My brother's birthday

My little brother Brad's birthday is on Saturday. He's going to be 15, and is a freshman in high school. I miss being there for these sorts of things, and because I went to college far away from home and now am in Korea I don't really get to see him grow up.

He's also trying to get a job at the grocery store where I started working. I had started working there in the fall of freshman year of high school, and I remember it was just as educating as parts of high school. Which got me thinking about how different it is to be a 15 year old high school boy in America and Korea. I would not want to be a Korean high school kid. Whenever I hear the about endless mindless studying, I kind of feel sad and remember the Mark Twain quote, "I never let my schooling interfere with my education." In Korea, schooling is all education is. So I'm sad and happy my brother isn't here - I can't see him, but he isn't a Korean high school student. He has a chance to learn outside of the classroom... now if I could only give my students the same chance...