Students and Stress

This is a stressful time for students in Korea, as they are taking their final exams.  (Their winter vacation is coming soon, and then the new school year begins in March.)

One student--in an advanced 4th grade writing class that I teach--wrote her assignment about the reasons why she has so much stress.  One of the reasons she gave was that she has a lot of homework (partly due to the fact that she attends six (6) academies, in addition to her public school).

Another reason was that her mom is always "scolding" her.  She wrote (with a bit of help) "My mom is never satisfied with what I am doing, even though I am doing what she told me to do."

A student in another class told me that she only missed two questions on her school test, and after congratulating the student I asked if her mom was happy with the score.

"No," she said.

Sigh.  Moms here never seem to be happy.  They always want 100%.