a
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| Fulbright ETA Program 20 years in Korea
