The Tiger Times exercises the right to report on and editorialize all topics, events or issues, including those unpopular or con-troversial, insofar as they affect or interest the school, commu-nity, nation and world. We refrain from publishing material that advertises illegal products or services, is obscene, libelous or invades privacy. We refrain from publishing material that cre-ates a clear and present danger of the immediate materials and substantial physical disruption of the school.

Editors-in-ChiefStephanie ChoiMonica Park

Managing EditorJanice Yoon

Production EditorGina Han

Graphics EditorJennifer Sun

Copy EditorsStephanie CharKristin Kim

ReportersMellanie AhnMichael ChungYuri HanAndrew HwangEunice KwonElizabeth Song

Layout ArtistsVickie AhnPaul ChoAndrew LimElli ShimSeungho YangMichelle Yi

PhotographersYoonie KimAlex Kim

Advisor Ms. Carolyn Brown

Page 2 December 2008

VIEWPOINTDecember 2008 Page 3

VIEWPOINT

Week after week, there are nu-merous quizzes after tests after as-signments after projects constantly thrown at students. Teachers often have to skim through material to cover as much as possible within the given time. In addition, extra-curricular activities clash with aca-demic classes as well as with other extracurricular activities. There just never seems to be enough time for everything.

Life may always seem to be that way. Second quarter is slightly shorter than the three other quar-ters. In the master calendar, the half days, Parent Teacher Conferences and PSATs are all considered “full days” throughout the year, making second quarter supposedly 48 days long, when the reality is that there are only 32 days of actual learn-ing—16 for each class.

The overwhelming workload is clearly linked to the small num-ber of school days. This is because teachers have so little time to cover their material and are thus forced to schedule assessments so that stu-dents rarely have regular classes in which they can digest the informa-tion.

Due to this very tight schedule, there have been many schedule con-flicts within various extracurricular activities, within academic classes that happen to schedule several tests or quizzes and between aca-demic classes and extracurricular activities.

Teachers and advisors of these classes and activities have fre-quently become upset over these conflicts for sensible reasons, caus-ing lots of stress for those who are involved.

While many students and teachers complain about the con-stantly overwhelming workload, we are becoming accustomed to it.

However, rather than simply

tolerating this chaotic situation, there can be a possible solution to this problem.

The solution would be an al-teration to the schedule so that only instructional days, or days in which teachers and students actually have class, are counted as full school days.

Although Parent-Teacher Con-ferences can be viewed as instruc-tional days since it is also a learn-ing experience for students when reflecting the strengths and weak-nesses of their performance, the conferences do not actually involve academic learning. Thus, Parent-Teacher Conferences should not be considered instructional and the school year should either start ear-lier or end later.

The idea was first suggested by Mr. Gray Macklin, who believed that the proposal could potentially be highly unpopular among other faculty members and the adminis-tration.

If this plan were to be put into action, it would not mean that the tremendous workload would be constant throughout a longer school year. Instead, teachers would be able to spread their schedules out more, which would in turn allow students to breathe a bit with a more manageable workload.

With a more feasible workload, students would also be able to learn their subjects more thoroughly and have more time to consolidate their knowledge before moving on to the next topic, rather than scanning through large amounts of material.

As for KAIAC athletes and those with extracurricular activi-ties that interfere with academic class time, such as overseas MUN conferences, they would be able to participate in their events without creating such a detrimental effect to teachers’ schedules.

Therefore, while having a longer school year may originally sound like a nightmare, the reality is that more authentic instructional days will improve the learning ex-perience of students.

For years, re-gifting has been an act frowned upon by several cultures for being tacky and deceiving. However in America, where malls have traffic jams on the eve of every holiday, re-gifting is becoming the new trend, secretly dared by many.

For those who are not well acquainted with the term “re-gifting,” it is a phrase coined to define the act of giving a gift previously re-ceived to another individual.

It is tempting to get rid of an unwanted sweater by giving it to someone else, because

re-gifting comes with convenient assets. It not only makes good usage of resources but it also saves money, time and a trip down to the mall; moreover, it also comes with the addi-tional benefit of more closet space for one’s new gifts for holidays to come.

Additionally, re-gifting relieves the excruciating pain of selecting the right item for the recipient. Selecting a present requires intense think-ing and reflecting about that one particular person. This process of choosing the right item that one feels will best represent the symbol of one’s rela-tionship with the recipient can be over-pres-suring.

However, despite the benefits of re-gift-

ing that blind many individuals, the whole purpose of giving a gift to a special somebody

is lost during this process.As mentioned above, a

gift is a symbol of a relation-ship. The effort counts. Everyone

knows that it is proper etiquette to open the card before the gift, because the card partially re-flects the time and effort that the giver has sacrificed to give one this gift. Thus, the effort

is what matters, not the lavish-ness of the gift or how easy it

was for one to rewrap an unwanted gift.

Not only is re-gifting sign of laziness, but it also may put the re-gifter in the state of paranoia, if the same giver of the unwanted gift and its new owner comes into contact of-

ten. Imagine the formidable scene of the giver and the new owner of the unwanted gift inter-acting with each other, only to discover that they have both been deceived.

Fortunately most of the students at SIS will never encounter such uncomfortable situ-ation because they seem to understand the meaning of a true gift. According to a poll of 67 students from grades nine through 12, 76 percent of the students have never re-gifted before because “it is cheap” or “it feels rude” to do so. Only 13 percent admitted to re-gift-ing once a year, and 11 percent to re-gifting two or three times a year.

Receiving an unwanted item is similar to receiving trash. Therefore, with that in mind, people should never resort to re-gifting as a method of hopefully pleasing another individ-ual with the least amount of effort put into it.

A private institution teeming with ambitious students, SIS is home to more than fifteen differ-ent extra-curricular clubs including athletics, forensics and the Model United Nations (MUN) that require much sacrifice of time in school. Parents like Mrs. Nhan Sook Cho, mother of John Eun (11), have a le-gitimate reason to be concerned for their children.

“When his sport is in season, I feel like my son spends more time out of school than he does inside. While I want to support his extra-curricular interests, he misses too much valuable learning time in school.”

We understand that teachers can’t be happy about conducting discussions with half the class miss-ing, or having to delay tests when that last grade has to be included before the end of the week. But a clear distinction must be made be-tween those who are reasonable and unreasonable.

Unreasonable teachers are those who get angry every time students ask to get their homework sheets signed. Teachers need to ac-cept that a lot more exists outside their classroom; after all, according to SIS’s mission statement, we aim to produce global leaders, not those confined within the classroom.

Teachers must consider the value of extracurricular activities to students. A tennis match is so much more than a ball crossing the court, and participation in debate tournaments is not only for the sake of adding an extra line onto one’s resume. A student can justify his or her absence at school by stating that they care enough to do so.

But it would be unfair to frame the teachers as villains and all

students as faultless, responsible young adults. Students, just like teachers, can be classified under the categories of reasonable and unrea-sonable.

If students are passionate enough to miss school for another activity, then they must make an extra effort to keep up with their classes. Many teachers have noted that students assume they are com-pletely free from any school-related material when they go to overnight and overseas trips. And when the end of the quarter approaches, stu-dents bombard the teachers with complaints about their grades.

“Students want to play softball on their absences and hardball on their grades,” said Mr. Gray Mack-lin. “Is this fair?”

No, it isn’t. Which raises anoth-er critical thought: Perhaps students have conditioned some teachers to become as strict as they are today. Imagine how many times teachers have been lied to throughout their teaching careers. Probably double, maybe even triple digits. Teachers are not as gullible as we think they are. They know PowerPoints can not magically disappear in one’s USB, and that a student did not fall sick for the first 20 minutes of class when there happened to be a quiz.

Such lies and excuses have ac-cumulated to form frowns on teach-ers’ faces when students inform them of future absences. Teachers deny students the right to explore another opportunity when they dis-approve of missing class for extra curricular activities. Meanwhile, students put their trust at risk when they give up their integrity to earn a few more points.

Both situations can be avoid-ed through mutual understanding, which is only possible through sacrifices on both sides. If students are so fervent about another activ-ity, they should step it up and think about the consequences of all their actions. Likewise, school should be an institution supportive of stu-dents who are trying to discover themselves beyond the context of the classroom.

Re-Gifting should be considered cheap, not thrifty

By Kristin Kim

Re-evaluation: As if school work isn’t bur-densome enough, stu-dents are coping with unhappy teachers. But who is really to blame?

By Elizabeth Song

Restructuring: Sched-uling more school days will give students more breathing room.

Deception: Recycling a gift, al-though commonly done, takes away all the meaning of a true present.

In the public eye, SIS students are viewed as self-serving and un-fairly fortunate. They seem to have it all. The school’s financial aid program is known and accessed by extremely few, and this lack of publicity stems from there being no dire need for it. The vast majority of those who attend SIS belong to monetarily stable families. These families lead or own chief corpora-tions, including Samsung, Hyundai, and Doosan. SIS students live rela-tively safe lives as major mistakes cost them little. Financially support-ive families are there to catch their children when they fall, acting as cash-woven safety nets. If all else fails, a student can graduate and simply step in line with the family business. Even without receiving scholarships or applying for finan-

cial aid, many students manage to attend top-tier, pricey private uni-versities without suffering from any economic setbacks.

Incidents at inter-scholastic events, as well as the general aura given off by SIS students, further substantiate outsiders’ perceptions of the school. SIS students are large-ly characterized by their loud, com-petitive nature. Even though most students do not deliberately appear over-confident or condescending, they seem to unconsciously act in such a way that reaffirms suspicions of SIS’ shortcomings in properly educating an egotistical, ungrateful group of teenagers. People who in-teract with SIS students commonly display their disapproval of how ev-erything seems to be handed to SIS students on a silver, if not golden, platter. At national debate tourna-ments, SIS participants reportedly feel the antagonistic undercurrents of foreign language high school students who voluntarily distance themselves and return smiles with wary, and oftentimes icy, glares.

The stereotypes associated with SIS and its students hold a certain degree of truth, as the unshakable

fact remains that students are largely secure, both socially and economi-cally. And yet, it is also undeniable that there are at least a few at SIS who are not completely self-cen-tered, as stereotypes suggest. Cer-tain students are making commend-able efforts to serve their school, local and international communities. Comments and complaints regard-ing students’ inherited wealth are unjustified if the money is donated to student-run, non-profit organiza-tions designed specifically to aid the less fortunate.

A meaningful, but limited por-tion of the excess pocket-change all SIS students supposedly have is directly funding inherently good causes: buying Christmas presents for Korean orphans, raising Masud, a Bangladesh child, supplying Cam-bodian children with school sup-plies, medicine and a basketball court and supporting Korea’s for-eign migrant workers.

A small section of the student body has shown SIS’ potential to ex-tend its helping hand to many in need. It is not necessary that every single SIS stu-

dent strive to defy the long-established labels attached to the school. Nonetheless, the existence of, and reason for, this outside critique should be recognized and taken into consideration. SIS’ selfless minority could potentially grow more inclusive of the remaining student body. In working towards the betterment of the school, students should seek more opportunities to utilize their upper-class position and experience the mutual benefits re-warded through c o m m u -nity ser-vice.

By Janice Yoon

Promising: SIS students, stereotypically spoiled, should continue de-creasing the legitimacy of such negative labels.

What you thought

Let yourself be heard. If you have any responses to articles published in Tiger Times, please send them to tigertimes@gmail.

Selling cupcakes in the cold, Tim Kim (12) and Yujin Chung (12) readily wait for the next customer.

WHY WE ARE SO OUT OF TIME AND WHAT WE CAN

DOABOUT IT

The Balance The Schedule

Tiger Times ex-plores the pinch and crunch stu-dents feel during school days and comes up with what we as the student body and also as a school can do to help solve the prob-lem of our packed schedule.

Editorial: What we thinkDear Editors,

We hear a lot about how everyone at SIS is “alike,” but I have noticed a gender rivalry here that is certainly on the rise. Starting with last year’s awards ceremony, the rivalry at SIS seems to have taken an ugly turn with some pretty harsh accusations regarding favoritism made by boys. These accusations are rarely expressed openly which, if left unaddressed, may actually aggravate the real or perceived achievement gap at SIS.

