Yesterday, I was talking to a Korean mother who wants me to tutor her 9th grader in English and writing. When describing her child's educational needs, literally one of the first words out of her mouth were: SAT.

I have to say, I'm qualified to do the job--I was a writing tutor in college, after all. I consider myself a decent writer. And I've had some great experiences tutoring kids in reading and writing.

But as I described in my essay 'Being Korean' in December, I saw the Korean academic competitiveness in full display, here in the States. It doesn't matter what the daughter wants--standardized tests are what matters.