School reputation — check. Same in Japan. Once you’ve seen it so starkly, you become very aware of the same attitude when it appears here.

Students don’t have practice speaking English, and are very self-conscious — check.

Teacher-student hierarchy — check.

Mono-racial society — check. Although some Japanese did admit this is not entirely true. There are three significant minorities in Japan: the Ainu, who are an indigenous people to Hokkaido, one of Japan’s main islands; the Burakumin, who are something like an “untouchable” caste; and people of Korean descent born in Japan. Some are Japanese citizens, but some aren’t. Getting Japanese citizenship is very difficult, and even though a person is born in Japan, he or she may not be granted citizenship if he or she is not racially Japanese. Some of these are descendants of Koreans who were forcibly brought to Japan when Japan militarily dominated large parts of Asia during the early part of the last century. Both they and the Burakumin face various degrees of discrimination (I think the Ainu do as well). The Burakumin are racially Japanese, but they are still discriminated against because historically they were a group of people who did the work with the least social standing. The Japanese keep very detailed familial records, so they know who and who isn’t Burakumin.

So, is there any minority in Korea that is like any of these groups?