From S.Korea to the U.S. - how bad is the situation there?

[dhfl4268]

Hi guys.

I'm a S.Korean student ( 9th grade) thinking of studying abroad next year. I'm pretty good at English and excel at most of the subjects taught in school ; Korean, math, history, science, Japanese, etc. I took SSAT a few weeks ago after studying 3 days and scored 99%, and this certainly impressed my parents, so they would support me, I think. I have a few schools in my mind I want to attend, so all seem fine save for one thing. Sports, of course.

You may not know, but in S.Korea every kind of nonacademic activity is insignificant, if not nonexistent. In middle school, you are virtually free to do whatever you want to in most P.E classes, so I can spend time with friends similar to me while the others play soccer, and in high school P.E. becomes even weaker till it literally disappears in the 12th grade, in which academic competition is at its height. There are a few students, usually no more than five per grade, who participate in interscholatic athetics, but they are regarded as outsiders by everyone, too underdeveloped to do anything using their brain or living a life completely alien to most people. Sadly, most of them end up being nameless athletes whose presence is recognized by few. Though most students here enjoy sports and think I'm a bit weird not to do so, I seldom feel troubled by not liking sports. As a matter of fact, in Korea, if you are intelligent you fare well in school. I'm famous for eccentric remarks and thoughts in class and also dislike arts and music, but all of these are pardoned by teachers cause I'm one of the most talented students in my school. (Funny that the S.Koreans are one of the skinnest people in the OECD, while the U.S is way too obese, considering the importance given to physical education in the two countries.)

The thing is, from what I've seen so far in the internet, sports plays a huge role in American schools, and this really turns me off. Seriously, what's wrong with America? Why all this fuss with sports? I'm over 178cm but 53kg, my body is inflexible and I'm unintrested in both playing and watching sports. Well, I'm willing to tolerate P.E classes, but spending time on practicing sports with others AFTER school sounds disgusting. Since participating in such activities is mandatory in the majority of boarding schools and academically high day schools, I'm stucked. More problematic is the way the Americans appear to view students ; that is, they seem to have a grotesque preference for "well-roundedness". I liked the word at first, but after searching for the internet for a while, I'm afraid they actually mean 'smart plus sporty'. It would be terrible if I told the interview that I'm interested in and enjoy history, literature, science, economics, philosophy, mathematics, politics, Spanish, Japanese and he asked me "What about sports? What team do you play in?" Not only do I hate sports itself, but I'd be really unhappy if I have to sacrifice what I want to do just to do sports.

But I really don't want to get hindered by this, because the main reason I want to cross the Pacific is to study, and everything except sports seems agreeable to me. Actually, I've always wanted to study in a foreign country, so it would be too bad if I have to reconsider it just because of my peculiar taste... So what I want to know is, according to your view, would I have trouble adjusting to the education in America because of sports? Or am I worrying too much because the exalted status of sports in America is too unfamiliar to me? If getting teased a few times is all I have to endure, than I'd be glad to go. What I'm worried about is that my personal preference might damage my life there as a whole.

Thank you for reading this long piece of writing.

p.s. I love this website! Maybe I should visit occasionally.

[i_like_1981]

It's good to hear that your country places more of an emphasis on academics than sports in schools. I live in the UK where sports aren't massively celebrated in schools, but over in America it seems to be a real problem, with high school athletes constantly being allowed to get away with serious infractions like assaults and dangerous driving, and high schools building up cults and crazes around their athletes with all these pep rallies and that shit. The situation sounds very bad over in America indeed. It's made me reconsider my opinions of how bad Britain is. I'm glad that you're doing well in school and that boneheads aren't holding you down. South Korea sounds like a good place to be. Sports should not have a compulsory place in an academic setting, and encouraging students to admire the physically strong whilst ignoring the weak yet academically-talented completely contradicts the purpose of schools. I hear a lot on here about how the quality of education is going down the toilet in the USA and based on what I read, I'm not surprised. That's not to say that Britain doesn't have more than enough boneheads to deal with but sports don't play so much of a role in bullying over here. Your typical English bully is some crack-dealing, vodka-swigging Chav who couldn't write their own name without wearing a nametag.

Best regards,
i_like_1981