Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oatmeal]

I've been teaching in Korea (elementary) for many years now.
It's been great for the most part and I consider myself very fortunate
that I've had many great teachers to work with over the years (I've heard a lot about the nightmare situations).

I was wondering if some of you could give some input on your thoughts about this particular social behavior I've always thought really stands out in Korean culture.

I've always known that Korean girls (elementary level) but I'm sure still in MS and HS (to a lesser extent) seem to flirt or banter a lot with male teachers (particular the younger male Korean teachers). It's not that the male teachers are flirting with the girls or anything like that. But there is this thing where they talk and sound different with a male teacher than when they have a female teacher. I don't know how to explain it but it's this korean thing (I'm sure you've seen it on variety shows etc) where the females all makes loud noises to males whenever they do anything (interesting or not). It's kinda like the equivalent in english to "oooohh" and "ahhhhhh" or "woooow"....but english students in North Ameria or Europe don't collectively make those noises. Growing up in a North American school my whole life, I've never been in a class where all the girls makes loud noises collectively as a way to have fun or banter or play or flirt with the male teacher. Guys and girls always seem to react or respond relatively equally.

But in Korea, the girls clearly react differently to male teachers. I'll hear them yell, play fight, be sarcastic, and all kinds of stuff to their male teachers but not to their female teachers. They will of course do it to me also but to a lesser extent because while I can speak Korean...I'm not quite as native at it and the cultural understanding.

Of course, it doesn't happen with everything male teacher or grade. It often does depend on the makeup of the students per class, and if that male teacher is somewhat young or 'modern' enough for that to happen. Some old school male teachers will never receive any of that kind of playful flirtatious behavior from the girls. They are just dead scared and don't have much enthusiasm in the class.

The boys seem to act the same whether it's a male or female teacher. I've had very attractive and young female teachers at my school but the boys don't act different with them...like they don't start making loud noises collectively in response to every question given by the young and attractive female teacher. They just act the same....boys will be boys.

I don't think there really is a right answer to this but it's something that is very strong and noticeable in the school and since I have 90% male teacher this year at my school, well, you can guess why I'm asking.

Don't get me wrong though. The male teachers are all amazing. They are professional and very good teachers, and they know when to joke or play around and when to be serious. I'm jealous they have such good command over their students like that. But it's also annoying sometimes when I hear it and it's not something I can ignore since the classes are all around me and that's what I hear everyday. It's not a problem to the principal's either. It's always like that. It's just a Korean thing I guess.

[itiswhatitis]

It seems for middle school that having a teacher of the opposite sex is usually better (a foreign teacher of the opposite sex at least).

My sister is 152 CM and has a very small frame. She thought that teaching at an all girls middle school would be a good idea since she thought that they would be easier for her to control than boys/mixed gender. She was 22 at the time.

She ended up being bullied by her students and some of the individual girls were downright belligerent towards her. My sister looks young for her age and is very cute (not bragging, just details). Some of her students basically treated her like another middle school girl that they were jealous of.

During her summer camp she took a student into the hallway to scold. The student was bigger than her and yelled and talked over her and got into her personal space/physically intimidated her. The student ended up scolding her instead and she was very scared. She did not pursue discipline after the incident with the Korean co-teacher because she was very upset and wanted to forget about it.

I'm sure there are things that she could have done different. However any reasonable person can sympathize somewhat.

After one year she got a job at an elementary school. She loved it.

[Keeper]

I have heard that in my classrooms but I don't think it is in any way flirting. It's more like cliques doing what they observe from others. There is also some immaturity at play. I believe the same thing happens too with women teachers. Maybe some can chime in and respond. That's just how Koreans are. It's a cultural thing and I find it very heartwarming. I wish that my own culture would do the same thing but sadly they are too caught up in their own emotional instabilities echoed from the adults around them.

The next time you walk down the street count the number of times you see two girls who are holding hands or are arm-in-arm. I've seen boys do the same thing to one another. I have also been fortunate to have male Korean friends and they are more apt to touch your body/arm than elsewhere in the world. Now, these things are not sexual just as what you are seeing is not being flirtatious.

[oatmeal]

Yes, it's definitely not real flirting. Most of the young male teachers are actually already married and obviously quite stable people. It just makes me ask this tough question because I personally believe the dynamics of a teaching environment do change depending upon the gender of the teacher and the gender of the students. I'm not sure if educational teaching books/courses actually tell you that it shouldn't change.

Do we identify and accept that teaching patterns or behavior can change due to different genders of teachers or students or is it supposed to be the same no matter what?

For example, we are often told that teachers should not have "favorites" or play favoritism. So if a teacher does, is that considered a bad teacher or immature or improperly trained/uneducated teacher? I will be the first to admit that I do play favorites. I won't treat someone bad/worse because they are not my favorites but I certainly will give little perks or advantages to students that I personally like more than others. I know that sounds kinda bad, but I believe you give everyone a fair chance at all times but the ones that become your favorites separate themselves or earn it so to speak.
Well, that's another topic but back to the original.

I feel like male teachers, especially the younger the ones who seem to like getting attention (need it?) more so that older male teachers who just seem chill and don't need the attention from their students, esp. the girls. I've had 50+ year old male teachers before and I never sensed any kind of overstepping their toes......if I was getting a lot of attention from the students, esp. the girls (because it seems to just be more visible and audible), I never got the sense the male older male teachers were bothered by it. But I do get the sense with that from my younger male teachers (not all, but in general, majority). Male teachers reading this might understand where I am coming from or what I am getting at. We'll never really say it to each other but it's almost as if it's a competitive thing among males to just be the "popular" one or the one that gets most of the attention.

When there are so many males all teaching at the same time (such as my case) I definitely feel a difference in my school atmosphere. This is why I think it's not good to have so many of the same type of teachers in the same school. I know that the education board just assigns teachers to wherever every 2-4 years...but don't they ever think about this? With all the studies done in education, wouldn't they know that it's not particularly a great idea to have say 4 or 5 20-40 year old males all teaching at the same school? It would be the same if all the teachers were over 50+ in the same school. Shouldn't they try to balance it out as much as possible?

My school used to have a wonderful balance/mix of old female and male teachers (1 - 3) along with a few younger teachers male and female (2- 3) and we all perfectly got along well.

Now all the teachers are young and they seem to form a buddy group because they can relate to each other, but I miss having some "odd" teachers around that just don't fit in....it actually helps to balance and counteract this kind of thing.