The Problem Of Individuality Is Not Just Where One Has Shaped My Life

A little more than three years ago, I was in Korea. I was a normal middle schooler, and a daughter of a middle class reporter father. Everyday was a competition for students, trying to get the best score to go to the best college possible. As a result, I spent every single minute of my free time in after school academies. I was seeking change in this frustrating life, perhaps a more enjoyable life where rather than just

We’ve all know what it feels like: walking down the halls in middle school or high school while you feel like you’re being watched…analyzed…critiqued. It would almost seem like every person you passed would be silently judging you for what you’re wearing, how you applied your makeup, how you did in the last soccer game, or what they heard you did with Jonny. The passerby’s in the hallway would place you on the high-school-hierarchy-of-coolness scale based on superficial characteristics even before getting to know you. Adolescence is a time of learning and forming an identity but it’s also a time where you are constantly being watched and evaluated by your peers, sometimes even put down by physical or verbal means. Bullying has always been

I strongly believe that individuality should be valued over conformity. Today I will tell you how precious and rare individuality is, and why we should value it over conformity.

Our identity is comprised of inner qualities and outer representations of self. It consists of innumerable defining characteristics that make up the whole of who we are in any given moment. These fragments of self include our sexuality, gender, and sense of belonging to a particular culture, nation, religion, family, or some other group. Our identity includes our looks, personality, beliefs and fears. Each individual in society assigns themselves a particular role, whether it be as a mother, brother, retiree, performer, sportsman or as a part of their occupation, a doctor or lawyer. Often one’s entire sense of self is consumed by

Although China’s influence over Korea has waned severely since the dynastic years we find the Confucian system of virtues and behaviors, China’s chief export from that time, still very much alive. Korea highly values the extended family, education, personal discipline and public order. In South Korea Confucian temples continue to be maintained throughout the country. The tenets of Confucianism are seen as antidotes to social ills and therefore education is thought of as a means of building character, not simply of intellectual formation. The values of Confucianism are promulgated throughout Korea in places as diverse as school, the office and the home. Television programs often portray Confucian merits such as filial piety and harmony. However

Pride often times play a big role in one's ability to make decisions and it can impact how confident an individual is in the decisions they make. To elaborate, lack of pride can lead an individual to become hesitant in the their decision making, especially when the decision is life changing. However, having excessive pride in one’s decisions does not necessarily mean those decisions are ideal. Sometimes, it causes an individual to make decisions without realizing the consequence they can put themselves and others into. Furthermore, Ins Choi’s play “Kim’s Convenience” follows the story of a Korean family who owns a convenience store in the suburbs of Toronto, Canada.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

When the Koreans are forced to change their family names to Japanese ones, their Korean identity is weakened. Going through this traumatizing experience is

Individualism is a core value of American culture. It has been influencing all the fields of society, economics, politics and culture. It has played an immense and extensive effect to shape the character and mindset of the American nation. In the colonial period of 1607 - 1776, these Europeans had come to a new land to find new opportunity. The Colonists knew nothing but the rule and culture of England, thus bringing traits of it into their new society in the New World. They did not have a keep grip on societal development until people started to speak up about new ideas and meanings of life. But they feared from straying from the past traditions of England because of a possible chance that England would see that they were not able to thrive and settle in this new place. Thus, when different opinions, ideas, or anything opposing current societal ways, it was to be banished, killed, or in some way rid of before society was able to change in any way other than what the entire group of the community wanted. This time focused on groups of people and the entire population’s views and conformity rather than the individual’s beliefs and principles. The rationalism period between 1750 and 1800 focused on major changes in society especially through religion and government life. Acts and plans imposed by the British government enabled Americans to realize the lack of true freedom and liberty they had being under control of England. This era sparked numerous new mindsets and attitudes

Written by Margaret K. Pai, the Dreams of Two Yi-min narrates the story of her Korean American family with the main focus on the life journeys of her father and mother, Do In Kwon and Hee Kyung Lee. Much like the majority of the pre-World War II immigrants, the author’s family is marked and characterized by the common perception of the “typical” Asian immigrant status in the early 20th century: low class, lack of English speaking ability, lack of transferable education and skills, and lack of knowledge on the host society’s mainstream networks and institutions (Zhou and Gatewood 120, Zhou 224). Despite living in a foreign land with countless barriers and lack of capital, Kwon lead his wife and children to assimilate culturally,

Wendy E. Simmons once believed children would display what a country's main motivations were. Throughout the chapter, Simmons showed personal growth, by changing her preconceived notions. With the changing of these notions her personal growth was immense, she was able to open up her mind to new ideas, different types of situations. The hardships Simmons faced in the schools, and the feelings she had about North Korea as a country, aided in her learning of a life lesson to never go into to a situation having preconceived notions. Simmons preconceived ideas about children, of the country in which they live, were challenged by her trip to North Korea.

Brave New World consistently questions whether technology requires a sacrifice of human individuality. The value of society is certainly preached more than individuality and while technological advances are convenient, if they require humans to forfeit individuality and our own interpretations of life then there really isn’t much to live for. This certainly sparks questions as to whether the truth is more important than the civilian’s true happiness: truth and happiness cannot co-exist in a society like this because then humans would make their own logical decisions and stability would therefore be diminished. This is shown comparatively to the reservations of New Mexico where John “the savage” comes from and the World state’s living conditions.

So, if I make the fried Kim-chi with the Kim-chi from a market, it is just not tasty as much as the one that my mom made. Yet, however the taste of it, every time I eat Kim-chi, it reminds me of my mom’s caring for me and the fact that I am Korean. Because when she tried to make me eat Kim-chi, she always used to say like ‘oh, Koreans should eat Kim-chi.’ By that time, however, what she said did not really come across my mind. Since all the people around me were Korean, I did not really know what being Korea means. But now I am in America, and being ‘Korean’ becomes one of the unique characteristics that represent me.

South Korea is a place one would be proud to call their home. The welcoming nature one feels upon moving to Korea is a warmth that this essay has tried to portray. This author could go on and on about why South Korea is so fabulous but that can only go so far. So, in conclusion, one should visit South Korea for themselves. They will not regret it! Though South Korea may be a small country, the style of cuisine, community culture, and generosity are just a few uniquenesses that outshine its stature.

My return to Korea in the summer of 2001 was nothing short of a culture shock. I was in a country I thought I had learned by heart. It was the country I always rooted my identity and pride from. I wasn’t ready for the shock. I