“I recommend this to those who still have vague doubts about school.
The birth of a school is possible and already exists somewhere.
“After reading this book, I was completely convinced.” _Kim Ji-eun (Children’s and Youth Literature Critic)

The expertise of love, fiercely held on in a space of struggle and exhaustion
Today, too, everyone is working hard in their own places.
I send my regards to countless teachers across the country.

An elementary school classroom where clumsy and immature children sit crowded together.
Beyond those quietly closed doors are teachers.
Teachers begin their classes every day, bearing the weight of expectations and responsibilities that come with the title of "teacher," and looking into the wide eyes of their children.

Elementary school classrooms are much more complex and chaotic than we might imagine.
The classroom, where small, clumsy human hearts come together and scatter, collide and clash, is often like a tangled ball of thread that is difficult to untangle.
Rigid teaching culture and school environment tighten the thread.
Teacher Choi Hyun-hee often thought about classrooms across the country and the teachers who were 'thrown' alone in them.
How is everyone doing?
Are you feeling well physically and mentally?'

He decided to open his own classroom first.
I wrote about my daily classes, the conditions and limitations of school education, and the situations that make it impossible for me to focus solely on teaching children.
In an educational setting where interaction between teachers is increasingly decreasing, Choi Go-sam's records have become a kind of public lecture for teachers.
Many current teachers have gained know-how and strength from him, and while they agree that good education cannot be achieved through the efforts of a teacher alone, they have once again resolved to become good teachers after reading about the best teacher's classroom.
"I liked today's school" is a record of things I've built up through perseverance and hard work.

Teaching may be a profession where the harder you try to teach, the more you sink into a swamp.
As I was preparing to return to work, I tried to suppress my desire to work hard.
You shouldn't work too hard.
Then I got hurt again.
[…] But it’s a little tiring to try so hard without trying hard.
No matter how much I think about it, there is nothing wrong with wanting to work hard.
Just make sure your mind doesn't run too fast, and don't get too disappointed if things don't go well. Even if you do get disappointed, just encourage yourself and start over.
I decide to accept my desire to work hard.

--- p.17

I stand there dumbfounded for a moment in the chaotic classroom.
There was no room for me to intervene, but honestly, I didn't even have the courage to say anything.
I looked at the students carefully, as if I were holding a strategy meeting alone in the midst of the tremendous noise.
If we unfold the words that poured out at that moment one by one, it is as follows.
-What are you doing, teacher?
- You idiot! (shouting)
- You're even more stupid! (shouting more)
- Teacher, aren't you going to teach ethics?
- At this rate, when will we have morals class? I'm going to miss it.
- I'm sorry, teacher.
Our class has always been like this.
- (The student who found the bandage on my foot) Teacher, is your foot hurt?
- Why are you hurt?
- When did you get hurt?
--- p.29

The reason why many teachers and instructors couldn't do anything about the mountain of trash despite going into that class was because Min-gi would scream at the slightest touch.
When I listened, I heard that he wasn't just yelling.
He said he was making a huge fuss, throwing things and stomping his feet.
It seemed like an unspoken rule had developed that it was best to just leave them alone, that it was fortunate that they were there without causing harm to other friends.

--- p.74

There's a lot to swear at in school.
If you gave me one day, twenty-four hours, to tell you what's wrong with my school, I think I could talk nonstop, except for the time I spend eating and going to the bathroom.
School problems cannot be reduced to the faults of one or two individuals. The causes and consequences of problems are intricately intertwined within long-standing cultures, systems, and structures, making it difficult to find a simple solution.
Rather than blaming someone, we need to start by looking at the complex context together.

--- pp.77-78

When you look at the face of a teacher who has just finished a particularly difficult class, you can clearly see that all the energy and vitality has been sucked out of him.
I think if death had a color and tone, it would be something like this.
It's a bit scary how the energy that was clearly there when you greeted me in the morning disappears within a few hours of class.
The saying that teachers live short lives seems to be true.

