Reflective Essay- Alice

I walked into K-Pop class thinking I knew a decent amount about k-pop, as I was someone who was fairly devoted to k-pop. I knew that there were many more fangirls/boys who were much more invested in the music, so I was ready to expect that there were a few of those students, but to say I underestimated the history of k-pop was an understatement. The amount of influence and history behind behind what we know as k-pop was stunning, almost overwhelming.

I think that from this class, I grew as a person as I learned about another country’s history. Because we can not learn about k-pop without understanding the history of Korea, it only made sense that we walked out of the class knowing more about Korea than we would have ever imagined. I honestly believe that America has much to learn from Korea, that the reason why Korea was able to grow and develop in such a short a short period of time. I think a large part of why Korea was able to modernize so quickly was because of the thought process of people who reside in the country. Unlike Americans, Koreans put their country before themselves. For example, when Korea was about to fall into a financial crisis, the citizens went and donated their gold to the city to prevent their country from falling into depression. It is this selflessness that I wish to take back to America with me. On the contrary, when American stock markets crashed in 1929, people were more concerned about themselves and tried to get money to save themselves instead of their country. They didn’t consider their nation at all and it’s a great contrast to what happened in Korea. I want to take this selflessness and ingrain it into my lifestyle because I truly believe that by putting others first, you’ll benefit in the end because everything comes in a full circle.