The Best High Schools in the World, voices/stats

A KMLA Narrative:

I remember reading a New York Times article on my high school, Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (hereinafter KMLA) many years ago. It struck me as a faulty exaggeration of what the supposedly best high school in Korea looked like to outsiders. Upon reading the article I felt a strange mixture of defiant denial and pride. 

When I came to the U.S. for college, I remember the then-Dean of Admissions for international students knew about my school through that context, and I was keen to prove him wrong. But as a matter of fact, for the first two and a half years at KMLA, we did indeed wake up to a blaring song (DJ’s choice) at six (or was it six thirty?) in the morning. We assembled at gym to either practice kumdo (Korean kendo) or taekwondo. We were provided with traditional archery lessons, traditional Chinese character lessons, and Korean traditional musical instrument lessons. We wore modified hanbok, our school uniforms, and we bowed promptly and politely to our elders and visitors. We took AP courses at our school, diligently memorized SAT vocabulary, and sometimes, after a prolonged conversation with our roommates, pulled an all-nighter or two in desperation. 

KMLA

The school cafeteria is on the 12th floor, the top floor, of the concrete dorm building. From our blue tile-roofed classroom buildings at the foot of a hill, we would make an arduous beeline climb to the cafeteria just before lunch began. The school nutritionist made special efforts to vary the menu with locally sourced ingredients but did not vary the salad dressing. I grew to hate Thousand Island. That is our collective experience. But the overlap stops there. The courses we took, the colleges we chose, and the club activities we engaged in differed vastly. I myself was a competitive debater and a hip-hop dancer. Others were student council members, singers, drummers, mathematicians, photographers, engineers, and peer tutors. So, to hear a narrative of KMLA entails taking a look at all 

the different outcomes of fellow KMLA graduates. I compiled a few responses:

“After 3 years in KMLA doing mostly what I was told (if not was expected) to do, I was determined to do whatever I wanted to do in college. I tried random courses including a few art courses, and soon decided to declare my second major in fine arts, after my first major in finance. When I got very lost after 2 years of wild exploration, I took a gap year, and ended up doing internships at an animation studio, two consulting firms, and an e-commerce start-up. Slowly I noticed that the real part of learning comes when I realized how little I know, about life, me and pretty much everything. With 4 weeks left of my college undergraduate years, I can proudly say that I learned that I have still so much to learn.”

- S.Y., 10th Wave at KMLA, U Penn

“I try to have diverse experiences abroad as my major is international relations. I went to the G20 Youth Summit in Mexico this year as a Korean delegation. Also I

was the interpreter for the Korean delegation in Malaysia. Especially I want to focus on Northeast Asian issues so I participated in China-Korea student conference and the Waseda-Korea university presentation competition on economic integration of NE Asia.”

- M.K., 12th Wave at KMLA, Korea University

“I study Arts Management/Theatre and Performance Studies at University of Toronto. I spent my sophomore year working for a play called “Kim’s Convenience” (by Ins Choi), a hilarious comedy about a Korean immigrant family set in a Toronto convenience store. Throughout the play’s journey from Toronto Fringe Festival to a full-length production at Soulpepper Theatre Company, I helped out spreading the word to the media and to the Korean diaspora community –translating the press releases, putting on posters, making connections with community groups like the Korean Consulate, newspapers, local churches, etc. The play turned out to be the ‘most successful new Canadian play in 30 years’, with sold-out runs and numerous extensions. Later in 2012, ‘Kim’s Convenience’ was entitled the Best New Play by Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, was nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and is now on its way to a Canadian national tour, starting in January 2013. A wonderful memory I will never forget.”

- S.C., 12th Wave at KMLA, University of Toronto

“I've spent a lot of my undergraduate academic years working in labs, doing researches related to judgment and decision making. I've always had more than one hobby at hand, and I'm currently concentrating a lot into photography. College life worked out great for me in that I could always find some classes or instructors that lent me some insight into matters regardless of the field, the subject matter, or how serious I'm into it. Looking forward to take photography class next semester.”

