Challenges Of The Korean High School Environment example essay topic

Many Koreans describe their high school years as the worst of their lives. The students are expected to spend every day working towards one goal: scoring well on the college entrance exam. It is a life of 100-plus hours a week of studying and of heartbreaks when you just don! t get the grade you wanted. More than a few end up committing suicide each year. But when my family was relocated to Korea during a time when I had gained confidence in my academic ability as well as lead the junior varsity tennis team to an undefeated season at high school in New York, it was a setback that many people may find difficult to understand. You see, I didn! t speak the language.

During the first couple of months, I had difficulty understanding the lectures of teachers and handling the coursework. Not only did I need to improve my Korean language proficiency, I also needed to adapt to the much tighter and stricter educational system. There was a wider range of subjects to cover without the opportunity to tailor courses to individual needs. Subjects such as music, drawing, physics, biology, and world history were all mandatory subjects. A normal day consisted of nine hours in school and a further four hours reviewing and preparing for the college entrance exam. In order to improve my Korean skills, I wrote a diary each day with my Korean teacher reviewing the contents.

The key to my success was continuous effort and perseverance to concentrate on improving different aspects of the curriculum. In the end, I was able to attain my goal of entering one of the elite universities in Korea, Yon sei University. Upon graduation, my case was used as a benchmark for many other students in similar situations by the school. Besides the difficulty of overcoming the academic aspects of education, there was also the challenge to get along with fellow students. From a young age, I had always been confronted with the challenge of adapting to not only a new school but also a new country every three years. Therefore, I did not believe that I would have any problems adapting to an environment with students of my own nationality.

To my surprise, this was a totally different environment. While I was one of many students with a different background in other countries, which allowed me to blend in easier, Korean students considered me to be different. However, activities outside of the classroom provided the means to overcome this obstacle. I played point guard for the Seoul Basketball Club, representing the school against other schools, and I received the highest prize from the Ministry of Education as part of a team in the English Storytelling contest. These activities provide me with the opportunity to finally acquaint myself with the inner crowd of the student body. Confronted with this situation again, I would do it again decide to return with my family to Korea because successfully overcoming the challenges of the Korean High School environment has had the most significant impact on my life.

As I believe that most companies! culture is a reflection of its society, one!'s success also depends on his understanding of the culture. High school in Korea provided me with that understanding of the culture and confidence to succeed in the Korean environment.