Even just a standard family in South Korea sounds pretty horrible. Very stressful, very little free time. Japan is better, but still not great. Now imagine what happens if the country turns full authoritarian again from that starting point, as is the general tendency in most countries nowadays.
Everything boils down to your economic cohort. Being upper class in Korea and Japan is fantastic. Being upper class in the Philippines is pretty great, all things considered. Just be born rich. Anywhere, really. Even being a rich Ukrainian or Syrian gets you a lot of extra mileage, globally. And the spread between rich and poor in a country like Dubai or South Africa, right now? Astronomical.
Eh… My little cousins live in Korea and come from money, it still sounds kinda crappy. 8 hours of school then instrument practice, dance class, and after school academy… the little dudes get home at like 9-10pm every night. One of them calls all the time and begs us to host him when he’s ready for college, the little guy just wants to play football.
This sounds like a consequence of coming from money. Some rich parents are slave drivers and others are just happy having their kids live off the trust fund. Wealth makes being a good parent more challenging.
That being said, most kids want to vet away from their parents and establish themselves at that age.
Nah, it’s pretty normal in South Korea. School and the expectations of success are just brutal over there. It’s not unusual to see groups of kids coming home from school/after school programs after dark.
Watched a video before of kids from Whales doing an exchange with Korean students, and they were miserable. Like you said, they were getting back home late from clubs and cram tutoring at like 10pm, and would then get up for school around 6am or so.
This is just an unfortunately common thing in Asian countries, getting into the best schools is treated like a life-or-death thing for many.
Yeap, including cram schools most kids highschool and below are pulling 12-16 hour days. Over there grade school and highschool are where you put your work in and really over exert yourself, and then college and grad school are a cake walk and when you get to finally party your ass off.
Anime tends to parody that high intensity life, though.
Naruto is an anime about little kids being overworked and forced to grow up too fast. Love Is War is about two hyper competitive students who can’t come to terms with their love for one another. Madoka Magica is about your childhood dreams maturing into soul crushing nightmares for the profit of some alien force.
It really doesn’t sound like the original OP wants to be rich, though. As far as I can tell, their fantasy is to be a regular school kid (obviously Japan being the baseline, on account of including that anime pic and no one in the west (consciously) watching Korean or Chinese anime). I suppose an upper middle class kid in Philippines, Indonesia etc. is probably similar enough to satisfy anon’s fantasy. But I think especially in Korea and China, you would actually still be expected to work your ass off in school even if you’re rich.
Even just a standard family in South Korea sounds pretty horrible. Very stressful, very little free time. Japan is better, but still not great. Now imagine what happens if the country turns full authoritarian again from that starting point, as is the general tendency in most countries nowadays.
Everything boils down to your economic cohort. Being upper class in Korea and Japan is fantastic. Being upper class in the Philippines is pretty great, all things considered. Just be born rich. Anywhere, really. Even being a rich Ukrainian or Syrian gets you a lot of extra mileage, globally. And the spread between rich and poor in a country like Dubai or South Africa, right now? Astronomical.
Sounds like we need a global communist revolution
Eh… My little cousins live in Korea and come from money, it still sounds kinda crappy. 8 hours of school then instrument practice, dance class, and after school academy… the little dudes get home at like 9-10pm every night. One of them calls all the time and begs us to host him when he’s ready for college, the little guy just wants to play football.
This sounds like a consequence of coming from money. Some rich parents are slave drivers and others are just happy having their kids live off the trust fund. Wealth makes being a good parent more challenging.
That being said, most kids want to vet away from their parents and establish themselves at that age.
Nah, it’s pretty normal in South Korea. School and the expectations of success are just brutal over there. It’s not unusual to see groups of kids coming home from school/after school programs after dark.
Watched a video before of kids from Whales doing an exchange with Korean students, and they were miserable. Like you said, they were getting back home late from clubs and cram tutoring at like 10pm, and would then get up for school around 6am or so.
This is just an unfortunately common thing in Asian countries, getting into the best schools is treated like a life-or-death thing for many.
Yeap, including cram schools most kids highschool and below are pulling 12-16 hour days. Over there grade school and highschool are where you put your work in and really over exert yourself, and then college and grad school are a cake walk and when you get to finally party your ass off.
Anime tends to parody that high intensity life, though.
Naruto is an anime about little kids being overworked and forced to grow up too fast. Love Is War is about two hyper competitive students who can’t come to terms with their love for one another. Madoka Magica is about your childhood dreams maturing into soul crushing nightmares for the profit of some alien force.
It really doesn’t sound like the original OP wants to be rich, though. As far as I can tell, their fantasy is to be a regular school kid (obviously Japan being the baseline, on account of including that anime pic and no one in the west (consciously) watching Korean or Chinese anime). I suppose an upper middle class kid in Philippines, Indonesia etc. is probably similar enough to satisfy anon’s fantasy. But I think especially in Korea and China, you would actually still be expected to work your ass off in school even if you’re rich.
Korean and Chinese anime can be pretty great. Check out Scissor Seven and Lookism