The benefits and costs of immigrating as a high school student to the U.S. from South Korea

JINGYU KANG

When junior Jingyu Kang traveled to America with his family for the first time as an elementary school student and toured many top universities in the U.S., Kang became determined that he wanted to come to the U.S. to pursue a higher education. However, attending school in South Korea at the time, Kang realized that he was at a disadvantage.

Therefore, in seventh grade, Kang and his family immigrated to Saratoga in hopes of having a better chance of being admitted to a top college, and after spending almost five years in the U.S., Kang is still grateful for the opportunity to attend school here.

Kang remembers his South Korean school life up until immigrating was filled with studying. Not only did Kang attend classes at school early in the morning, but he also attended cram schools, or hagwons, in the evening.

According to BBC News, all this studying is in preparation for the Korean College Scholastic Ability Test, or Suneung, an “eight-hour marathon of back-to-back exams, which not only dictates whether students will go to university, but can affect their job prospects, income, where they will live and even future relationships.”

Kang said that one big part of why he immigrated to America is the less intense academic schedule, as well as a greater breadth of academic and extracurricular opportunities.

“What I like about the American school system is that students here have less homework, which means more time to pursue activities that actually matter to them,” Kang said. “I can find many opportunities and internships here just as a high school student, and I can also take whatever classes I want to take.”

Nevertheless, Kang still faces difficulty in some aspects while attending school here.

“There are some classes that I struggle with, like history and English,” Kang said. “It was also harder to make friends. I remember how there were no other Asian students in [the middle school I went to] and how I was scared of interacting with the white people.”

Despite this difficulty, Kang still feels grateful not only to his parents, but to the school for letting him have these opportunities.

“Although it was hard to get used to the completely new environment, I think the system where you have lots of things to try and learn whatever is meaningful to you is awesome,” Kang said.

 

MIN LEE

Former sophomore Min Lee, who immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea at the beginning of high school, thought she had established a solid student life in Saratoga High as a freshman. She took challenging courses at school, went to volunteering every week, participated in sports and was even on the robotics team.

But all of Lee’s hard work crumbled when her visa expired and she was deported in the middle of her sophomore year. After being deported, Lee began attending international school in South Korea.

“Suddenly, I had no school to go, since this was all unplanned,” Lee said. “I barely got into an international school, but even then, we still had problems. I couldn't even say goodbye to my friends.”

According to the Migration Policy Institute, immigrants from foreign countries, in order to stay in the U.S., must own a permanent residence in America, be an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, or qualify for an employment sponsorship.

Lee’s sudden visa expiration was because of withdrawal of this employment sponsorship for her father, who was requested by his company to return to South Korea after spending the last two years working here. Since Lee neither had relatives or a permanent residence, she was rejected in her application for a new visa. Now, she is banned from living or even traveling to the U.S. for the next three years.

The sudden change in academic environment has not only impacted Lee’s studies, but has also changed her life as a whole. Comparing her current life in South Korea to her life in Saratoga last semester, Lee said that her current life is far more restricting in many aspects.

“Even though it is an international school, the curriculums and rules here are kind of different,” Lee said. “I have trouble making friends here, and this school isn’t as flexible as Saratoga. For example, this school does not accept courses taken outside of school for credit.”

After her three year ban of returning to America is lifted, Lee also plans to pursue an education in the U.S. again. In international school, she is rebuilding her extracurricular involvement in robotics, sports, and volunteering. Lee also wants to make her high school life in South Korea as similar to the one she had in Saratoga as she can.

“I had to work extremely hard to recover my academics and as much of my life as I could,” Lee said. “But even then, I really want to return to America once I am allowed to again."