Korean Job Discussion Forums

[laconic2]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2878447

"Police will check academic records of 2,800 teachers
Songpa, Seoul crackdown sparked by Shin�s forgery
July 25, 2007
Two years ago, a 23-year-old woman applied for a job as a math instructor at a private institute in Gangnam District, southern Seoul.
She got the job, but had to do one thing first: get a fake certificate saying she�d graduated from the country�s most prestigious school, Seoul National University.
The institute was soon advertising its SNU connection. The woman, who declined to be named, had majored in economics at a woman�s college in Seoul.
�Many cram schools that I applied to demanded the same thing,� said the woman, now 25. �All of the English instructors at the institutions were introduced in the ad as English literature majors from prestigious universities and math instructors as math education majors from those schools.�
Following the recent revelations that art professor Shin Jeong-ah had falsified her academic records, the Songpa Police Precinct said yesterday it was verifying the authenticity of academic records of about 2,800 instructors at private institutes, or hagwon, in the Songpa district of southern Seoul.
Police said it will book those who are found to have faked their degrees.
According to an English instructor in Seongnae-dong, southeastern Seoul, who asked not to be named, there are many cases in which the directors of the institutes themselves cheat. The instructor, 41, said many teachers also get forged records online.
Fake diplomas are easy to get on the Internet. A quick search showed that a forged certificate costs $50 (45,700 won); a grade certificate costs another $50. For $10 more, a person can be an honors graduate, designated magna cum laude or summa cum laude, according to the Web sites.
The Customs Office at Incheon International Airport said yesterday it is confiscating more and more smuggled fake graduation and grade certificates from prestigious local universities. The figure was 20 in 2004, but rose to 80 last year, the airport said.
Through the first half of this year, another 70 have been confiscated.
�In the past, the forged documents we spotted were mostly passports, residential registration cards and driver�s licenses,� said a customs official of the airport, on condition of anonymity. �But since last year, half of them have been graduation and grade certificates.�
According to customs, most of the documents are made in China and Thailand and they are carried in hidden within other documents, books or baggage.


By Chun In-sung JoongAng Ilbo/ Moon Gwang-lip Staff Writer [[email protected]]"

[Yaya]

Great, they can kick out the imposters who are benefiting at the expense of people who didn't have to lie on their resume.

The bad thing is, these incidents keep springing up, and this proves Korean authorities don't take stern action against the offenders.

[genezorm]

i don't understand this article....it's not koreans who are using fake degrees...i think its mostly foreigners

[Roch]

[schwa]

[Alan Partidge]

I used to work at a supposedly reputable institute that had one woman claiming that she had a degree from UCLA, and a man calling himslef a Dr without actually having a PhD.

I spoke to other Korean teachers about it and they pretty much just shrugged. It was more of a gossip/wish I had the balls to do it thing.

I'm pretty much a financial wreck thanks to my degree and student loans. I'm not totally sure on what level, but this just irks me somewhat.

[Yesterday]

[Yaya]

[PeteJB]

Someone told me they got a life-experience degree (that person isn't a teacher, or in Korea though). What the hell is that?

[mehamrick]

[mindmetoo]

[HighTreason]

[Col.Brandon]

It looks like you can't say c-u-m on this forum. I guess we'd better use the medical term - ejaculate.

It's strange what political correctness deems to be obscene... using depleted uranium munitions despite the fact that they've been banned by the United Nations - now that's obscene.

[caniff]

I may be called shallow (again), but it's okay. I have certainly been called worse, and in much more distinguished company. Anyway, my submission:

Have you walked around and noticed a significant (15-25%) percentage of the foreign population 'doesn't look right'? I'm not talking your average uni campus strange dude. I'm talking about that look in their eyes that indicates to the discerning person that something seems sketchy.

There are people here who would wear sandals and a dirty t-shirt to an interview. Forget the fake degrees, they should be kicked out for dressing like retards (we are ambassadors of sorts to this historically xenophobic country). Unfortunately, given the current state of the hagwon market, they can probably get a job if they hit the sidewalks enough.

I guess what I'm saying is that after spending almost five years here, I could get a pretty high score picking out fake degree holders out of a random cross-section of ESLers. But I don't mind them so much if they are motivated, try to do their job well, and don't paint me in a bad light (by the association of us both being westerners).

Other than that, it's all good. If they want to come here with fake degrees and dance with the devil in the pale moonlight, it's up to them.

[Squid]

...and my paycheck goes "Ka-ching" yet again...

I love people getting busted for faking their credentials, local, non-Korean- I don't care.

Every time a coconut folks, legitimate people here get a nice payrise whenever these suckers are weeded out.

Thank you sir, please may I have another.