10: kumon sux!!#$@!!%!!!!!

Kumon. You know you're Asian if you see these five letters and shudder.

Kumon is every Asian kid's personal hell. Protocol demands that if you're not already spending your Saturday morning in Chinese School, you must go to this little building often located in an Asian shopping center and do math worksheets. By yourself. To, you know, understand stuff better, or to get a head start on studying for the math portion of the SAT, or to drill "3 + 2 x 4 = 11, not 20" into your head.

Fortunately, I've never been sent(enced) to Kumon, though my sister played that hapless role at the ripe old age of 12, perhaps 13. (I imagine that, had I been propositioned to go, another sort of personal hell would've been in the making... Ha, just kidding. Maybe.)

Anyway, that was roughly 1995. Now, it's 2009, and Kumon has received a bit of a makeover since then...

Then:


Now:

The new trademark is kind of cute, huh? It's pretty simple, with the sky blue and a clever little face embedded in the name... Significantly more streamlined than the old logo with the awkward, clashing royal blue-and-white color combination, and the creepy dot pattern that kind of reminds me of a disease (no pictures to illustrate my meaning, but you could always do an image search for "measles"). Apparently, Kumon's new logo is referred to as the "thinking face" and represents that of both children and adults. The sky-blue color is supposed to represent human intellect, integrity and earnestness. Erm, okay. (via Wikipedia)

Kumon, your logo may be more modern and way less passé than before, but the "o" ain't doing NOTHIN' for you... especially when said "thinking face" looks more like an "I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a dull spoon than be here, at Kumon, on this Saturday morning" face. Or maybe it's just a "meh" face. Yes, I think that's it. Meh. I mean, come on. Nothing says "WARNING, WARNING, AVOID AT ALL COSTS" like an unamused expression on a chubby face! Seriously.

So, I guess, on second thought, maybe Kumon hasn't really been that made-over... Maybe the logo is completely accurate and appropriate, after all.

All right, I'm not entirely serious about all the Kumon hate. Personally, if I had gone to Kumon, I probably would have liked it. I actually sort of have a thing for algebra and calculus...