Working Hard & Making It Happen

Since I'm starting graduate school soon, I thought that I'd reflect and write about my experiences with academics along with working hard in general. Afterwards, I'll express my logical reasoning about this topic towards the end of this blog entry. Where to start... When I look back at my academic history from grade school to my post-baccalaureate life... My God, do I have a colorful and exhaustive history in that area. Growing up, academics were emphasized in my household. I clearly remember myself as a young elementary school-aged girl and seeing several magazines about Ivy League universities, such as Princeton and Yale, on a bookshelf in my parents' room. I guess that they desired to get a head-start on preparing their oldest daughter for college in the future.

My parents attended well-established universities back in South Korea (Mother: Catholic University of Korea - Nursing & Father: Hongik University - Fine Arts in Sculpture). Being immigrants, they could have remained in South Korea and landed respectful and stable occupations. However, they sacrificed everything that they had over there and decided to immigrate to the United States. There were a few reasons on why they made that huge move. First off, political society in South Korea was extremely unstable. From the late 1970's to the late 1980's, the nation was ruled with an iron fist under the dictatorship of former President Chun Doo-Hwan. A country that was and still is promising to this day was exposed to oppression. Because of this, the media was tightly controlled, living expenses were costly, and educational reform was led in a harsh, militarized approach. Civilians, including students, had limited freedom. In result, my parents arrived in America with less than $1,000 in their pockets and had limited knowledge of American English and its culture. With hard work and income accumulated over the years, they made an establishment for themselves. They didn't want their future children to undergo the extreme academic pressures and the acts of corporal punishment in schools in South Korea. I don't mean to generalize but from what I've read and witnessed, its citizens have a tendency to competitively become the best at what they do. Whether it be academics, sports, or even beauty and fashion. If you fail to be the best, you're considered to be a disgrace and failure. This can lead to depression and eventually, suicide. It's a very sad and unfortunate perspective, in my opinion.

Extreme authority and corporal punishment on a student is depicted here in this scene from the 2001 Korean film, Friend. The film generally highlights the harsh treatment of students in Busan, South Korea during the 1970's.

Another depiction of an authoritative, dictator-like approach is portrayed in this scene from the 2003 Korean film, Once Upon a Time in High School. Once again, the film offers a look at the brutality of a militarized regime retained by the education system in South Korea during the late 1970's.

This is also why my parents departed. Instead of faring well in a country that heavily reinforces academic elitism and is consistently judgmental, they wished for my younger sister and I to fare well in another country that is highly-developed with access to quality-level education that is taught publicly. While my parents left everything behind in South Korea, they in fact didn't abandon their beliefs on how important academics were. If my sister and I can accomplish great things in America, then we'll be successful in our future. Work hard and you'll be successful - was the mindset of my parents. This belief progressed onto them adopting the "Tiger Parents" mindset and behavior. For those who are not familiar with what a "tiger parent" is, a "tiger parent" is someone who utilizes strict child-rearing by emphasizing academic success and scholastic achievement. Like many Asian-American children, my sister and I were situated in a plethora of extracurricular activities outside of school. These activities included attending piano and art lessons, going to swimming and Taekwondo practices, and studying at various after-school tutoring centers. Oh, and after all of that, my parents still expected us to work on our math and language arts practice books. Not only did we have school homework from school, but also home homework. Yes, homework from home. That my parents assigned and expected us to achieve perfectly. Did my sister and I enjoy doing all of the things mentioned above? Of course not. We were just mere, young kids. All we wanted to do was go outside, play, and watch cartoons. But, we were forced to work and most of all, we wanted to make our parents proud. We didn't want to fail them because in return, they had big dreams for us and didn't want to fail us if they had remained back in the motherland.

Fast-forward to the 12th (senior) grade in high school. It's early on in the school year and around this time, seniors are busily applying for colleges. Many fellow seniors I knew applied to the big-name schools. All of the UC colleges, private universities, out-of-state schools, etc. I only applied to a few CSU colleges and one community college, despite the fact that I maintained a good grade point average. The reasons? The cost and distance. Tuition was cheaper and the schools were closer to home. I get easily homesick, so I couldn't see myself at a distant university away from my family and friends. The school that I ended up choosing and going to? The local community college. I believed that I could still receive a quality-level education for a considerable price. And my parents were totally okay with that. Was I looked down on and judged when people asked me where I began college? Absolutely. There is a certain stigma towards community colleges. Many people view them as lower-class, no-good, no-brand, no-name schools. Oftentimes, people associate community colleges with trade schools and technical institutes. "You start studying there, so you must be dumb and poor." This is a general assumption that people who are judgmental begin to think about. People derive from many different backgrounds whether it be culturally, economically, or financially. Those who assume too brashly and quickly don't realize why people choose to attend the schools they decide to go to. It's like that song "Started from the Bottom", performed by musical artist Drake. When you begin from the "bottom of the barrel" and scrape your way up to the surface, you'll reach the top and feel accomplished. Because of this, I proved naysayers wrong when I studied and worked hard, transferred to a well-renowned university, and ended up graduating with a title. I'm damn proud of it too. During this time, my parents had fully abandoned their "tiger-parenting" ways and wished for my sister and I to study whatever we wanted in college. And we eventually did. My sister has always had an artistic thumb and she's studying animation. As for me, a quiet introvert who grew up enjoying books and writing in journals, I pursued English with literary studies and critical theory and I decided on continuing to do so after a post-baccalaureate term in healthcare ended up not working out. My parents wanted whatever made us happy. I guess after being in America for 30+ years, democracy rubbed off on them and they became more accepting and supportive.

We've all been at this point sometime in our lives.

My conclusion is what the title of this blog entry states: If you work hard, there will eventually be a silver lining to things and something positive is going to come out of it. Hence, the action of making it happen. If you work hard, will success occur immediately? Not quite. It takes progress and time to achieve a goal or dream. Sure, we'd like good things to happen in our lives instantaneously. But, in the end, just initiating the first step ignites a sign of progression and willpower on a pathway towards an accomplishment of bigger and greater things.