It may be an actual problem typically discovering the insider information I take advantage of to fake I’m good, not to mention understanding what to make of it. Luckily, I can depend on these sources to offer each!

Estimated studying time: 5 minutes, plus 15-minute video. Picture by Andrew Neel on Unsplash.

With none additional ado, the primary weblog is Connecting the Information Dots by Ssen Kim, which has many glorious brief posts in English.

Alas, there appears to be no details about the creator. However I do know that within the very first put up of theirs I learn, “Has The M-shaped Curve Of South Korea’s Feminine Employment Fee Disappeared?“, they not solely instantly addressed a query I’ve lengthy been apprehensive about getting referred to as out on, they’d even supplied some helpful graphs for me to distract my accusers with too.

So final winter, whereas getting ready this semester’s Korean Gender Research class, I spotted I simply had to make use of them. However because the day of this week’s lecture on the birthrate approached, a disaster loomed. Whereas I discovered the subject very attention-grabbing, and you’ll whenever you learn that put up too, I began considereing it from the attitude of my already disengaged younger college students. Nonetheless scarred from rising up throughout COVID, and barely older than kids themselves, would they discover the subject of why Koreans aren’t having kids fully irrelevant to them? Arcane even?

What to do?

Then Kurzgesagt’s chilling new video beneath was advisable to me a few weeks in the past. Not solely wouldn’t it make a welcome change for my college students from me, however I’d welcome the uncommon alternative to place my toes up at school too. And that subsequent, with the broad outlines of the subject already lined, I might easily transition into specializing in one particular a part of it thereafter. Particularly, by answering Kim’s query over the remaining half hour.

It turned out, Ssen Kim would write an attention-grabbing fast response to the video too, new methods Korea’s inhabitants is getting counted. However did I point out I’d be focusing? So, let me simply cross on considered one of my different important sources for that half hour: the editorial “Amidst Gender Gaps in South Korea’s Labor Market: The Motherhood Entice” by Researcher Marketing consultant Min-ji Kang of the Heart for Transnational Migration and Social Inclusion at Seoul Nationwide College. Additionally comparatively brief, however jam-packed with statistics and graphs to steal (with attribution!), you most likely couldn’t ask for a more moderen and accessible supply on the Korean M-curve in English.

I’m certain you gained’t have the ability to withstand Kang’s hyperlink to her personal important supply too although: Why Gender Disparities Persist in South Korea’s Labor Market, a July 2022, juicy 41-page working paper by Karen Dynan, Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, and Anna Stansbury of the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics.

In the meantime, the second weblog is Sovidence (from “sociological proof”), by College of Kansas Sociology Professor Chang-hwan Kim. Specializing in labor markets, inequality, stratification, and Asian American Research along with Korea Research, at first look my suggestion could appear just a little unusual. As not solely are his posts dense, complete, and about many subjects unrelated to Korea, additionally they occur to be completely in Korean:

With as of late’ translation plugins in your browsers although, they’re very readable. You do nonetheless want some Korean language skill to select up on the inevitable errors right here and there, however typically they’re greater than sufficient to get the gist:

And by sharing that with you, I’ve additionally simply discovered myself that he has an English account on Twitter, along with his Korean one specializing in his Korean blogposts. Once more, about many different subjects unrelated to the peninsula, however nonetheless very attention-grabbing.

(Sure, I know no-one makes use of that phrase anymore! That was the purpose!)

Lastly, only a fast apology for lengthy break once more. This time, it’s been nearly completely attributable to this course. Technically a few years since I’ve taught the topic, over the winter I up to date all my lectures, anticipating that in March I’d get my typical mixture of 25 or so trade college students, all fluent in English, all of their early-20s, and nearly completely girls. As an alternative, I acquired 25 first-year Korean college students, starting from fluent to understanding just about nothing I say by any means, and nearly completely males.

The shift from principally feminine to male college students wasn’t a problem after all. And, though it’s positively totally different educating 18 year-olds in comparison with 21+ year-olds (a couple of years makes a giant distinction at that age), who keep in mind completely nothing of all of the social research they discovered at school, it’s been simple to simplify the content material accordingly.

Why college students who can’t converse English would decide my course although, and why they’ll inevitably blame me for all their difficulties when it comes spherical to writing their scholar evaluations, are superb questions. However no matter their solutions, I’m the one having to cope with the results.

Suffice to say that because the semester progressed, I got here to appreciate most of my work over the winter had been wasted, and that I’d need to redo my lectures from scratch. Therefore these previous seven weeks or so, this one course has simply concerned extra work than my 4 ESL ones mixed (at the least double even), consuming into all my time out there for writing. However nearly midway by way of the semester now, I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve lastly gotten the cling of issues.

And, now that I’ve, I’ll be capable to begin passing on among the issues I’ve discovered from it quickly!

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If you happen to reside in South Korea, you may donate through wire switch: Turnbull James Edward (Kookmin Financial institution/국민은행, 563401-01-214324)

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