I study Korean at university & I’m not white, I think your point of view is very educational cause I can see what you mean in my everyday life in class, I’m a sophomore rn and know for a fact that lots of students at my first year choose to study Korean because they thought everything would be just like being constantly exposed to kpop, I have seen every single one of those people drop classes one by one ... some have found what they are actually good at but (1)
the point is that they took a whole culture - something that for other people born in the other side of the world is a reality they have not chosen - as a hobby, for their enjoyment. I myself don’t really know what I’m gonna do exactly after I graduate even though I have already considered some options, I’m already an immigrant in "my" country and have never had the wish to stay where I am currently, so I’ve also considered moving in the future (2)
I never knew what to think about teaching abroad cause I heard of so many people moving to Seoul by applying for teaching jobs and then dropping those jobs because it was just their way into the country an that's all, the whole thing kind of sounded… weird to me. Not “not right” but also not okay, I just don’t think I had the resources to fully understand and analyze the situation. (3)
My dream is not teaching at all, actually I would hate to teach my own language or any language I know, it is just not my thing, but the discourse was enlightening and I just wanted to thank you because of that. (4)