[fhs-65] Re: My mom's school experience

  • From: Steve <sfgrob@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: fhs-65@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2022 16:37:48 -0500

Her school experience reminds me of my mom's, who grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin

More than you know Donna.  Growing up in that small farming village, girls didn't go beyond primary-school.  But as I said before, Oki's mother knew she would need an education to get along well in life.

Primary school was within daily walking distance, but the middle-school was in town, quite a distance away from the village.  When it came time for Oki to attend middle-school, she had to leave home and take a room in town, closer to the middle school. 

This meant she was on her own.  Not as harsh as this sounds, she roomed with a family that kind of looked out for her.  Koreans by nature are very generous and family oriented, so she wasn't truly alone, just separated from her family.  She says she spent every waking minute studying, so didn't think much about being alone.  When we talk about it, Oki always says she wasn't that smart, she just worked hard at it (but she is quite smart).

Her mother and brother (not the one from Busan) would bring in food for her from time to time, but most the time she made her own food and cleaned her own cloths - in middle school!.  School was five and a half days a week.  Korean students attend school for half a day on Saturday.  Saturday after noon she would go back home on the bus for a day and a half, returning by bus to town Sunday evening.

In high-school things were worse.  Busan was quite a distance from home and required a several hour train ride to return home.  This meant that Oki only got home a few times a year during high-school.

Oki was very fond of her parents (older - mother was 42 when Oki was born) and says her greatest regret is she spent so much time away from them during the time she was growing up in middle-school and high-school.

On 03/10/2022 15:19, donnakasch (donnakasch) wrote:

So very interesting, Steve. It is no surprise to me that Oki is smart! She married you, right?!
Her school experience reminds me of my mom's, who grew up on a small dairy farm in Wisconsin, the youngest of 7 kids. The local school, in Boaz, ended with sophomore year. Her oldest brother had gone to Richland Center to finish high school, and convinced their parents that she should too. So it was arranged that she would live with an older couple there and work for her room and board. She was 14. Her mother drove her there in a horse and buggy, as they didn't have a car. This was in 1927. 

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