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Opinion

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Diversifying without excluding

Recently, The Washington Post published an article titled, "Asian Students Dominate Admissions to Elite Thomas Jefferson High School," explaining that 66 percent of the incoming freshmen class of this crown jewel of the Fairfax County school system in Northern Virginia consisted of Asian Americans of various descent. In contrast, only 10 black and 8 Hispanic students were accepted out of an incoming class of 487 students.

2015-04-17 17:06

Korean culture of forced deference

A heated exchange between two female celebrities caught on video “B-roll” was the biggest news story in Korea last week. The incident between Lee Tae-yim and Yewon occurred as Lee was coming out of the cold sea on Jeju Island where they had taped a well-known TV show. The B-roll only shows Yewon sitting on the beach trying to get some sun as Lee approaches her off camera and begins a conversation. Yewon turns to look at Lee, squinting into the sun.

2015-04-03 17:11

Jasmine Lee's question to Korea

Jasmine Lee, the first Philippine-born, naturalized Korean to be elected as a proportional representative for the ruling, conservative Saenuri Party, is probably the most unifying politician in Korea today; she's hated by both the right and the left for her main sponsorship of the bill that would allow birth registration of children born in Korea from one or more parents who are illegal aliens.

2015-03-20 17:13

Job interviews in English

Being a longtime columnist for The Korea Times, I am used to receiving emails with comments (mostly negative) about my opinions. However, I occasionally get emails from desperate students or job seekers who are looking for some secret to quickly improve their English speaking skills, mostly because many of them are facing a job interview in English.

2015-03-06 16:45

Fresh off the boat

I just watched the premiere of the highly anticipated ABC sitcom “Fresh off the Boat.” Twenty years ago, I also watched the premiere of “All-American Girl,” which means that I belong to the small group of people who would have watched the premiere of the two sitcoms in the U.S. that featured an Asian-American cast. That 20 years passed between the two shows is a stark reminder of how difficult it is for new demographics to stake a claim in Hollywood and the public consciousness of America.

2015-02-06 16:50

Where are the Moms?

Korea has recently been horrified by a spate of CCTV footages that show child care providers punch, slap, and hit small children left in their care. As is wont in these cases, there is a social outrage followed by collective handwringing about what’s wrong with Korean society that allows such crimes to happen. Most of the outrage seems to be aimed at the individual childcare providers who were caught abusing the children, which is only right. These perpetrators should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Nothing can excuse the horrific behavior against helpless children who were e...

2015-01-23 16:52

Je suis Charlie

I am Charlie today, as should everyone who values the freedom to say what you want when you want and how you want to say it. Note that I didn’t say where since I believe that each people and country have the right to define what constitutes acceptable speech for them according to their traditions, cultural sensibilities, and political maturity. However, in a liberal democracy where freedom of speech is enshrined, no one has the right to threaten or intimidate others for expressing their thoughts, however distasteful, disrespectful, and downright offensive.

2015-01-09 17:02

Living as a Buddhist-Christian

As a child, I was ashamed of being a Buddhist when I lived in Paraguay because everyone I knew was a Christian. My parents were the sole exception, remaining staunchly Buddhist even when there was no Buddhist temple to be found. In one of our rooms, they built an altar with a large, framed poster of the Buddha in front of which they bowed 108 times every morning.

2015-01-02 17:26

What if Cho Hyun-ah were a man?

The privileged scion of a conglomerate that runs the Korean Air becomes enraged against over some triviality about the proper way of serving macadamia nuts to first class passengers. Even as the plane begins to move away from the gate on its way from New York to Seoul, she orders the pilot to take the plane back to the gate and sends off the chief flight attendant for not knowing his regulations. Throughout this episode, she apparently shouts curses and abuses at the involved flight attendants, creating a huge scene.

2014-12-12 17:02

Harvard discriminates against Asians?

Growing up, there was one overriding narrative that all Korean American youngsters were supposed to buy into to succeed in mainstream America. Parents come to the U.S. from Korea to work hard and sacrifice to give their children an opportunity to succeed, which they do by excelling academically to get into Stuyvesant or Bronx Science on their way to an Ivy League school to become a doctor, lawyer or banker. If you fail, you take over your parents' store, to your everlasting shame.

2014-11-28 17:02

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