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These days, I am reading American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee. Before starting to read it, I thought the story might be about the hagwons in Korea that teach students for US universities (which is pretty common). However, as I am about 20% into the book, it turns out that the story revolves around the hagwon run by Korean people and teaches Korean students in Orange County, LA, back in the late 1990s, which was a bit of a surprise for me. So I wondered how common/popular hagwons were/still are there actually in the US Korean community. And I also wonder how it compares to hagwons in Korea. I also went to hagwons throughout my teenage years (in the early 2000s) in Busan, and back then it was normal to hit students for wrong answers or low performance. And during my high school years, I used to study at the hagwon until 12:30 at night. (some of my fellow students even went to a 독서실 (a self-study room) after that and stayed there until like 2-3 am) In the novel, it is depicted as a more liberating, humane and kind of fun place for US Korean kids. The book is said to be based on in-depth research and in-person interviews, but I wonder how much you can relate to it if you happen to read this book and go/have gone to a hagwon in the US. Thanks for sharing your stories. submitted by /u/LowWheel9 |
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