wrote_and_writ

It's been a while since I've had to confront a major culture clash in my classroom. I am grading persuasive essays written by 15 and 16-year-olds. There were a variety of topics to choose from, including the question of whether or not teens should get part-time jobs when they turn 16. The structure of the essay is fairly standard: state your claim, provide supporting details, address potential counterclaims, and write a conclusion.

This paragraph, from one of my Korean students, brought me up short. It was used as a supporting detail for their claim that teens should have part-time jobs: It helps you control your emotions. When you work, you get angry a lot. For example, there are a lot of customers' cheeky attitudes and bosses' power abuse. Through this, you can develop the ability to hide your emotions. If you continue to practice enduring anger, it will break the connection between internal and external emotions. It's not easy, but it's essential to hide your feelings while living in society no matter what job you have, so you become an adult in society by experiencing hiding your inner feelings and creating only external emotions.

I don't even know what, if anything, I should or could say about this. Admittedly, my first instinct is to, like, grab this kid and hug them, and say, "Have we learned nothing from Frozen! From the problems that arise when we 'conceal, don't feel?'" But I don't think I can say anything. The kiddo is generally pretty chill in class. They are new to the school but have made friends and seem to be fitting in with the class pretty well.

IDK, I think that it's not my place to do anything, but I'm certainly going to be thinking about this, reflecting on my biases, and seeking ways to be respectful and not clutch my pearls.