final exam

    Today is the second day of final exam. I have a desire for good result of my last exam of freshman year. I wish I could decorate 2012 with satisfying results. In Korea, the grades are scored by rating system, which divides students into about nine rates. In KMLA, it's really hard to get the first, second rate since there are too little students and every students take different courses. Frankly, it's really hard to get good rates especially the subjects with five or six students. However, it's a big experience and a merit to take unique lectures that's only available in KMLA. 

     Most of the grading system have high percentage on mid term and final exams. Often, students face a frustrating experience that by one mistake, rate goes down. Especially, students who wish to apply foreign universities get B by one mistake. First when I took the exam in KMLA I experienced a strong smell of failure by making too much mistakes. I disgusted the Korea's education system. As I made mistakes in my test, I felt I was drifting apart from my dream. I am not sure even now whether I have a certain confidence that I could achieve my dream. However, by experiencing hardships and tight schedules, there is one thing certain, that I would never be flustered with any difficulties. 

My favorite artist's carol to decorate the end of the year~~~

MINJOK with social changes

Living as Korean, ‘Minjok’ is the first word learnt in history class. The first part of the history starts from Go-Chosun, with a cosmological myth about Dangoon. Korean history textbook shows that Korean ‘minjok’ is descended from Dangoon, and have a same race of Mongolian trait. The meaning of ‘minjok’ that Korean government intend, is more of a race than nationality. Then, the textbook further elaborates about our history of the ‘Minjok’. I studied Korean history before, and what I felt about Minjok was that we were sharing same blood and similar appearances. Actually, minjok is more than a mere race, the meaning the word embrace is the people living in a country sharing similar traits, which is more approximate with ethnicity. The common idea about minjok needs to be changed, and the meaning itself has to be improved with the social changes such as emergence of globalization and immigration.

What is the origin of the word Minjok, and why it is relevant to Korean history? The concept of minjok has an origin started from year 1789, from France, by garrisons of the revolution.(18:10~) They needed a concept to unite citizens of France to participate the revlolution. The origin of the word is a political strategy to guide the citizens. Then, the word was used in many nations of Europe with different meanings. For example, Nazis of Germany used this term in a more narrow meaning, which embrace only nationality and race. During the period of Japanese colonization, the word was the slogan introduced by Japan in attempt to create 'Greater East Asian Co-prosperity sphere'. What Japan argued was that the union of east Asian ethnicity will enhance the power of the group and prevent the invasion  of giant countries. Actually, it was a weapon with Japan-centered policies, in purpose to exploit resources from other countries such as Korea, Philippines. Shin-chae ho rejected the notion. From then, 'Minjok' created a united power between social classes in oppose to Japan's colonization. With the colonization of Japan force, the word 'minjok' further spread and grew through the public. It's ironic that the strategy of Japan turned out as a anti-Japan force in the end of the colonization. Eventually, the power of Minjok encouraged public to participate in protests and later became the primary source of independence movement. In the past, the word minjok was a thread that united all people living in Korea.

In modern days, minjok also work as a unity of public as the past days, but it limits with many conditions (such as skin color) . For instance, people shout for minjok during Olympics or World cups. People learn minjok from textbooks yet misunderstands minjok as a race group. They learn about our great ancestor Dangoon at first and then learn about globalization and tolerance toward foreigners. Koreans would never really learn about globalization and convergence with the concept of blood-tied 'minjok'. I also feel awkward treating immigrants as same minjok, just because it's not the concept that I learned. Many foreigners are gaining citizenship in Korean society yet the concept of minjok acts like a barrier that divides immigrants and native Koreans. However, the term needs to be renewed, with changes of the society. The best concept that would fit to modern 'minjok' would be Benedict Anderson's theory 'imagined communities'. The modern society is an imagined community because people imagine about other people since everyone can't encounter together. The new concept forms new relationship in modern society. 'Minjok' is no longer a blood-tied relationship and does not form naturally. It can be imagined both inherently and sovereign. The meaning embraces all people with same nationality,  culture, and lifestyle. The broaden view toward 'minjok' would be a step for globalization. This would also solve paradox of Korea's globalization and make a new developing power.

population of naturalization

 The common concept of 'minjok' in Korea limits many people. What people learn is a blood-tied relationship that is inherently formed. However, the term minjok had face many changes with history and now it's time for a new renovation. A broader concept of 'minjok' imagines people both inherently and sovereign. This would reinforce Korean power and the development of our nation. 
                            
citation: Imagined communities pdf 
               제3장 신채호의 역사인식과 민족주의, 박동국, 박병철

A new way to release stress

Recently, my mother cent me a parcel full of Schneeball. 

Schneeball (plural: Schneebälle), snowball in English, is a pastry made from shortcrust pastry especially popular in the area of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Its name derives from its round ball-like shape with a diameter of about eight to ten centimeters and the traditional decoration with confectioner's sugar.

The pastry is so thick and solid that people have to break Shneeballen with small, cute-looking hammer. The taste is like a Ggwabaegi, a twisted bread stick in korea. There's additional flavors such as white chocolate, green tea, strawberry, caramel, mocha. 

