Danger in Korea

One of the joys of working in a school where no one feels comfortable in your native tongue is creating stories for the events going on about you that no one bothers to explain. For example, this morning I looked around the Teachers Lounge and realized everyone had disappeared without saying a word to me. I looked out the window and saw the entire school, 800 students and 40+ teachers out on the dirt-yard we call a soccer field in military-style lines.

Someone began speaking through a bullhorn with a Lou Garrick-style echo as the not-so-catchy Korean National Anthem played in the background.

I can only assume that the principal here is following through on what my high school calculus teacher claimed as the ultimate motivation tool; taking all the F students and shooting them in front of the rest of the school. D students will be instantly motivated, especially if we're grading on a curve; with all the F students dead they just fell below the "fit to live" line.