--- p.78

When I see children outside of school, I feel a strange sense of affection.
Is it because there are times when I discover expressions I haven't seen at school?
The way he is so natural seems a little different from when he was a little nervous at school and had his own social life.
I would too.
Everyone is working hard.
I feel proud, sad, and my heart aches.
--- pp.119-120

It is being revealed that last year, a first-grade teacher consistently divided students by gender in his class.
It is said that even when giving out snacks such as notebooks, t-shirts, and chocolate, they were always given out separately to men and women.
Of course, the girls would have been in pink and the boys in blue, and the lines would have been one for men and one for women.
There's a persistent practice in schools of "sorting" students by gender, yet few teachers seriously consider the impact this has on students.
Yesterday, I received a classroom information form with separate numbers for boys and girls.
I erased '0 boys, 0 girls' and wrote '16 in total'.

--- pp.122-123

“When conducting sports days, I hope you refrain from making comments about students’ appearances, especially gender-specific compliments like, “Men are handsome” or “Women are pretty.”
It's like a machine that plays when you press it a little.
It's like a broken radio that keeps repeating the same thing for years.
Always prepared, you don't even have to think about what to say.
But sending it out always requires a little courage and the determination to sacrifice a little physical strength.

--- pp.174-175

I enjoyed teaching lower grades.
It was rewarding to teach them the basics of learning, or perhaps even the basics of life, one by one.
When sitting at a desk, you should sit so that your sitting height is as high as possible, and to do so, both feet must be firmly planted on the ground.
You have to be able to keep your words to yourself when other people are talking.
[…] When conflicts arise between friends, what kind of feelings do you have and how should you express them? Why do you have to fight with your friends? When I was young, I also fought with whom and how did I feel lonely?

--- pp.195-196

After parting ways with a group of kids, I ran into Jihoon on the stairs leading up to the next floor.
Jihoon's face suddenly distorted in surprise, and tears fell from his eyes.
-Teacher! Are you really a teacher? I missed you.
When are you coming, teacher?
I'm in tears too.
No, I was wondering why I was shedding tears like this because I met someone I missed when I was ten years old.
It must be because you are carrying a heavy heart.
That's what happens when things are tough.
When I meet someone I've been missing, tears come to my eyes.
It's the same for both adults and children.
Jihoon is a student who makes things very difficult and hard for his teacher.
It wasn't easy for me either, but the hardest part was probably me.

--- p.220

The reason that year comes to mind when I see the Seoicho incident is because I realized that even though I was exhausted, I had time and opportunity.
From March to October, I had time.
Education doesn't happen overnight.
Even if you work hard all year, it might not work out.
Dongyeon might have ended up just glaring at me and gone to middle school.
Just wait, be patient, give them a chance, watch over them, reach out, and create a good environment.
That's what education is all about.
Then, the child will eventually grow up in it.
Speed ​​doesn't matter.
In my dozen years of teaching, that's all I believe.
Everyone wants to become a better person.
That time was not given.
As a teacher, I was not given the time or opportunity to endure, to persevere, to try, to get tired, to get angry, to get disappointed.
If you can't help, you should have at least given me time.
Time and patience are the foundation and everything of education, but he left without them.

--- p.227

-But why do people hate and discriminate against homosexuals?
These are the kinds of questions a ten-year-old should be able to ask.
It's not like I'm vaguely frowning or thinking of intercourse.
The people who take away the questions that ten-year-old children should be asking are the ones who are the main culprits of brainwashing.

--- pp.260-261

If you've read this far, it's okay if you don't fully understand the situation.
Just imagine a classroom filled with glaring eyes, furrowed brows, stiff bodies, and shrill voices.
This is like a tangled ball of yarn.
It's so tightly and intricately intertwined that it's frustrating to even look at it, to the point where you don't know where to start.

--- p.270

Because individual lives cannot be solely individual, we must ultimately care for one another and for the betterment of the world.
If a teacher only devotes his or her best efforts to individual subject research in the classroom, but fails to properly understand the real world in which he or she and his or her students live, and fails to engage in correcting injustice in the world, then he or she cannot be said to be prepared to teach.
Sometimes teachers have to go outside the classroom and fight against the absurdity of the world.
I often think with fear how light and empty the words of teachers who do not practice outside the classroom what they teach in it are.

--- pp.333-334

The environment surrounding schools is getting worse.
In some schools, it may be unimaginable to write a classroom diary in peace.
Working in a school where you can avoid the malicious complaints that shake teachers and the school as a whole has become the greatest fortune a teacher can have these days.
[…] I send my gratitude, respect, and solidarity to my colleagues who are holding on to today’s hope to not lose heart as teachers in an increasingly difficult school environment.

--- p.334