Since students in KMLA face many hardships and burden of studying, they have stress. KMLA placed in Gang won province, surrounded by mountains, the society is isolated from urban society and cultures. There's no practical way that students can release their stress. However, I found an innovative way for students to get rid of their stress. 

Yesterday, me and my roommates ate two schneeballs .Since we didn't have a hammer, we used our Jeongsuks!!! (domestic student's math textbook) to break the schneeballen. This looks little destructive and antisocial, but an efficient way to retake the inner peace. I really like this pastry, not just because it is delicious but also like the taste of pleasure breaking it. 

Wrapping my post with a dramatic song...

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Opinion about true leadership

     My school KMLA have many philosophy of foundation including real education, patriotism, and leadership. The school emphasizes leadership in diverse area such as student union, group assignments, and club activities. Any extracurricular work requires distribution of work and responsibility of every members. Leaders regulate the pace and completeness of the work. However, recently I questioned about true leadership because it felted like a mere burden. It felted as a puppet of imprisonment. The word 'leadership' didn't have any meaning but gave more responsibility and more work. 

     According to wikipedia, leadership is defined as a  process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support the others in the accomplishment of a common task". Leaders extracts the best of their teammates and stimulates for the best performance. In majority of modern medias, leadership is beautified as a features that all successful, respected celebrities have. Most CEOs or politicians have outstanding leadership that could create their high status. Furthermore, most universities include leadership as a merit in interview and try to evaluate student's morality or personality with this tool. However, leadership is excessively emphasized and glamorized. In reality, I never saw a true leadership but only saw leadership that is completely responsible or that is criticized from other members such as politicians blamed and cursed. 

      It is hard for leadership to be conducted in the reality because in any work, there are people who are absent for their works. To gain full participation, repeating and nagging is need. On the other hand, in an excessively participating society (very minor), it is hard to make a unified voice since the members do not afraid to censor or bend their ideas. For instance, KMLA student union is relatively very active compared to other school. It is because other school society have light attitude toward student union and the participation is really low. However, in KMLA, there are many new ideas that students desire . Most of the proposals are created by fixed members or seniors. Student union work as a messenger to the teachers. The student union had many good results but yet not fully independent nor pulls the best out of different students.

     Furthermore, people face difficulty with leadership because the name 'leadership' itself have power to imprison one person with all the works and responsibility. In majority of companies or political parties, when something gets wrong, representatives of each relevant departments announce resignation to take all the burdens. In this context, leadership is like an insurance that designates a victim that might give up the social status with potential dangers.
      Are leaders just a symbol, or a status that only feel responsibility or includes all previous things and additionally stimulating the team for better work? In reality the latter is difficult to conduct and maintain. 

Four more years+ upcoming election

U.S president is elected, Obama is on is second time. 

In 2012, many countries have election including Korea, Russia, Frace, Egypt, Taiwan, Germany. 

This year's election is probably the most dynamic election. Since Cheolsoo Ahn participated and recused recently, the upcoming election is the most hot news. Geun hye Park, Jae In Moon, Jung hee Lee is the most representative candidates. Every candidates  have their unique policies and key words. Wish every voter takes their wise decision for Korea's future. 

Body ritual among the Nacirema

     The essay is about the cures and body rituals that "Nacirema" tribes practice. Their rituals are somewhat similar to the modern humans'. They have a pathological fear in the mouth and they regard cleaning the mouth as a significant activity during a day. Like them, modern people check their mouth at least two times a year. The Nacirema tribes have similar social structures with modern society and the priests and doctors are alike. The only but the most significant difference was that Nacirema culture seemed barbaric compared to the other civilization. Their image was people of poor, third-world country with almost no public orders and insanitary environment. Since the writer elaborates details about Nacirema society by using some negative and distorted description such as 'barbaric', 'cruel'. The author's negative view toward the Nacirema society result readers to imagine a biased image about their society.  However, the essay is a satire which actually portrays modern society, specifically America. Author's distorted perspective is actually a sarcasm that critiques modern people. Most people think that they are morally upright and do not have any prejudice toward other civilization. People act to be tolerant but actually they aren't, including myself. The author intends to show that readers have  Cultural absolutism in their unconsciousness.

           

My images about Naciremans

               

     

     Readers can find out that the essay is about American society by different clues. "Nacirema" is the backward of "America". Also, Naciremans are North American group living between Mexico and Canadian Cree. This is the location of America. Furthermore, the Nacirema nation was founded by hero called Notgnihsaw, which is George Washington of the United States. The author additionally mentions stories about Washington that he threw wampum across the river and chopped down cherry blossom tree. Nacirema have Pa-To-Mac river which is also in the U.S. From these descriptions, readers can easily realize that the essay is about American society. However, not noticing these clues, readers might regard this society as just a barbaric, uncivilized culture. The essay shows cultural absolutism inside unconsciousness.

