”Some people don’t have arms. Easter is a special day for them.

Student trying to explain what Easter is before I distributed Peeps to my class.

My students accidentally coined a new term today: “troublem.” From trouble + problem. I like it.

Pseudoscience in Korea: Fan Death

Among proponents of science and skeptical thought, it is a widely held belief that poor quality of science education is a major cause of pseudoscientific thought. Increasing the quality of science education, they argue, would likely result in a more rational population.

Several studies in recent years have regularly placed South Korea among nations with the best quality of science and math education. Incidentally, I am currently six months into my one-year teaching contract in South Korea.

What follows in this post is an account of one the the most prevalent pseudoscientific beliefs in South Korea. The purpose of this post is not the make fun of Koreans—I am, after all, American and I am reminded of some prescient advice involving glass houses and stones. Rather, I aim to explore in this blog the nature of uncritical thinking and how scientific knowledge does not a skeptic make. In future posts, I will direct my attention to other popular pseudoscientific thoughts in Korea.