When I was young I used to enjoy watching a program by Bill Cosby called "Kids Say The Darndest Things." Basically Mr Cosby would ask the kids some questions and the kids would just answer. What was special about these answers is that they were so honest. Kids would just speak their minds with no reserve and often they'd say things that were true, but that would make adults cringe. I had one of those moments today in two of my junior classes...
After being away from work for almost two weeks, because I had chicken pox, I made quite an entrance today. Reason being, when I was last seen, I had a weave on but because of the pox I had to take the weave out. Going back to work today I had my natural hair, which is short, plaited in many small plaits (for lack of better description). The Korean adults that saw me thought it was different, interesting and even cute. But the fun came when the Korean kids saw me. I walked into class and the kids just burst out laughing. I asked them why they were laughing at me and they said it's because of my hairstyle. So I asked them what's so funny about my hairstyle. They answered saying I look like Medusa (a character from Greek Mythology whose hair was live snakes). I took this opportunity to play Bill Cosby and I asked some follow up questions, asnwers to which were the following:
The kids said they thought my hair was strange because it looked like worms were all over my head, that I have paths all over my head and that they've just never seen anything like it before. They said that they preferred my weaved hair (which they think was my natural hair) because it looked more like their hair.
I had brought a number of textbooks from different levels of the childrens' program. These textbooks have pictures of different types of children on the covers. I wanted to find out how these kids that I was teaching thought and so I asked them more questions. There were 3 boys on the one cover (a black boy, an Asian boy and a white boy) and I asked the kids which boy they thought was the most handsome and why. The kids liked the white boy because he had white skin and they couldn't explain to me why they liked the white skin. In the second class, one boy said that he likes white skin because it's cleaner. I asked him to explain what he meant and he said when he plays and gets dirty, his skin goes darker, so he doesn't like dark skin because it's dirty and white skin is clean. The others said they like the white boys bone structure, his hair, his eyes and his style.
So then I moved onto other books and showed them three girls (a black girl with nappy hair, an Asian girl with straight, black hair and a white girl with long, honey blonde hair). I asked them which girl they think is the prettiest and which of the girls' hair they like the most and why. Some of the kids chose the Asian girl and said they like her because she looks similar to them. Most of them chose the white girl because they like long, blonde hair but couldn't explain why they liked it. The just did. The young girls said that they like the white girl just because she's white, and white is better. They couldn't explain why they think white is better... It just is... They continued to say that they don't like the black girl because they think her lips are strange and her hair is strange too. That her afro looks like a grandmother's hairstyle and they just don't like her hair. So I asked them if they've seen Koreans who actually have afro-textured hair. They said if they saw that they'd laugh at the person because the person would look crazy and they would tell them to get rid of the hairstyle, thinking that I'd said that the Korean had the hairstyle done. When I told them that there are Koreans who naturally have afro-style hair they were shocked and didn't quite know how to respond. I asked them if they think I'm crazy because my hair is an afro when it's undone. Of course they said "oh no teacher, no you don't, you look fine..." Enough said...
I asked them what they knew about Africa and they told me that there are starving children who die every 3 seconds and that they (the Koreans) should help them (starving and dying African kids). They said they know there's lots of animals and that the people are poor. So I asked them do I look like I'm starving and about to die? And they said no. So I asked why they have that concept of Africa. And they couldn't answer.
Well, time was up and I had to move on to my next classes... I didn't quite know what to think or how to feel. They're kids, they're honest, but their mindset just left me speechless. These are some of the "joys" I, along with many other "people of color", experience here in Korea... I'm still speechless, but I thought I should just share this little bit.
Until next time, so let it be written...
This is the "Medusa" hairstyle...
