We were having a speaking class in my E1-1 cohort (6th graders). These aren’t the brightest bulbs, but they’re fun kids. I had elicited and finally gotten, after much trial and tribulation, a list on the board of various social issues: e.g. the environment, crime, homeless people, “crazy” people (mentally disabled), Dokdo (Korea’s revanchist territorial dispute with Japan), drugs, etc.
Then we went down the list, and I was trying to get them to describe possible actions they, as individuals, could do with respect to these issues. Most of them were very appropriate for their age and ability level: “don’t litter” for environment problems, “take them to hospital” for crazy people.
But then a student utterly shocked me.
“What about for the problem of drugs?” I asked. I know the kids get some level of drug-awareness education in their public schools, perhaps somewhat similar to the infamous DARE in the US. “What can we do?”
Harry raised his hand.
“What?” I asked.
“Move to Netherlands,” was his immediate and unironic suggestion.
I’m afraid I started laughing. I never would have expected a Korean 6th grader to come up with such a response. I would not have expected it even from an American kid – though US kids tend to be more “worldly” than Koreans at that age.
