My recent postings have had a decidedly negative spin, so I thought I would take some time today and talk about one thing my school is doing extremely well: Better living through soccer.
There are a number of girls in my school who play on a girls' soccer team. They practice every day after school, even during vacation periods. They must play games sometimes, though I never hear about them. The girls on the team are not A students (at least not in my class). Though I've not been given specific information, I'd say it's a fair bet they are all disadvantaged economically. Some of them don't have school uniforms because they aren't able to afford them, so they wear their soccer warm-up suits to class every day. I also don't know the specifics of their home lives, but I assume they are, as Ally Sheedy's character in The Breakfast Club put it, "unsatisfying."
The thing is, these girls are happy. They are probably the happiest people in the whole school, including the faculty. They enjoy an extremely close camaraderie. They aren't locked away in Hakwons all night, and they get to do something they love everyday. To my knowledge, the girls also don't get into trouble, don't ditch school and smoke cigarettes behind the cafeteria, and don't beat up any little kids for spare change. I could be naive on this point. Of course I know very little of what really goes on at my school, but I do know which students seem to always be in the teachers' office getting disciplined, and it's never them.
I don't know whether this is a city wide program, or something that exists only in the region or only in my school. Logic tells me they can't be the only school doing this, else who would they play games against? Regardless, it appears to be working. If the girl who was expelled this week had taken part in this program (I have no idea if it was made available to her) I wonder if her story might have taken a very different path.
There are a number of girls in my school who play on a girls' soccer team. They practice every day after school, even during vacation periods. They must play games sometimes, though I never hear about them. The girls on the team are not A students (at least not in my class). Though I've not been given specific information, I'd say it's a fair bet they are all disadvantaged economically. Some of them don't have school uniforms because they aren't able to afford them, so they wear their soccer warm-up suits to class every day. I also don't know the specifics of their home lives, but I assume they are, as Ally Sheedy's character in The Breakfast Club put it, "unsatisfying."
The thing is, these girls are happy. They are probably the happiest people in the whole school, including the faculty. They enjoy an extremely close camaraderie. They aren't locked away in Hakwons all night, and they get to do something they love everyday. To my knowledge, the girls also don't get into trouble, don't ditch school and smoke cigarettes behind the cafeteria, and don't beat up any little kids for spare change. I could be naive on this point. Of course I know very little of what really goes on at my school, but I do know which students seem to always be in the teachers' office getting disciplined, and it's never them.
I don't know whether this is a city wide program, or something that exists only in the region or only in my school. Logic tells me they can't be the only school doing this, else who would they play games against? Regardless, it appears to be working. If the girl who was expelled this week had taken part in this program (I have no idea if it was made available to her) I wonder if her story might have taken a very different path.
Labels: teaching in Korea, The life of Brian
