My  School Days  
                          

  Korea is getting sick. In my country, most children can't design their own dream based on their interests. They have designed them on the social trends or their parents' dream.  They don't know how to dream. Their goal is enter the top school.             When I was 15 years old, I usually woke up around 6:30 from Monday to Saturday. I had to go to school even on Saturday. I ate a quick breakfast of rice, egg and vegetable soup. And then I put on my uniform and I had to take a city bus. The city bus was very crowed with many students. When I got to school it was 7:30. I had to do a couple hours of self-study in the morning. In my school, students stayed in one classroom, and teachers went to the classrooms.There were more than 60 people in each classroom. Usually, I finished school around 3 pm. But, it was regular class. I had to self study at the school again until 5 pm. After regular class finished, I was very hungry. I used to buy some food from  snack bars. Snack bars were a very popular place for many students. Because, there were many delicious snacks and we were able to talk freely. My favorite snack was a rice cake with hot pepper and a dumpling.  
                       

           After that I had to take a bus to cram school,where I took extra lessons from 6 pm until 9 pm. It was "cram school'' where students study before and after school and sometimes on the weekends.Teachers just provide knowledge to students and students memorize it for tests. In Korea, the education system was memorization. English was especially popular and expensive. There were many cram schools in Korea, and three quarters of children attended them. I had no choice if my goal was getting into a top school. When I  got home at 9:30, I had to eat late dinner and than start all over again. I wanted more sleep but  it was my job to overcome it. This was my pressed childhood.

           I've not had many  childhood memories in my life. I didn't have time for making good memories. I had no time to design my dream. I was forced to get into the best school, find the best job,and have the best marriage following my parent's dream and the social trends in South Korea.The parents spend a lot of money a year on after school tuition. If I had designed my dream in more detail I would live a better life.  I knew that my goal was wrong.  Now, I have left from my country. It is different in the USA. They want independent work on the part of students.They respect talents of children and want to share their talents,knowledge, and abilities. I speak to my son,"You can design  your own dream." I want my son to be happy. I don't want him to get the same way like me. Children are entitled to choose what they want to do and make effort to do for the goal. I think if every child would be happy, their dreams would come true.