     Cultural absolutism causes majority of frictions and important problems of modern world. It is an attitude evaluating other culture's value from one perspective. In this modern world, there is a socially common notion that is created by some major power countries. Majority of the socially common notion is made based with their culture and values, and they dominate other countries. With the standard and rules that few made, the world assesses other unique cultures. People regard right or wrong with the narrow minded thoughts. People mistreat and exclude other culture with the prejudice.

     To begin with, people cannot understand other cultures and be 100% tolerant to others. Every society has its distinct culture and it should be honored. Each culture is a basis that forms the social structure and the people’s lives. People have they have their own standards and values that they naturally learned and share with other social members. When other foreigners have different point of view or standards, people cannot understand their logic. For instance, there was a France singer who blamed Korea’s tradition of eating dogs. She portrayed this tradition as barbarism and even tried to boycott Korean football team from the World cup to prevent Korean culture from consuming edible dogs. Her comments were pretty offensive to not only Korean society but also other dog-eating cultures including China, Switzerland, US (sausage was originated from dog meat). This is due to narrow thinking and lack of tolerance.

In addition, fixed image of other cultures causes prejudice. From the surface things that they observed from other culture, they comprehend and treat them differently. To illustrate, by the external things people see about foreign cultures, they make up images about them and regard the image as truth. For example, in the essay, writer depicts that the magical practitioners cure the illness of sick people. Nacireman people had to give presents to the 'doctors' so that they can cure their illness. Every time they needed a cure, they had to give material things or not, they can't fix their illness. From this passage, Nacireman people seem cold-hearted. However, modern society is more cruel and cold and it's hard to live without money. This is the stereotype which causes cultural absolutism.

     It is hard for people to get rid of cultural absolutism. Difference is a natural thing and human cannot change this. However, when people try their best to eliminate stereotypes, frictions and problems will be lessened. The best way is to learn about other countries. Learning about other cultures and their history will enable people to understand other countries. This is because learning history and culture is learning about other's values, rituals and their standards.  It enables people to become tolerant and have an open mind toward other cultures. So, people can approach other cultures better.

     The essay "Body ritual among the Nacirema" is a story of American society. However, the Nacirema society seemed poor-living, uncivilized, barbaric only just because they were tribes and they live distinct life compared to the modern society. Culture absolutism is caused by misunderstanding of other life and stereotypes. It is difficult to eliminate it, but learning about other culture would increase the understanding of other cultures.

MONTHLY TOEFL ESSAY #2

Ubiquitous world in the 21st century

Elderly say that the world has changed a lot. All they have imagined about have become reality and life became easier and comfortable. The biggest change that is brought is that the world became ubiquitous. For instance, moving from place to destination meant just ‘shifting’ in the past. There was nothing people could do but reading books or staring at the landscapes. However, with the progress of modern techniques, working while moving became practical. As the meaning of ‘moving’ differed, lifestyle changed. The barrier between career and private life slowly vanished and different forms of job emerged. The ubiquitous lifestyle enabled telecommuting and long-distance (videoconferencing). Some problems or side effects also emerged with the new paradigm.

To begin with, technology development especially internet services and mobile phones caused a change in people’s occupation. An image of preceding typical career was an image of group of people inside an office, doing meetings with co-workers. The new technology broke the prejudice. Nowadays, people can concentrate on their career regardless of the place. Thus, telecommuting and videoconferencing became reality and made people’s life more comfortable. However, some side effects also appeared. Since work is available in any place or time, it intrudes private time. Even after regular laboring hours, people check things about their career in their daily spare times. For example, mobile phone is a very convenient device for modern people. People can check their work any time any day and can be ready for any emergency. However, even during vacation or holidays, workers have to check their e-mails or documents due to a burden of their career. The technology development is convenient but surely spoils one’s private time.

The other change due to the development of ubiquitous devices is that people’s lifestyle changed. People use their time more diversely in modern days. Owing to the technical enhancement, contacting with different people and finding information is available in any place, anytime. As a result, people could easily keep in touch with others regardless of place, country. Furthermore, the ubiquitous technology allowed people to use their spare time such as time for moving and commuting much efficient. For instance, airplane faced significant development with the development of ubiquitous devices. Commuting and interacting with the information of the plane became a basic function. Nowadays, downloading movies and chatting with friends by SNS is available even above thousands of feet of earth. The ubiquitous devices enabled a comfortable life.

The most significant changes in the 21^st century is actually bad. There is a gap between the rapid development of ubiquitous techniques and ethics. People are not that mature enough to deal with social problems such as intrusion of private life. Since ubiquitous techniques enhanced, most people gained more intimidate relationship with their friends. This is a good consequence of development. However, people’s personal information such as appearance, height, age, academic achievement is exposed to other people. Thus, others might know about a person regardless of his agreement. Intrusion of private life is extended farther to crimes related to personal information or stalking.

To sum up, 21^st century has faced a huge change by technological development. Especially, development of ubiquitous techniques such as internet or mobile phone, laptop computer has facilitated the change. The change includes diversity of job and working environment. Furthermore, it led to changes in daily lifestyle such as comforting the customers and allowing to use time efficiently. In contrast, the enhancement also produced some social issues such as intrusion of private life and expanded to other crimes.