When somebody tells me what to do, I get strange feeling that I don’t really want to do that. Opposite, somebody warns me not to do something, strangely I want to do that. I assume that it’s because of basic instinct of human. However, with very few exceptions, we have learned English for so long, and not so many people have satisfactory results. It is clearly insurmountable for Korean students to become a wonderful English speaker. Being able to become a bilingual is dependent on three following reasons : falsely designed education system in Korea, not enough exposure to English, and motivation of learners.

This problem comes from the education system itself. It is considered important that language learners are exposed to English as much as possible, but we can see how many classes a week Korean students have. Clearly not enough to learn English. Canada, for example, adopted language immersion program. Teachers speak French in and outside class room and every subject was taught in French, which is absolutely enough exposure for students. The lack of enough exposure to English at school leads to another problem of private education. It is reported that most parents in Korea with very few exceptions can’t even buy clothes for themselves to educate their children. Despite their hard struggling and aid of private institutions, it is obvious that students still need far more time to practice English.

An interesting documentary program from EBS aired, and interviewed parents and children in kindergarden and English kindergarden. The question for children is like this. ‘Why do you think you come to (English) kindergarden?’ And the answer was vary. Children in kindergarden say that they come to kindergarden to have fun, and others in English kindergarden say that they come to English kindergarden to study, and they all looked somehow serious and their facial expression says that I want to master English. However, this is how children learn languages. They make constant conversations with parents and their friends and their parents correct their grammar and the usage of vocabulary. Children don’t even know they are studying language. It all happens naturally when they spend time with people in life. When the whole learning process becomes studying, it also becomes harder to learn.

The most import thing in learning language is learner’s motivation. Many linguistics say that there is not much of difference between early English educated children and people learning English after they have become adults. The only thing that is beneficial from early English education is the development of pronunciation. Other parts of language such as vocabulary and grammar can be developed more in adults’ learning process. They are motivated and push themselves harder. Through this aspect, adults learners can reach at high level.

It’s probably not too late to start learning English based on the listed facts above. Parents need to see the fundamental problems of education system in Korea. If they want their kids to be proficient in English, it is important to remember that they need to offer good enough English exposure to their children and it should not be like studying but it should be like playing. If all of these are done appropriately, then parents will see less financial burden for private education as well as vast improvements in children’ language proficiency.

Take a look around. People are walking so fast with a bag or whatever they need to carry around with them on one hand. Car owners drive their car by left hand most of the time. In library, I see some students look at books, while others are busy doing something else. what’s in common in three cases? What do you think it is on walking people’s free hand, and the right hand of car owners, and something student are doing at library? Smartphone! Smartphones have become indispensable with our lives. It is obvious that smartphones have made our lives more fun and productive and nobody will ever disagree with that.

However, have you ever heard of miraculous medicine that is applicable to anyone in pain and free from side-effects? No, there isn’t such a thing as panacea. Apparently, nowadays people are so into the smartphone world that they seem to see nothing but good things about smartphones. People with cold should take pills for cold, not for cancer. If you take pills for cancer, it would be financially overburden to you. Also patients with any disease should not take a certain amount of pills, and it should not be overdosed. These three metaphorical statements are the reasons why I stand up on the opposite side of people applauding smartphones.

Thanks to developed functions of smartphones, smartphones are considered ‘mobile office’, and hours of work is kind of extended unofficially and it is very much annoying for many people. Imagine that you are finally off the day and your fun loving wife or husband and children are waiting for you. Then, you go through all the traffic war on the road and arrive at the entrance of Heaven. At the same time, you get e-mails from boss saying that you have to make a presentation or come up with some kick-ass ideas or bring the boss reports that look impossible to finish tonight. What choices do you have? No other choices, just jump on working. When you have finished, your cute children are asleep, and your wife is looking pissed off. Don’t freak out yet. it’s not that it happens today only, but it will happen endlessly. Happy? It really is the true meaning of the ubiquitous world, isn’t it?

It is either unreasonably expensive to use smartphones or unwanted service for some people. A couple of days ago, I got to watch news on MBC saying that KT had terminated its 2G service. KT has adopted a very special win-win strategy, and it will boost our economy. What a wonderful news is this? So we can use 3G and LTE(Long-Term Evolution) more comfortably. It’s like stressless driving  on empty high way. Wow, it’s truly amazing. However, What about previous 159,000 KT 2G users? Of course, they need to use 3G or 4G cell phones as of the announcement day. 2G users on the edge of cliff are literally forced to buy unwanted expensive smartphones that some of them don’t even know how to use properly. Oil price goes up, bus and subway fares increase, electricity, and gas, I can’t even finish listing all those things whereas our salary stays the same. It’s just great.

