One area the author explores is when education is placed as the most important thing in the student's life, it affects their social lives. For example, “-kids,parents, and teachers- saw getting an education as a serious quest, more important than sports or self-esteem”(116). In Korea, the importance of education is placed very high and is considered terrifying by foreigners. Korean students will have to take a test that determines their entire lives, so they spend the majority of their time studying and gave up certain values in their lives. Ripley also has said that Korean students spend most of their time in classrooms rather than at home because of…
In a short story by Mujica, she explains the difficulties a bilingual student faces in American society. She uses her niece as an example, telling how fear prompted her decisions to turn down great opportunities. These opportunities came from talent, she was a soccer player, who was offered many scholarships to play at another school. Thought, her niece did not speak English fluently, this caused her to feel uncomfortable outside of a familiar setting. As she was growing up, school progressively got harder and with an unqualified English speaking program, feeling outcast was easy.…
At first it was very difficult to adapt and everything was so strange for the “rich teen girl” as she had never lived before in such an ugly and poor district. Moreover, her big problem was with language. Because of that problem, children who lived in her new district — including Korean children (English-speaking Korean-American kids) who are settled in USA before her — excluded her from their activities. However all of them had emigrated and lived in nearly the in same condition, and it was not easy to ignore the class divisions of the previous country.…
In the personal essay, “The Good Daughter” by Caroline Hwang, the author describes her incident with a Korean woman which made her question her own identity. Her parents came to America two years before she was born, so she knows only a little about her native Korean culture. Although she considers herself an American, deep down she also feels obligated to keep her Korean heritage. She uses rhetorical devices of ethos, logos and pathos throughout her essay to appeal to the readers about her situation where she believes she is torn between her and her parent’s dream.…
Korea lies in the eastern part of Asia. This peninsula is divided into two countries: North Korea and South Korea. Although there is a division of landscape, government, and culture, the bulk of people in Korea consider themselves a part of the Korean nation. Regardless of that, the countries do have their differences. The entire peninsula is cut off from Northeast China by rugged mountains and sizable rivers (Rowntree 365). The north suffers from heavy deforestation, however it has more natural resources. The south has made extensive reforestation efforts post WWII and so they have more greenery. In terms of culture, there are more intense differences. In the South, k-pop and Korean drams have gone global. The culture has appealed to people worldwide. Meanwhile, North Korea remains somewhat in isolation. What’s more, North Koreans attempt to flee into Northeast China, quite often. Yet no one flees South Korea. This shows that there are different cultures and levels of comfort in each…
One of the main points that the author stated was that in Korea that they had nothing but respect for teachers and for their elders. Another supporting details in the essay on (pg63), said that she watched ‘’Three Company” in attempt to learn English. Kim, also mention that what was more brutal that learning English was Facing Poverty with a Rich Girl’s Habits. Kim took the public transportation to school for the first time instead of being driven to school.…
A second main point is that immigration is meant to be the great equalizer, yet it is not easy to eradicate the divisions of the old country. She recalled at 13, is an acute awareness of the distance between her and her fellow F.O.B.’s, and another, more palpable one between those of them in E.S.L and the occasional English- speaking Korean- American kids, who avoided them though they brought them certain undefined shame. The supporting details is that years later she learned that they were, in fact separated from them by generations. Those that sat in in huddle in that E.S.L class grew up to represent the so called 1.5 generation. Many of them came to America in their teens, already rooted in Korean ways and languages.…
North Korea when compared to the dystopian society in Anthem has some similarities and differences. The society in Anthem like North Korea has shut itself off from the world which caused slow advances in technology. North Korea is run by one person, but there is a group of people called “The World Council” that run the society in Anthem. Even though North Korea has some correlations to the society in Anthem there is also some distinction between the two.…
My parents, like countless immigrants, relocated my family of five in pursuit of the highly sought after “American Dream.” The excitement quickly wore off once I was confronted with the realization that we will now be residing in a one bedroom, one bathroom basement apartment in Brooklyn, New York. While my parents attempted to provide for my brothers and me, I undertook the task of mastering the English language. In contrast to my classmates, my learning recommenced after school; I spent countless hours reviewing index cards struggling to obtain a grasp of the English language. For added support I attended an English as a second language class, where I received one on one attention. The alienation from the classmates that surpassed me with ease triggered feelings of inadequacy; this only fueled my determination to succeed.…
As a minority, immigrating from Korea to a wildly different country like the United States has been the most influential decision that my family made to live the possibility of the "American Dream". Moreover, growing up as an Asian-American wasn’t simple; I was faced with the challenge of malicious racial slurs, spiteful judgment, and condemnation. However, through these criticism, I’ve grown to understand that our response to those judgements is what builds character in which has made me more transparent, vulnerable, and empathetic.…
Kim was also amazed at the differences in Korean schools and those in America. In Korea, she describes school as being quiet and respectful, using examples of bowing to teachers and wearing slippers to avoid making marks on the flooring. In one particular example she talks of youngsters kissing in the classroom while the teacher calls out attendance, something that surely didn’t happen in Korea. A hard dose of reality soon came to Kim when she realized just how much of her life was going to have to change. Her mother, who was considered an elite citizen of…
For one week every year Camp Choson, a camp made for Korean adoptees, takes place. From first through eleventh grade I have attended this camp. During those years at camp, I was able to meet people that share a similar background. Over the course of those ten years there were only about fifty days of camp, but in those days I became closer to them than the majority of my friends. The people at Camp Choson are practically a second family to me. Along with meeting people the camp also taught us about Korean culture. During camp, activities to teach us included Korean dance, drumming, Taekwondo, traditional foods, and learned about traditional and modern Korea. To teach us about modern Korea, the camp brought in a different group of people from Korea each year. The visitors ranged from break dancers to college students. By learning Korean culture I have realized its significance even though I hardly think about it. From attending Camp Choson, I have realized how major my heritage is in my life. Living as an adopted Korean, even unnoticed, is something that will always be my…
I interviewed an immigrant from Japan, which I will call Ms. M in this essay. Ms. M is 48 years old and came to the United States in 2011. She left her home country with her husband and two daughters. She expected to adapt a completely different lifestyle in America. She also assumed that she and her two daughters would need to learn English when they arrive.…
This book explains the History of Korean immigration and the evolution of Korean assimilation in America. Moon goes into detail about the motives of immigration for Korean first generations. Moon goes further and discusses the issues of the language barrier many Koreans had when first arriving to America. He collected most of his data through questionnaire survey and case-study interviews, focusing primarily on problems such as social isolation, family tension, and the challenge of earning a livelihood. This source will be very helpful to my research because it provides a deep insight into the history of the first Koreans that arrived here in the United States and what they did in order to assimilate and succeed. Because this author received most of his information from studies and interviews, there should not be much bias, however, avoiding bias on complicated topics such as racism and prejudice is almost not possible. This should not hurt my research but provide a different voice in my paper.…
On July 3, 2003, at the age of 8, I first set my foot on the grounds of Dulles International Airport in Virginia. When I first arrived, my head was so confused with the foreign languages spoken all around me. The foreign language was English, because I did not know how to say any other words in English except the word “hi”. From the airport, my family and I were carried in a vehicle that I had never seen in my home country, South Korea. From there, we were driven to Salisbury, Maryland.…