I had a conversation tonight with my middle school students. It was really eye-opening. I’ve probably mentioned in the past how much these kids go to school here. It’s hours and hours each day. And not just the public school; most also go to private schools after they finish the day of public school. English school, math school, art school, piano school – their days are filled with learning. They don’t seem to hate it, as I’m sure American kids would, only because they are raised with this model. American kids would rebel only because they’ve not experienced it all their lives.

But, I digress.

The real surprise this evening was a short discussion about middle school activities. There are none. I said it was a short discussion. And they don’t seem to miss not having the things American kids take for granted. Inter mural sports, for example, don’t happen. I dallied in track in field when I was in middle school and loved getting out and running with the boys. My own daughters were involved in Choir. Doesn’t happen here. My youngest was even a cheerleader. With no sports, there’s nothing to cheer. If there’s nothing to cheer, there’s no pep rallies. As far as I can tell, even high schools don’t compete with each other.

Sure, there’s sports and singing and things, but none of them are associated with the public schools. They all just go their separate little ways to piano class or taekwando class and have none of the class camaraderie I remember having. No school spirit. No school rivalries. No Friday morning loud speaker announcements to remind of us the game that evening.  And, without all of that – there are no fundraisers. No one tries to sell me a candy bar or some overpriced Christmas candy to support their school function. I haven’t even seen a girl scout cookie.

I guess I never realized just how different things are. Is it better? I don’t know. Just different. I think its interesting reflecting on the things I had as a boy and contrasting it to these kids, who are as happy as any others I’ve seen.

I watched yesterday as a team of people cleaned, groomed and pruned the bushes and trees in the park across the street. I watched for nearly a minute before I realized that this job wasn’t done by Mexicans as it so often is done back home in Texas. These were ordinary Koreans who perform ground maintenance as a living. It struck me as odd only because for the past 30 years the vast majority of people I saw doing this type of work were Mexicans. Obviously, I can’t say for sure whether all those Mexicans were illegal immigrants, but experience has shown me enough to know a good bet when I see one. I’d lay 5:1 odds that if you pointed to one on the street in Dallas now, he’d be in the US illegally.

I usually leave my political ramblings for my other blog, but since this relates to Korea, I thought I’d post my thoughts. Why is it that Korea can afford to pay its citizens a living wage to do the gardening that America will only pay Mexicans to do? Is it because Americans are “above” this type of work and won’t stoop to such menial tasks? Heavens, no! Americans work just as hard, if not harder, than many country’s citizens. No, it’s because Americans can’t afford to take a job that pays as little as these jobs typically do. Pay a decent wage and Americans will do the work. Pay a poor wage and you attract those that come because their home country has a worse economy than what they can obtain there.

So, is it the US Government’s fault there are so many illegal Mexicans in the US? No, of course not. It’s the American people’s fault. The chase for the almighty buck outstrips the desire to keep the borders from being porous. If there were no jobs available, there’d be no illegal immigrants.

You get what you pay for.