“As Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me. As visions of the future began to diverge, our board of directors sided with him. At 30 I was out.” Steve Jobs said in the commencement at Stanford in 2005. Smartphones are supposed to bring productivity to us. And it is true that they have brought efficiency and productivity to the world, and yet it is partially true. In reality, as the statistics show, almost 80 percent of employees and students use SNS, shopping, and games on smartphones during the time they are supposed to focus on work or study. I can’t wait to work in a company where I can spend most of the time sneaking out with my smartphone, and have fun during working hours, and still take salary from the company.

Admittedly, it is nice to carry around cutting-edge technology in my hand, and I can do pretty much everything with a smartphone. However, it is hard to see people with the exact same life style. We are all different and priceless and should be treated as importantly as possible. Therefore, that KT made the decision of 2G termination with no compensations at all fiercely pushes many people into a corner. Moreover, we need to be aware of the difference between using smartphones wisely to be able to remain efficient and productive and being addicted to using them resulting in high possibilities of putting ourselves in stressful situations or less productivity which is supposed to be the other way around.

There is a popular adage that says, “Life begins at forty”. Simple truths about life are expressed and popularized by proverbs or sayings. However, people interpret these in many different ways, normally depending on their experiences. I assume that the reason why the saying goes like this is because people in their early days usually only see what’s in front of them, and don’t know much about life resulting from the lack of many life experiences. However, I disagree with the statement because of three reasons.

To begin with, people already experience life as soon as they come into the world. As individuals go through the normal process of growth and development, they are already experiencing life. This includes gaining knowledge and understanding about the environment and people around us. Life is an endless process of doing ordinary activities, accepting responsibilities and accomplishing tasks. Like I said, not a single person has the exact same life style and way a person thinks and behaves. Ask yourself with a question like this. What’s the specific criterium when life begins? It is really hard to say only the specific time like 40.

Another point is that saying that “life begins at forty” is like saying that everything before that point is not life. People experience changes in life. One stage flows to the next without people even noticing it. However, as people grow and mature, they become more apprehensive of what the next stage of life will bring. Fears and questions are raised up. They are afraid of getting old and ask themselves if reaching a certain age is the end of youth. Others might start thinking of missed opportunities and might become regretful of the decisions they have made. These make people re-evaluate their lives, but it doesn’t mean that this is the point where their lives began.

Final view point of mine is that the saying “life begins at forty” applies more to males than females. This is the time when most men experience mid-life crisis. Doubts about their physical and emotional capacity emerge. These psychological problems urge them to relive the days of their youth. They fear getting old since they believe that this might be the end of some aspects of their lives, including love and adventure.

In conclusion, people have different life styles and thoughts about many things and see things differently. Sometimes we see things that others don’t really see or see them but don’t want to accept that they have seen them. The meanings of proverbs also differ from one person to the next. The moment a person takes his or her first breath is the moment when life begins. Turing forty is only another stage in life that people must face with courage and hope for the future.

I want a success but I haven’t exactly thought about how I get to a success. I just want to real some articles dealing with successful people in whatever their fields. then there’s TV programs that introduce to us from the failure of their life to successful life I don’t know how they dragged themselves to successful world, I just envy them, now I’m thinking that maybe they have successful genes from their parents or just they just make efforts to make a success or achieve something others cannot even reach. when I look at successful people they are all diligent and see things in a different way, I feel it’s amazing because I feel maybe Im dull? i don’t know. maybe I’m facing the harderest time in my life which is all about getting a job and all the undecided life directions.

5 mins is over, thanks.

Feeling like blood goes to feet? Heart is beating so fast? not able to feel anything in hands and feet? Now you might think I am listing some symptoms of a disease, but I am not. These signs appear when people watch very thrilling action movies. ‘excitement’, ‘adrenalin’ are the most suitable words to describe action movies.

According to a survey conducted by Movie Goer, more than half of the americans love to watch action movies, and I myself prefer action movies to just a gentle comedy. Then, why do many people find it mesmerizing to watch action movies? As far as I am concerned, there are two reasons why so.

