It was a typical day doing what I do here on a summer's interim acting as “teacher.” Teaching test prep for iBT TOEFL has not been the most exciting job in the world, but I try to enjoy it for what it is, and learn new things from the educational content and interact with the kids.
Today’s listening problem on South Africa brought about an interesting conversation. The topic struck a chord with me, as I’m currently contemplating the opportunity to make a visit. The topic also struck a chord with one of my younger students, Greg, who was especially curious as well.
In 5 minutes, we learned about the social policy, population and economics of South Africa. Greg stopped me often to ask a questions:
Where is South Africa? Is it a country? I, showing off my new Africa knowledge, explained them all. I didn’t realize why he was so curious, until later, when we dug deeper into the conversation. He wanted to know where South Africa was, so he could stay as far away from it as possible.
We talked about the Apartheid, the systematic segregation of blacks and whites, which was finally dismantled as recent as 1990. We discussed how, under the Apartheid, blacks couldn’t take part in government, how they could not vote, how they had to live in reserves, and how they couldn’t use the same toilets as the powerful white minority. To my surprise, Greg agreed.
He told me he didn’t think Africans should use the same toilets as him. He didn’t think Africans should mix at all. I asked why. He said Africans were dirty. Why are they dirty?
They are poor. Why are they dirty?
They have AIDS! “You can get AIDS in from sitting on the toilet!!!” he proclaimed. Apparently, he learned this fact in a Health and Living class, so it was a true fact. Greg believed one could just go to Africa and one would automatically get AIDS. Greg believed Africans were dirty.
I questioned him to know if this feeling was representative of all races or just Africans. I mentioned Raffe, the one white guy who works here this summer. How would you feel if you used the toilet after him?
I don’t use the toilets here. Where do you study abroad in America? Surely, he must encounter people of other races there. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, “I live in Korea town.”
It was the first time in a long time I’d talked face to face with someone who had such opposite beliefs as me (And, if I go to South Africa, I will probably have many more discussions on the topic). The whole encounter just saddened me. It saddened me that he had such prejudice beliefs; that a young boy labels people based upon their race and even FEARS people of other races. It saddens me that he is so misinformed, and thinks he can get AIDS from a toilet seat. It saddened me that we didn’t have more time to talk about it.
It was this moment that I felt truly grateful for my unbiased upbringing. I felt grateful for my education; my general education and the diversity classes I was recommended to take as a LEAD Scholar; grateful for having friends from many countries and diverse backgrounds, and grateful my parents instilled fair beliefs and values in me.
The discussion also reminded me the about the general thoughts and beliefs about Africa as a whole, the ideas and stereotypes associated with Africa, and my own personal thoughts about it. It called attention the greater issue, the hot topic of race and diversity, and how it plays a part in everyone’s life. Finally, it reminded me to reevaluate my own motivations in going there.
We continued talking a few minutes after class until I was pulled away because my boss was waiting to ask me a question. I thanked Greg for sharing his opinion, and left with only one recommendation, ”I encourage you to learn more about this topic.”
I realize this one student’s values and beliefs cannot be generalized to Koreans as a whole, as these same values and beliefs can be found everywhere. But, it certainly does bring up the question, what are these kids taught in school? What are they taught at home? Is the feeling of racial superiority widespread? Considering yesterday, I listened to my doctor explain why the Meningitis vaccine I requested was not available because the disease is not prevalent in Korea. She went on to tell me how she personally believes Koreans are a superior race in terms of health, lucky me, because there are relatively few diseases within Korea compared with the rest of the world. How prevalent is racism within the morals and values among Koreans? Again, Americans, too, have their share of racists, but, confronting the issue here, I’m reminded me that we have so far to go collectively as a human race.
This is goodbye to Korea Part III. 
