Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jurassic82]

Many of you who have been in Korea for some time now are more than aware of the control that parents have on our bosses as of course they probablly should. What comed with this is irrational complaints over small petty things. Every week we have teachers meetings and I hear the same BS about parents complaining. Same complaints not enough homework, my kid doesn't do his/her homework, etc... Today, I heard a complaint from a parent because I skipped a 2 pages in the book. The pages that I that I happened to skip was one with a song and a maze on it and another with a listening exercise on it where they had to number the pictures 1 to 4. The kids weren't grasping the material so I skipped these pages so we could go back and review the material. I skipped it as I felt it wasn't important at that time. I didn't feel it was the wrong descision. The parent complained because she could understand why there was a blank page in the book. My boss sat me down and told what had happened. I was wondering what are some of the craziest complaints many of you out there have had to hear from parents. So far I have heard many good ones. I hope to be entertained by some of your stories.

[Big Mac]

Those sound like pretty standard parent complaints in Korea. Just give them lots of homework, don't skip any pages in the book (even if they do look dumb and pointless), try to put as many red marks on as many pages as possible (to show that you've been checking their books) and make every effort you can to make sure they do their homework. Korea's all about image, not quality. If their kids come home with some sort of evidence that the teacher is doing his job, then they're happy. Even if you're spending more time creating this evidence than actually teaching.

Really, at my last hogwan, they actually wanted me to spend at least 20 minutes in a 40 minute class creating this sort of evidence for the parents. They didn't care that I was spending more time making red marks everywhere than actually teaching. The evidence for the parents was more important. It was stupid, but it is the way things work here.

You can try taking privileges away from them if they don't do their homework or take other disciplinary measures. I know it sounds crazy, but parents in Korea really do believe that it is our responsibility as teachers to make sure the children do their homework. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do...but the parents don't think logically on this one.

As for weird complaints...

I had a complaint once that I was British because I spelled "colour" with a "u." This parent was ready to pull her kid out of the school because she only wanted her kid taught by a North American. She failed to realize that Canadians spell "colour" with a "u" too. The kid stayed after the administration assured the parent that I really was Canadian...and I was hauled into the office and told to use American spellings at all times to avoid complaints from parents.

Parents went wild when I wrote report cards in cursive handwriting once. They either thought I was writing in code or that I had extremely messy printing. I was getting complaints for months that the kids couldn't read my messy style of printing on the board. My printing is extremely readable...and I never write in cursive in the classroom. They didn't know that because they only saw the report cards and assumed I wrote the same on the board. They also failed to realize that there are two styles of writing by hand in English. It was beyond their capacity of understanding. To them, it was just messiness.

[hellofaniceguy]

I have told parents who complain straight out....keep your mounth shut....your English speaking skills are terrible....you better get a refund from the school where your parents paid for you to learn English....and don't tell me how to do my job.
If all you have to do is whine...take your child elsewhere...I have other parents whose child is really making an effort to learn unlike yours.
And yes....seriously....I have told them that...the directors' have gotten worried, etc....but...it blows over.