First, watching action movies can be a good way to relieve stresses. Many acquaintances of mine occasionally express that especially Friday night, after work, it is the best choice to watch exciting action movies. Imagine that today is Friday, and you are finally free, after all the stressful work and dealing with endlessly piled documents on the messy desk, and there is a very comfortable looking couch in the middle of a cozy living room equipped with a 7.1ch surround speaker, and it is time you chose whether watching a very dazzling and exciting action movie or a very sad movie that could make you feel more gloomy. Which one would you choose to watch?

Second, it is enjoyable to watch action movies as you watch action scenes, and generally no serious following up thinking is required. In other words, it is very casual. I would like to ask you if you have some experience that as a movie goes on, it feels like your brain is going to explode due to whether the movie is telling you very heavy political issues or has a very complicated movie plot. I assume that some people just want to enjoy their entertainment time. After that, when getting out of a movie theatre, people would find their faces looking like today is the end of the world. Just blood splashing fighting between robust and cold-blooded men, and breath taking car chasing and crashing with no depressing feelings. These are  why we like action movies.

In the final analysis, nowadays people are so stressed from their daily lives, and there is a tendency that people go to watch action movies to get all the excitement so that they are free from the stresses for a moment. Moreover, since action movies do not require us to think about other complicated matters, we can casually enjoy watching them. These two reasons are the beauty of action movies and what makes an action movie so mesmerizing to watch.

I bet thousands of dollars you cannot keep your hands off from the Internet. Using the Internet is like the way people in the modern society live and I can’t even count how many times I go online on each of everyday. The uses of the Internet are various, as well as quite advantageous. However, Have you ever thought about some bad aspects of it? The Internet can be dangerous, and especially to children. It is often said that letting children use the Internet, especially chatting, jeopardizes his or her safety. The following three reasons are why children should use the Internet under protection by parents.

The gap in technological knowledge between children and parents is one of the factors that contributes to the problems children may face in the Internet. Nowadays, kids are experts at using the Internet, and we sometimes find them do things online unexpectedly. Some are even quite familiar with creating or designing websites. However, some parents who are not as familiar with using the Internet as their pure evil children are unable to properly monitor online activities of their children. At the same time, children who are not in a proper monitor by their parents might face risky situations.

Moreover, there is a possibility that chat-friendly children without protection by their parents might become a victim of harassment or virtual stalking. It is highly advisable that parents be aware that the Internet is a playground for sexual offenders. These predators patiently observe and then choose their online victims. Then, they seduce these innocents with false assurances and may ask children to meet them face to face. This can lead to many potentially dangerous situations, such as kidnapping, and sexual child abuse.

In addition, online predators may solicit information from children, like addresses and phone numbers. If online predators get to know the information  they need, they are likely to start stalking children. This puts, not only children, but also the whole family in danger. Therefore, virtual problems have every possibility of becoming real and every parent should keep that in mind.

To put together, parents worrying about their children’s online safety is unfounded and as the Internet is a dangerous place for adults, it is even more dangerous for children. I assume that one of the best ways to keep bad things from happening is to educate both children and parents. Children should be made aware of the situations they might fall into with online predators and it will be better if parents are taught the correct way to properly monitor their children’s online activities.

I found an interesting article from the Korean Herald several days ago, saying that people playing an important role in their fields turn out to be highly well educated in English. And the recent study shows that almost 90 percent of elementary school students say that they want to go abroad for English if they have a chance. Parents in Korea are also so eager in English education that they take all financial burden to send their children away. However, is it really necessary? The following three are the reasons why it is problematic for Korean youth.

It is unwavering belief that children should start learning English as early as possible so that they become more proficient in English and important players in society later on. It is true that children studying abroad can learn English much faster than those studying here in Korea. In addition, parents also expect their precious baby boys and girls to learn much more about English cultures. surely it is going to be valuable experience for children. This is why it is hard to see parents with luxurious life style.

However, going abroad is not always good nor a panacea for children. There is a serious problem. English should be a tool, and should not be everything for children. English is a tool to communicate with other people from different countries and it can let us do business or anything. But now when looking at people, they are studying like it’s everything in their life. I’m exaggerating of course, but it is not so far from the truth. Koreans have different goals about English. For example, for most people, they study English to enter university and to get a job. After that, they almost all seem lost with English. Why do people study English? Again, English should be a helper for you to do something more meaningful, learning English should not be an ultimate goal of your life.

