I had a really awesome debate class, today. The group of 7th and 8th graders debated Korean education, informally, as we sat in a circle. They actually opened their mouths and expressed intelligent opinions, in often comprehensible English.
The best was when a girl named Jiwon said, "Koreans are natural-born pretenders." She elaborated (I will paraphrase): Korean schools and teachers pretend to teach, Korean students pretend to learn, Korean hagwon (after-school academies) pretend to help, Korean parents pretend to care. And the Korean government pretends everything is fine. Pretty dark and cynical, yet she is one of the brightest, most cheerful students I know, in a somewhat unmotivated way. I was, needless to say, impressed, both with the depth of her analysis and her evident interest in the topic.