Asian American Now Korean Culture

1. Asian American Now Korean Culture

2. Study Questions • How is respect paid to an elder as a Korean child? • What is so highly valued in Korea that they made a separate curriculum for to be taught in schools? • What are Korean-American Children taught is most important to friendship?

3. Korean Values and Morals Education: ~ highly valued ~ Moral education in schools Family: ~ Children are taught at a very young age, and throughout life, that their elders and ancestors are to be respected ~ Obedience ~ Large families decreasing Friendship: ~ Children are taught the importance of loyalty in friendships

4. Religion ~Shamanism ~Buddhism ~Confucianism ~Christianity ~Inner peace Art ~Harmony, Nature Folk Culture ~ Ma-ul-gut “town exorcism” thanksgiving to gods. Dance ~Court ~Folk Values and Morals continued…

5. Study Questions • What are the two main groups of religions for Korean Americans? • Why is Confucianism considered more of a philosophy? • What else are churches used for?

6. Religion • Religion traditionally important to Koreans • Religion more evident in their American life due to greater spiritual needs in strange and difficult circumstances • Two major religions Korean Americans are affiliated with are Christianity and Buddhism • Christianity has become by far the larger of the two

7. About three quarters of the Korean population regularly attend church or temples • There are numerous churches wherever there is a Korean population • Churches often function as social places and classes for learning culture, religion and language for second-generation Korean-Americans

8. Buddhist temples, which are much smaller in numbers than Christian churches, are found in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles or San Francisco. • Confucianism is followed not so much as a religion, but as a philosophy

9. Study Questions 1.)   What are the three main reasons for Korean immigration to the United States? 2.)   What is one of the greatest hardships Korean-born children face in the American schools? 3.)   What does KAMP stand for and what is the purpose of the program?

10. American Born Korean Children • Need to develop a positive bicultural identity amid the contrary forces of their parents and American schools. • Exposed to both English and Korean at home • Korean usually dominates in regards to such things as family meals, cultural values, behavioral expectations, and the norms governing family interactions. • Korean-American parents expect their children to show certain traditional Korean values and behaviors in the school setting such as obedience, respectful deference to adults, and a passive stance toward the learning experience. • This could conflict with the child’s classroom experience in which the student is encouraged and often times expected to ask questions, speak out, and initiate more communication with the teacher.

11. Children Born in Korea • Language is one of the greatest hardships immigrant children in the American schools encounter. • The younger children have some advantage when it comes to learning the English language. Critical Period for acquiring language is 0-7 years of age • Integrating customs within their own culture and that of the American culture. • Their quiet, respectful behavior in the classroom is often mistaken as showing a lack of initiative or regarded as a sign of ignorance and failure to comprehend the subject matter. • If the child were to adapt to the American school’s expectations, their behaviors may conflict with the demands of their parents to their follow their Korean customs and the parents may feel offended by the “Americanized” behavior of their children. • Korean-born children are often times in a state of confusion that leads to lowered self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and anger. Many of these children seek counseling to help cope with their struggles with assimilation.

12. Solutions • The educational need of Korean American children is an effective bilingual program that promotes rapid acquisition of English while simultaneously maintaining the home language. • It is important for educators to consider how culture impacts developmental stages, assimilation levels, self-esteem, the physical self, emotional stability, academic growth, clarification of beliefs, literacy and language, etc. • Korean American Mentorship Program (KAMP): • Big Brother, Big Sister to share experiences • Believes that a child’s Korean American identity plays an important function in how he/she develops as an individual • “Korean American Connections” ICT Project: • Project between Chicago Public Schools and Dae il Foreign Language High School in Seoul, South Korea. • Project was launched by CPS to enhance language learning and cultural exchanges using ICT (Information and Communication Technology)

13. Study QuestionsGender Role • What is the eldest sons responsibility in the family? • Why is it so important to have a son rather then a daughter? • What are young girls being encouraged to do?