This development, however, is not new. In the May 2000 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, Christina Hoff Sommers published research entitled, “The War Against Boys,” revealing a troubling trend in education that found young males falling behind females in all areas, including the traditionally male-dominated fields of math and science. “Girls…now outnumber boys in [extracurricular activities]…They outperform boys on tests for artistic and musical ability…More boys are suspended from school. More are held back and more drop out.” While we have very few students that could be classified as dropouts, organizations seem to be increasingly dominated by girls and “early graduation” seems to be reserved primarily for boys. Some have claimed

that participation grades are what propel the girls into the top places, but Deborah Tannen’s “Gender in the Classroom” indicates that boys should be doing better as a result of these grades. Other boys have stated that they have better things to do, but I have to wonder what those things are since they don’t seem to be leading many of the clubs and only a small portion of our male population seems to be prominent in our athletic program. We have no shortage of excellent students of both genders and college acceptances don’t seem to favor either gender, but I still get a strong sense that to achieve excellence as a boy at SIS has an isolating effect, whereas with girls it provides a context for building lasting relationships.

Since this issue is both a trend worthy of extensive educational research in the US and an emerging issue at SIS, there are many potential stories to be researched. Has education changed to favor girls, or have boys started to slide? Is this even a real issue, or is it merely a perceived problem? I would like to hear our students’ thoughts.

-Mr. Gray Macklin

Currently, there are approxi-mately 240 students in the SIS high school, and if past events serve as record, all 240 of these students will graduate from high school and move on to attend a fairly reputable uni-versity. These students will continue their lives as part of the elite society of those who are fortunate enough to call themselves international be-ings in today’s world. SIS students have bright futures ahead of them, no matter what road they choose to take, because they have lived in an environment in which higher educa-tion is guaranteed and lifestyles are more or less comfortable.

Many have often remarked on the competitiveness of the SIS mindset, and the ruthless and ex-hausting schedules many of the students take on in order to achieve their ambitious goals. These stu-dents are driven to take on such rig-orous lifestyles because it is what is expected of them. Today’s society requires that success entail looking impressive on paper—grades, activ-ities, financial income, and reputa-tion. Critics of this system state that such students are missing out on the better things in life, such as experi-ences and relationships. But this is not another one of those overstated messages about discovering what is really important, or about living life

to the fullest. To many, this is living life to the fullest, and no one has a right to judge against that.

This is a message that serves as a reminder that this success, no matter what form it may take for each individual, must be ac-companied by an understanding of oneself. Being at peace with one’s own mind is not always an easy accomplishment—it comes with a great deal of inner exploration, self-evaluation and discovery, as well as careful consideration of one’s actions. This is a process that some have yet to undergo, or which oth-ers have experienced the difficulty. ‘Who am I?’ is a question that fol-lows people throughout their lives, sometimes taking over them during numerous periods of aging.

Sometimes, individuals get lost in the crowd and lose one’s sense of self, or forget to find themselves at all. It is said that high school is a typical time for group or social mentality to take over—but why not make it so that is not the case? Teachers have recently quoted the 44 percent drop-out rate for Korean students, as well as these students’ lack of social skills which caused such disappointing results. Howev-er, could it not be that these students had not been sure of themselves? The story of the student who could not adjust to a life of independence is the tale of the student who was

not sure of who he or she is.Understanding oneself is an

intense process which, one is told, never really ends. Some believe a person can discover oneself through his or her friends; but it is possible that this merely mirrors what oth-ers see. Others say that difficult times show one’s true colors—but doesn’t one’s passion bring out one’s best? Perhaps everything takes a part in making them who they are, though it depends how one interprets these experiences. Do SIS students stop to think about how each extracurricular activity they take part in reflects their in-terests? Do they stop to think who they are in this society?

SIS students have all of the fortune and potential to become great leaders in the world society. All 240 of the current students have the responsibility to give back to the world by sharing their intelligence and knowledge with others—and while each one is cur-rently working to become someone of influence, it remains a question if anyone is prepared to take on such responsibilities. Imagine what these students could accomplish if they approach the world with con-fidence and a strong sense of self. Knowing oneself and being satis-fied with that person can give an individual the wisdom to take on the world.

Find yourself

Selfless minority strives in school community

Photo by Yoonie Kim

By Mellanie Ahn

How often do you regift?

Never:76%

Once a year:11%

Two or three times a year:13%

Tiger TimesSeoul International School

Songpa P.O. Box 47Seoul, South Korea 138-600