Childhood is a important period in their lives to form their personality. They need more touch and love from parents and also close relationship with their friends. The problem happens when parents think their children are strong enough to fit well in a totally different country. Statistics indicates that over 85 percent of oversee students are going through hard time with life in another country. Some have homesick and some experience discrimination in their early times. Surprising? Trust me. It happens even now.

Even if your children are successful fitting in, it’s not the only problem. They endure every hardship and then finally go to a higher education. As statistics says, many students fail and give up their courses, and come back to Korea with little improvement of English. Students often suffer from depression and quite a few students become addicted to drug. Then, in worse case, they get involved themselves in crimes. It’s quite sad to look at this problem this way, but we need to consider this problem more seriously, because we might put our future hope in dangers.

As we have looked through, there is a high possibility that things don’t go the way it is supposed to go. Moreover, your children can experience unpleasant situations all alone without fun loving parents and friends. Do we really need to send them away? supposedly it it time parents in Korea reconsidered sending children away and looked for better ways that parents have children learn English.

In the year of 2009, I returned to Korea from New Zealand. Around August, weather in New Zealand and Korea is winter and summer. When I got off the plane, you know what I felt? Suffocation. It was extremely hot that I could barely breathe at first. However, hot weather was not the only reason I felt something was killing me. It had been really comfortable to use the Internet in New Zealand despite the cow walking like internet speed, whereas Korea has always been asking all the residence registration number, and personal information every time  on the Internet. Why can’t you just let us use the Internet without absolutely useless interrogation for personal information? I tell you what. The three little stories will make your eyes open and see outside the world.

The Korean government has been contradicting themselves. Since the start of President Lee administration, the government has put much value on Korea’s globalization. However, Korea is the only one country in the world, which regulates freedom in the Internet. As a result of this, both citizens of Korea and foreigners come with high expectations about Korea have been going through every step to live with the Internet here. Last month, CNN reported an interesting news about Korea, which is to say that Korea is making fun of themselves by taking ridiculous measures that no country has ever done.

Moreover, the government of Korea has been acting like ‘Big Brother’. It is because they want to watch citizens as if the god watches people above the sky, and when his people have done something bad, those people are going to be executed. Several years ago, Americans strongly expressed their voice together to stop the US government from trying to make security department. People in the US clearly don’t want to stand on a slippery slope with feeling that they can be pushed under the slope anytime. Personally, We, Koreans, are already on the unstoppable slope. The government has been already collecting every movement we make, and our daily lives have been tracked for security reasons. Hey Korean government! Please look up the definition of ‘Democracy’.

Some people say that if it’s the government and for security reasons, it’s fine to give them their valuable information. I see what your point is. However, do we visit the government web site only? We have to give our information to company when we want some services from them. Then, companies always promise not to use our information for personal reason. Is the promise reliable? I don’t think so with a big question mark. So many companies have leaked or sold our information and this led to crimes like voice fishing using our information and illegally making credit card. What’s your solution to that, government?

Once again, we ought to remember that our valuable information is being collected and used somewhere and at the same time, the world is laughing at us. I hope that the government realizes this and does something about this and tries not to make an unreasonable excuse like it’s for your safety and security for our country. Korea is a democratic country, so use your brain if you have any and make it right!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/10/college-degree-premium-why-higher-ed-is-overvalued.html

This article by professor X talks about the value of college and basically what he maintains in the article is that the increasing number of American students are going to college and students think that it is necessary to finish their degree in order to get opportunities in job markets. However, he explains with specific examples and statistics that we overly value colleges that cannot boost the economy and where students learn less.

I partly agree with the author. The situation between the US and Korea is almost same. There are several dreams for Korean parents to make happen during lifetime. No! wait a minute. It is more like obsession. One is to buy a house of their own and the other one is to get kids to go to college. Clearly Korean parents put too much value on college, despite the fact that not all the college kids can get a job nowadays. In fact, very few of them get a decent job and then another few of them get a job and then finally it may sound too negative but the majority of Korean students are still struggling in the job markets. However, even though all of these are true, given the situation and under the education system in Korea, students still need to go to college. Hopefully, the greater University they enter, the brighter future will be for them. The following three parts of this essay are why going to helpless university is still the best option for Korean powerless students.

