On studying in South Korea

I teach at a high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Well, today is Tuesday. And... I am not teaching. My students have an exam tomorrow and I was told right before my first class started that I should let them have a free study period today. That means no teaching today. That means the lesson plan I whipped out Sunday night, thinking myself quite brilliant, is put on ice for the time being. And that essentially means deskwarming, but in the presence of my students. I'm wearing my glasses. I appear professional.

And I am blogging. And facebook'ing.

What. I'm passing time. Funny how time passes by us so slowly when we want it to move forward faster, and vice versa.

My students are not cramming on English in my English class. Nope. They're cramming on Math. "Teacher, can you Math?" Er. Logarithms are kind of like 8-9 years ago for me. Sorry. I used to be ace at this but now it just doesn't talk to me anymore.

Let me reiterate this: my students, who in fact are not headed to become great mathematicians as this is a technical high school for students who want to become cartoonists, animators and video game programmers, are freaking out about Math, a subject they, apart from the programmers, will not need down the line (I know, because my degree is in digital design). It blows my mind. Sure, I was ace in Math, but that's largely because I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future, and knew that Math (and Physics, and Chemistry) would open all my academic doors when I settled on a subject I really wanted to pursue. But these guys are all decided. They know where they're going. Surely they should be studying, mmm... English, since it's a language they might very well need in their careers?

Sigh. Double-sigh. Ah well. I'm not here to force English down their throats. Well, yes, but not like this. Heh.