14. Gender Roles • Confucian Teachings • Males are the head of the household and the decision makers • Women are the family care takers and should be taught to more submissive • Women are changing their view on genders as men hold to traditional ways • Women are becoming more independent and trying to enter the work force • Women feel that if they are contributing to income the men should contribute to household chores

15. Gender Roles • Having a son is important in carrying on the family name • The oldest son is to take of the parents as they age • Young girls are being taught how to care for their families but are encouraged to go to college and be independent

16. Study Questions-What is a kye?-What event caused Korean American families to lose over $400 million?

17. Social Class: • Koreans believe that hard work and a low profile ensures social and economic awards. For the most part, they believe that they have to work harder than others, especially European Americans, to get ahead in life because they are a minority in the U.S. • Often times a Korean coming to America for the first time is highly educated and holds a graduate degree. But if they have a lack of English and personal contacts, they often find themselves earning a low income. Small retail shops, such as a deli or liquor store, that require little capital to open enable him/her to support themselves and their families. Though small businesses are a common family background among Koreans, parents want their children to receive the best education. • Like many immigrants coming to the U.S., Koreans strongly believe that school is a stepping stone to success to achieve the American dream. Korean-Americans will do what they can to send their children to the best schools in the country. If they do not have the money to do so, like many families they will apply for scholarships. One way that they can receive money for a big expense is through a kye. It is a rotating lending system based on a trust in Korean-American communities.

18. Social Class • Korean tend to live within urban areas ranging from inner-city ethnic enclaves such as a Koreatown, which are found in cities such as L.A., Chicago and New York, to middle-class suburban neighborhoods. • A Korean-American child living in a Koreatown are going to be in a lower-middle class area. They are obviously going to be more exposed and associated with Korean culture, language, and lifestyle. They will most likely have a better sense of belonging with fellow Korean-American children. • Those children living in a middle-class neighborhood are more likely to feel more tension being a minority in a typical European American culture. Korean-American children expect to be accepted on equal terms as other children but are often time denied. This is when the notion that working harder than others, in order to become equal in society, comes to play.

19. Statistics • As of 1990, the median family income is$33,909 • Today 35% earn between $40-60,000 per year • Employment (as of today): • Small businesses = 30.2% • Professional, technical = 26.3% • Laborers, operators, fabricators = 17% • Sales, administrative = 13% • 14.7% poverty rate • Los Angeles has the second largest population of Korean-Americans with around 270,000. • In 1992, the L.A. riots caused Korean-American businesses to lose over $400 million because they were attacked and looted. • New York has the second largest population with roughly 98,000.

20. Study Questions • What is the purpose of the Korean Children’s Day? • What is the focus on Christmas Day

21. MAJOR EVENTSKorean Children’s Day • Founded by the Korean Children’s writer Pang Chong-hwan in 1923 as a way to instill in the children a sense of independence and national pride. - Gifts are are given to children from parents and from stores visited during the day. - children are offered free admission to museums, zoos, amusement parks, & movie theaters. - traditional games are played • Korean American communities celebrate with performances, special foods, activities, and Korean cultural schools hold day-long programs.

22. Lunar New Year (Seollal) • Morning- Korean families offer special foods to deceased ancestors • Afternoon- Children perform special low-bow to parents, grandparents, and other elders. - Express wishes for happiness and good health in the coming year. - children are given a pouch of money - Children and adults play traditional games but today Koreans turn to television, video and computer games.

23. Major Events Continue… • Arbor Day April 5 in the U.S. late April and early May. -Government officials, teachers, and children throughout Korea plant trees. • Christmas Day -celebrated in a similar way as western countries. -Focus is on the children and on creating a day of enjoyment for them.

24. Study Questions • How is “PLAY” perceived in the Korean-American Culture? • What factors influence the “play” younger Korean children are involved in?  • What factors influence the “play” older Korean children or adolescence are involved in, and how does it compare with their cousins in Korea?

25. Korean American Play • In discussing Korean children it is important to know, first, that children are highly valued in the Korean families. They are treated almost as “Gods”, I was told by an 84-year-old Korean man, who was a curator at the Korean Culture Center. There is little to no discipline in the very early years. • In talking about the Korean children it is important to know that the parents are concerned with the possible loss of their own culture and that children will become wholly “Americanized”. Therefore, it is frequent that during summers the children are sent back to Korea to stay with family in order that they may strengthen their understanding of their cultural values and traditions. So you will have Korean raised cousins and American raised cousins re-uniting. • Young children • There is gender differentiation in Korean families, so when the parents pick out toys for a young child there is a difference in what they look for in their purchases. The process of sex role identification is associated with the Childs play. The parents rarely consider appropriateness of toys, durability, manufacturer, designs of toys or color.