Sadly for students, going to college is no longer optional, unless students were born with the sufficient amount of money that they can live on during their life time. Now, let’s see the economic situation first. It is all like a vicious cycle. Companies have been facing the global economic crisis and then, as a result of this, they are hiring fewer students who are much more competent and able to do more at the same time which is so-called ‘Multitasking”. Naturally, students severely put a great deal of makeup on them with many kinds of certificates and very high score in TOEIC, which I would consider the most impractical and meaningless English test in the world. However, what can we make ourselves look much more attractive to companies trying to hire students? Go to college! It is certainly overvalued in our society, and yet again sadly the best way to be successful.

‘Perception’ more specifically ‘ Biased, prejudiced perception’ is like hideous nightmare for Korean adolescents. Basically entering university has become their ultimate goal for life. High school students are very much stressed about the fact that on every national holiday when relatives are all gathered, students are always told and questioned that you have to enter at least Korea University or just go work in a factory. Some students often fail to enter a desired college and then try to enter again in the following year. Please ask them about how they felt during the time they were spending for studying and people looked at them. Surely 95 of 100 students would say that they felt like they became a loser and people looked at them differently and very sorry for their parents who might have had high expectations on them. This is what causes students to go to college.

Another very scary reason why students must graduate from college, even though they know they earn nothing but a graduation certificate from a college, is to have a high hope that they might be paid more. Taking about a graduation certificate, there really is a big salary gap between haves and have-nots. Last year, a very interesting news was aired on MBC saying that after two years people start working at a company, college graduates have an steep increase in the yearly salary, while high school counterparts have almost no wage raise. Admittedly, now is not the best time for college graduates either, because of the international economic crisis. However, once they get a job, money have-nots make would not be even close to one that haves could make.

It is a well-know fact that the world has been going through economic crisis and this resulted in far fewer opportunities for students to get a job. In addition, students are suffering from all the pressure from parents, and relatives continuously torturing by asking a bunch of emotionally attacking questions about their future. Then, after years of working at a company and high school graduates find out about the salary they make and others with a graduation certificate make and finally have-nots are likely to feel left behind. Over the long period of time, colleges have been clearly considered overly valued and I agree to a great extent. However, considering three main points mentioned above, we find it very inevitable for students to powerlessly follow the mainstream.

Do you happen to know the difference between machines and mankind? Let’s take a moment to think about it. Imagine that you are using an old machine that used to work well, what would you do if the machine is no longer working properly and it is unusable? I assume that most of you would probably throw it away at the speed of light. The reason? Because it is designed for a specific purpose and once it has gotten bad in its condition, it is surely difficult to upgrade itself. We humans, however, evolve ourselves by experiencing, learning, and thinking. This is the difference between the two.

As the standard of living in Korea has been better and better, and our economy has been vastly improved, the number of elderly people entering school has been increased and it has become a new booming trend in Korea. At this moment, perhaps you wonder why they would ever need education. There are three reasons why the old would like to enter a college.

First of all, one reason is that old people want to do business. According to Korean Business Magazine, almost one fifth of the old are planning to do a venture business. Moreover, it is because after they are retired, some want to do their own business to feel they are still financially and physically robust. Others say that since the retirement from a company, they have felt lonely, so they have started business to meet people and socialize themselves again.

Second of all, some of the elderly go to school to actually learn something. If you think about it, you would understand. Some elderly people are illiterates. In the past, when they were going through the Korean War or When Korea was a colony of Japan, they had no time to educate themselves. Instead, they were busy either struggling at their daily war-like lives or educating their children, not themselves again! Nowadays colleges for the elderly provide them with high-quality educational programs and activities. For this reason, old people go to school.

Lastly, old people who are already in business of their own and need friends go to school to find new friends, business partners, and potential partners. For instance, my father has been running a business and one day he felt he needed to build a new business network that might help him in many ways. The next thing I know is that he entered a college and met many people while studying there. Another example is my grand mother. Since my grandfather passed away in 1976, she has dedicated herself to raising six children herself. As you can imagine, she has never had a chance to have friends. However, since she entered a college, she said that she has never felt lonely.

In conclusion, as we have looked through, significantly improved economy has brought us better lives as well as many more opportunities to educate ourselves. As a result, like my father and grandmother benefited from late started learning in colleges, colleges offer many educational programs and activities to the elderly and flourish their lives in terms of business chances, opportunities to learn and make new friends. As far as I am concerned, these are the three main reasons why the old have been flocking to colleges.