A Study of the Teachers’ Culture in a Mission Academic High School

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this thesis is to understand and analyze how the teachers in mission school perceive themselves both as teachers and christians in carrying out their dual-duties and satisfy their roles in a very comparative forms of high school system. Among other methods, in-depth observation on teacher’s participation on the project and personal interviews were taken as research tools and other surveyed informations were used as reference materials as well. The results of the research on ‘different characteristics of the teachers’ culture revealed in Hansarang high schools’ are as follows: One of main characteristics of the teachers’ culture shared in Hansarang High School is the ‘free giving trees’ culture. The whole concept of that particular culture covers the bases of the Hansarang school education and it encourages teachers to be more caring and considerate of others, even if they are obliged to achieve higher goals in education. The ‘free giving trees’ also includes cultures like ‘sharing’, ‘wooden support’, and ‘guardian angel’, and which reflect the same ideas. Another type is the ‘poomahtshi’(exchanging works) culture in Hansarang, which can be rephrased as ‘interchanging assistance’ or ‘moral-duties among colleagues’. The concept is correlated with the spirit of christianity which has its foundation on sacrifice and sharing. In that category, there are other cultures with the same concept such as sharing food , being together , and sharing hearts . Even though the necessity of it has been questioned many times, the sharing food culture has been enjoyed and practiced for decades as a tradition and serves as a main source that bonds teachers together. The third culture the teachers share in Hansarang is the ‘focusing on the heaven’ culture which motivate teachers to be more of christians than just being mere teachers found everywhere. Another words, it is the culture that encourages teachers to ‘navigate toward the heaven’, looking onto the higher goals beyond the limits within themselves. Other same patterns are like experiencing nature and playing-out two roles cultures.