26. Korean American Play • Play is considered a developmental phenomenon for young children. They rated play as equally critical as nutrition, housing, health care, and education. Parents recognize that when children play, they figure out how things work, they understand they can solve problems, learn to talk and share with others. They develop and express their imagination and creativity. They see play as an indicator of the childs linguistic, social, and emotional and physical development. • Boys rooms were filled with toy animals, vehicles, spaceships, while girls rooms had dolls and doll houses, tea sets, etc., feeling the parents might increase playfulness and creativity with toys. Clay, building blocks, computer games, the focus is on playfulness, creativity, and fun rather than concrete learning such as Leap Pads, or other “educational” types of toys. • Older children are strongly competitive and enjoy things like video games, jacks, hop scotch, jumping rope, jaegi (Korean hacky-sac), hand ball, kite flying, Korean seesaw, spinning tops, Yut, Hwat’u, chang-gi (Korean chess), and Hapkido. Some of these you are familiar with, others are similar to games we are familiar with. • Kite flying is a pastime, enjoyed, demonstrating their creativity. • Korean seesaw is played with two people, kids or women, standing on each side of the seesaw, then jump up, forcing their opposition into the air.

27. Play Continued • Spinning Tops are spun in an enclosed box, with points scored for various actions. Also popular is fighting tops where players try to knock their opponents’ tops out of a designated area. • Yut is a four-stick game, each stick has a flat side and a curved side and they toss the sticks to determine their number of moves. There is a board with a pattern of spaces to move and short cuts to be earned to get around the table. Moving around the table depends on the way the sticks land when they are tossed. • Hwa-t’u (Go-Stop) is a card game. To properly play you should slap your card down when playing. • Chang-gi (Korean Chess) is similar to western chess but has different playing board, pieces, and rules. Like most strategic games, the rules are easily picked up, but the skills of a good player take a long time to learn. • Hapkido is very popular among Koreans as a form of self-defense, and it is similar to Japanese Akido and not as famous as t’aekwondo. • In today’s world, in America and globally, kids are kids. They like to play, they like camaraderie, competition, strive to fit in, and in doing so, have the opportunity to learn many things from each other.

28. Bibliography Barnett, Barbara. “The Impact of South Korea’s Fertility Transition of Women’s Lives.” 1998. Feburary 3, 2005. <www.fhi.org.> Chu, Beonguan. “Moral Education: The Korean Experience”, 1996. Online resource. <http://tigger.uic.edu/~Inucci/MoralEd/articles/chu.html> Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service. Facts About Korea. Hollym International Corp. Elizabeth, NJ: 1993. Korean Overseas Information Service. Korea: Its History and Culture. Jungmunsa Munhwa Co., Ltd. Seoul, Korea: 1996. The International Cultural Society of Korea. Customs and Manners in Korea. Seoul, Korea: 1982 Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. The Korean Americans. New York. Chelsea House Publishers,1988. Yang, Jang-Ae. “Fathering And Children's Sex Role Orientation In Korea.” 2000. January 28,2005. www.findarticles.com The Education of Asian and Pacific Americans: Historical Perspective and Prescriptions for the Future; Edited by Don T. Nakanishi and Marsha Hirano-Nakanishi; The Oryx Press 1983 Struggling to Be Heard: The Unmet Needs of Asian Pacific American Children; Pang, Valerie Ooka and Cheng, Li-Rong Lilly; State University of New York Press 1998 www.KAMP.org

29. Bibliography (Continued) www.vceducation.org/korea.html Foster, Jenny Ryun, Frank Stewart and Heinz Insu Fenkl. Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America, 1903-2003. University of Hawaii, 2003. Kibria, Nazli. Becoming Asian American: Second-Generation Chinese and Korean American Identities. John Hopkins University Press, 2002. Lee, Lauren. Cultures of America: Korean Americans. Marshall Cavendish, 1995. Minato, Ryan. Korean Americans. 2004. <http:www.capaa.com>. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. The Peoples of North America: The Korean Americans. Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Nam, Vicki. YELL-Oh Girls!. Harper Collins Books, 2001. National Association of Korean Americans. In Observance of Centennial of Korean Immigration to the US. 2003. <http:www.naka.com>. Xie, Yu and Kimberly Goyette. Social Mobility and the Education Choices of Asian Americans. 1998. <http:www.modelminority.com>.