Today I paid my bills, much as I have for the past six months. I arrived at the local bank during my lunch hour, punched a few familiar buttons and fed my bills into the device. I then proceeded to push the green button on the screen and offer up my PIN to finalize the transaction that would authorize payment for my gas and electric bills. I did all this without having the slightest knowledge of what my bill read, or the various functions of the bill pay ATM at the bank. Hell, I'm not even sure which bill is gas and which one is electric! (I suspect the larger of the two is gas since I've taken the habit of running long showers) All I knew is that I owed "X" amount of won to two separate companies.
For being a highly literary person it is rather strange to be living a "functionally illiterate" lifestyle. I surround myself with reading and writing. I am constantly pecking away at novels, or indulging in online articles, or comics. At work, I'm constantly writing/rewriting lesson plans, sketching out curriculum, or occasionally taking a crack at that novel I've been neglecting. I'm a ridiculously literary individual, and yet, an illiterate lifestyle is precisely what I have.
That's right I'm 24, a college graduate, and I can't read (Korean).
Thank god I live in Korea, I can only imagine how difficult life would be without the structures they have in place that allow foreigners like me to adjust to living here. I am able to have a relatively independent life with little to no knowledge of Korean writing (speaking too now that you mention it). That is the essence of functional illiteracy, operating without a working knowledge of the local language.
As I look back, it gives me a new perspective on illiteracy. Before coming to Korea, I volunteered with a local non-profit in Indianapolis, INDY Reads. Their specialty was confronting the issue of adult illiteracy and offering tutoring and resources to overcome it. According to this organization, nearly 100,000 adults in the greater Indianapolis area were living whilst being functionally illiterate. It's hard to imagine there being so many people in a modern American city that were making their way about without being able to read, yet they do. INDY Reads partnered with the county library system to offer tutoring to these people, as well as assistance in basic education. While I was training to work at INDY Reads they were excited to announce their latest successes with tutoring centers in the county prisons.
I only worked with INDY Reads for a short while. Hence, I never fully understood the experience of my pupils. Now that I've lived the illiterate lifestyle a while, I see it a bit differently. I have come to appreciate how difficult it can be to get out of this lifestyle, particularly as a working adult. Though I have attempted to learn Korean a number of times, there are plenty of days I'm just too tired from work to focus. Then again, there are plenty of days when I'm jut too lazy, or I'm frustrated and want nothing to do with anything that is remotely Korean. In any case, language learning can be a rather exhausting task. It takes time and persistence, and when one is exhausted from working all day... it often gets scrapped for some R&R.
I know now that being illiterate requires a lot of trust. By a lot, I mean, basically my life in the hands of my peers. I have to trust in my peers to treat me fairly in regards to my finances, my working conditions, and even my home. If something goes wrong or I get a raw deal, I don't possess the power to contest it (except with charades or fisticuffs)! So, I am required to trust my coworkers, friends, and employers to help maintain the more intricate details of my finances. So far, it's worked out well. However, being functionally illiterate has bit me in the ass a great deal in regards to work. Not being able to read student names makes them next to impossible to learn! Particularly when you can only meet with them for 40 minutes a week in classes of 20 or more. This has led to a great deal of work stress when it comes to conducting class. It's hard to discipline students whilst leading a lesson if you can't call them out by name. Additionally, students catch on quickly when they know they are anonymous. It creates a barrier between me and them that some problem students attempt to exploit. By in large it's not too bad, but it can lead to some trying times when you have to continually walk over to a disruptive student to tap them on the head and remind them to shut-up or stop punching each other in class.
I don't think I'll ever get out of my current state of Korean illiteracy. As I said above, one can grow rather comfortable in it (it's amazing how effective pointing and grunting is when communicating needs). I've begun to call some of the nickel and dime expenses in my life here to be my "English Tax" the price I pay for not learning the native language. For the most part, it's never been more than a dollar or two, a minor inconvenience. Thankfully, Koreans tend to be fairly even handed with their dealings and I'm not often taken advantage of in business dealings. Yet, I can't help but wonder the hazards of such a lifestyle in less accommodating cultures, such as my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment