Really concerned about Korea's future...

Right until about a minute ago, I was translating a syllabus from a university in Korea (which was obviously in Korean) into English. It was a favor from a person I know who is trying to transfer credits to the university she is currently attending(in the States). Why did she ask me to do it?

Well, she is a bio-something major now, but the courses she took in Korea were computer science related courses. I don't know why she decided to major a computer related field when she's not that kind of person...

Anyway, the syllabus really sucked in many ways... First of all, it was in HWP format, which is a unique format used in Korea only. A format for a Korean word processor which nowadays almost nobody uses except for the Korean government and several feudal organizations.

Secondly, nothing was really clear in the document. The course description and objective was full of gibberish. Some sentences that seemed like it would fit more into the course objective was in the course description, and vice versa. The sentences were very long, making it even more harder to get to the point. I guess the intention was to make it sound fancy, but totally FAILED... And in the weekly schedule where it says resources, was more like description of the subject for that week.

What the hell???

About using HWP format documents... I've said something about that in the past, so I'll skip that part of what I wanted to say...

I think the professors are slacking off can do a better job. What I see from Korean professors(in Korea), is greed and negligence instead of scholarly passion. I often hear from my friends that their adviser would ask them personal favors, and often they would be neglected over a fund grant opportunity, or even golf. I seldom hear about professors who do research with pure passion. I'm sure that there are some scholars in the States who are like Korean professors, but as a person who went to University both in Korea and the United States, I think I can say that professors in the States set a better example to the students and their peers.

So why is Korea so different from the States???

I think this trait comes from the personality of the Koreans... We tend to put more weight on the result of what we do than how we do it. Since everybody is paying attention about the outcome of what we do, we pay less attention and effort on how we do it. There are two down sides to this kind of trait. One is that once people reach a desirable goal, people just want to stay there and enjoy the accomplishment for the rest of their life. How you reach the goal and what you do after reaching that goal isn't that important to people. And the other thing is that little things that are important kind of get ignored.

A lot of Koreans study only to get a better life (I heard that this is statistically true). So there is no passion and pride to what they do after they graduate and get a stable job. Then people start to slack off. Not because they want to, but they think they deserve it. After a long time of putting a lot of effort into what you do, all you get is a stable but boring life. Then money is all you need is to make your life more exciting... This is such a sad thing... Some people I know regret getting a degree in engineering. They have no pride or joy in living their life doing what they learned in college. But all they care for is a high salary. That's just not right... People who enjoy their work and excel in their field should get paid better. I'm not saying that all the people who regret their career path are generally slacking off, but people who enjoy their work generally outperforms the people who doesn't, and I have a problem with their attitude of caring so much about their salary without thinking of what they would do to earn that salary. Anyway, this is one thing...

And here is the other thing... Important little things get ignored.

I have to admit that I'm not such a good writer(both English and Korean). However, I take my time and read my writing over and over to see if anything can be ambiguous. As a software engineer(programmer in reality) I am very serious about delivering my thoughts and intentions in a very clear manner. Especially when dealing with technical documents or something official. Ambiguity can be disastrous not only in computer languages but also in our every day lives. Ambiguity leads to inefficiency...

 

I personally think that the Korean language itself is used very informally most of the times. Even in official documents. Sometimes even fancy looking legal documents with fancy long words seem to be very ambiguous. For a professor, writing a syllabus and planning a semester would be how to prepare for teaching the students... However, I doubt that not much would think that the actual teaching is much important than preparing the syllabus. But I consider preparation of the syllabus important. If the students know what their objective of the course over a semester is, I think that can really help. Same goes to the students. I guess many students might say that the syllabus isn't as important as the actual class. But if you can make your objective over the semester of a course clear, it will be a lot different. So, this is one example when we think of something that is closer to which will result to an outcome, we forget about the fundamentally important things...

Now, to my conclusion... The undesirable academic atmosphere in Korea is a result of lack of passion and negligence of small important matters. This goes to both the students and the professors. As for students, since they are the next generation, they are the ones who should take the proactive position. However, since they are still in the guidance of our fore-generation, the professors should set a good example for them(us). For real, I have my worries for Korea's future, and I believe that little changes can make a big difference. I propose to the people who read my post that we should have more passion about what we do and be more serious about what we do and how we can do those things a better way.

I think I could have done a better job writing about this, but I have to sleep... By the way, if the Korean universities are all talking about globalization and making their students competitive globally, I think they should support their students by having a English version of their course description and syllabus to help students who study abroad and want to transfer credits.