- S.L., 12th Wave at KMLA, Washington University of St. Louis

“First, to clarify my circumstances, the majority of my "post-kmla" life was spent in the military, not "in college". Even the one year of freedom I enjoyed as a freshman was spent under a set time limit. I knew I was joining the military after freshman year (I had made that decision pre-college), so my decisions at college were a bit different. I tried to maximize my coverage of college experience. I took courses in drawing, acting, how search engines are built (I'm a computer science major by the way), and 18th century European intellectual history. I rushed for a frat (of course didn't pledge), tried out club activities (break dance, race car building), attended most talks given by former entrepreneurs (entrepreneurship is my main area of interest), explored Philly, went to see the Phillies game, the Philadelphia Orchestra, etc. The point is that my short college life was all about experience, and the breadth of those experiences, not depth.

On the other hand, the past year and a half serving in the military has been more about reflection and focus. Ever since I settled down in my military position, I tried to read one book a week and write a decent length blog post about it (there is currently 50+ blog posts on my blog/website). Besides reading, I spend most of my free time honing my programming skills, building a website, a mobile app, following open source projects, watching screen casts, reading blogs, etc.”

- H.K., 12th Wave at KMLA, U Penn

Pop Star Rain begins mandatory military service

“One activity that has become a huge part of my college life, that I dabbled in high school but never imagined I'd continue in college, is dancing. I joined the Swing club here and for the past year and a half I've been taking lessons, traveling to other cities for workshops, and really immersing myself in dancer culture. I love dancing. Another thing that I've done fairly consistently in college is writing. I've found much opportunity for growth and joy in writing both inside and outside the classroom.”

- Y.K., 12th Wave at KMLA, University of Virginia

What I realized after compiling these responses and thinking back on my KMLA times is that I have an incredibly diverse and talented community of friends, welded together by a collective experience. I look forward to catching up with my high school friends during winter break when I return back to Korea. And even though the Gangwon mountains are cold, I’m excited to take a day trip to my old school. Yes, I’m partly nostalgic for the wonderful camaraderie, but I’m also curious to discover new shenanigans that I’m no longer a part of. Last time I went, the school had created a vegetable patch grown and harvested by the students themselves. KMLA is seventeen years old. Despite its deeply ingrained self-image, I think it makes more sense to believe that KMLA is still maturing, just like the youthful alumni.

KMLA winter scene

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I would like to thank each of these students for sharing these insights. I would especially like to thank Jenni, who gathered the comments and wrote the introductory and concluding remarks. She, and each of these students, have the capacity to change the way Korea is perceived in the world. They have represented the founding mission of the school well.

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The words and deeds of these students speak far better than I ever could about why this school does indeed come out at or near the top the lists of schools that are looked at as the best in the world.

Each voice is radically distinct; yet all share a passion for learning.

And what about the typical Asian stereotypes that people bring up when talking about how schools like this produce automatons who do not think or get involved or experiment (literally and figuratively) with their education when they arrive to the US?

KMLA student with teacher

Some would like to believe that Asian students are just that “Asian,” as though this rubric means anything to each individual here. It is sad to me (and I have to be honest and say it makes me mad too) when people group countries, peoples, and whole continents under some category.  Well-documented studies demonstrate being coded as “Asian” hurts their chances of admission at the most selective colleges and universities in the US.

And yet, not only do these students involve themselves in and out of the classroom, contribute in every way schools like to talk about in terms of  enrolling those who will strive to get the most out of their education, they also come with the best statistics of any students I know of.

If you think I am exaggerating I will go ahead and scare the people reading this.

KMLA students have typically completed 8-10 AP courses by the end of the junior year. Almost all of the scores they earn on the tests are 5s. Almost all have competed at a national or international level in some activity. Almost all have nearly perfect grades.

As for testing, read ‘em and weep. And remember, English is the second language.

SAT Ⅰ (SAT Reasoning Test)	Middle 50%	Mean
Critical Reading	680 - 770	717
Math	800 - 800	786
Writing	710 - 780	742
Total	2180 - 2330	2245