SDA

In South Korea, the Christian denomination known as the Seventh-day Adventists is really popular.  Everyone knows who they are and have a general idea of what they believe.  After the Korean War, it was the Seventh-day Adventists who helped rebuild the country.  It was the Seventh-day Adventists who build the large schools and universities.  So many of the prominent politicians and business leaders that are here today went to those schools.

I work at an SDA boarding school teaching middle and high school students.  Despite the law the government passed saying you could not force teachers or students to attend on the weekend, our school has forced the teachers to come to hold Sabbath School for the kids and to attend the church services afterwards.  We knew we were attending an SDA school when we signed our contracts, so we didn't say anything.  The students may not attend if they choose to leave for the weekend, however if they stay then they must come.

The government learned that our school was breaking the law.  So for this semester, they are paying the teachers for every class that is taught and providing almost 50,000 dollars to spent on whatever is needed for our classes.  It must be spent by the end of December, no other option.  The principle told the Korean teachers that if the students do not continue to come to these classes, that they will be in trouble with him.  They are angry at the extra work (they have to do the work of three: teacher, secretary, and counselor) and at the authoritarian attitude in place of encouraging attitude.  However, knowing that it can't be helped, they must help make all the classes a success.

In the elementary classes that I teach, I have the youngest kids who speak very little English.  I obviously have a translator.  We started with the basics this weekend, the beginning of the Bible and talking about Creation.  Most of our students are not Christian, but Buddhist.  So Sunday it was proposed that our Saturday classes not teach religion, but just English.  That way the students' parents will not have reason to be upset.  I understand that concern as well as the motivation behind it, yet I can't help but feel that the parents and government know what our school is and what is taught on Saturdays: The Bible.  Therefore it should be safe to assume that despite being Buddhist, they don't mind their children being exposed to Christianity or Biblical teachings as they allowed their kids to attend on the Creation Sabbath.

However this turns out, it in the end doesn't change much.  An observation: All of Korea knows of SDAs but America (where the denomination started) so few know of the existence of SDAs.  Those that do often misunderstand what we believe and don't ask questions to clear it up.  Strange how that works.  American, the land of freedom, isn't full of free thinking people.  They blindly follow the media or Hollywood.  South Korea, the land of socialism mixed with democracy, is full of people who try to learn for themselves as much as they can.  Americans would be offended... South Koreans would just shrug as that is life.