Korean Job Discussion Forums

[garykasparov]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/

I applaud your publication of "A Message to Korean Parents" (Oct. 13).

Korean families invest much money and effort in helping their children acquire English or other foreign languages, so their children can compete successfully in the 21st century.

Meanwhile, the entire issue of how teachers are recruited in Korea is problematic. At 58, I am an older teacher with four years of Korea experience -- from kindergarten through university students. My teacher ratings from school administrators, fellow teachers, parents and my students are high, but it is very difficult for me to obtain employment, despite the fact that I voluntarily put in extra time, develop lesson plans and include innovative approaches in the classroom such as drama and role-play.

Example: Recently I was encouraged to apply for the EPIK program, a government-run English teacher recruitment program that places foreign teachers in public schools throughout Korea, only to be told (after hours of preparing the documents) that EPIK has set an age limit of 55 for teachers in this nationwide program.

The joke among foreign ESL teachers in Korea is that the ideal teacher is a 25-year-old blond Canadian female with 10 years of experience, an M.A. TESOL, and a large bosom. This is, of course, an impossible dream.

Yet many schools -- public, private, university -- will hire very young teachers in a heartbeat, and then complain that they don't have the experience to teach effectively.

I have met some exceptionally effective younger teachers in Korea, but too many young teachers are not just inexperienced, they are simply not interested in their jobs. Korea is often just a playground for them.

People of color -- whether black, Hispanic, other Asians -- find it exceptionally difficult to find jobs in Korea.

Older men tend to find jobs more easily than older women, but all older teachers (and "old" seems to begin at 40 in Korea) face an uphill struggle to locate suitable jobs.

One small (but welcome) irony: A few years back, Korean-Americans seem to have suffered extreme discrimination in locating jobs. Now I see a growing number of advertisements specifying Korean-Americans! Why don't the schools just look for qualified teachers -- without respect to age, gender, ethnicity, etc.?

How can Korea expect to meet the increasing demand for qualified teachers? It's clear that Korea needs experienced teachers, and the rampant age, gender and racial discrimination makes it difficult to recruit the teachers you desperately need.

Another example: A Westerner who taught with me in a public school program in Gyeonggi Province a few years back reports that some new recruits seem to be backpackers, who often come and go on a whim when they've saved up enough money to be on their way. And these are public school contracts!

Leaving alone for a moment the many useful points that Mr. Schertzer, who contributed the Oct. 13 letter, made about classroom assessments, wouldn't Korean parents prefer that native speaker teachers be recruited because they were competent? Not because they were young, blond, tall, or whatever?

I can assure you that the students don't care. I have very warm relationships with all levels of student that I have taught, and I'm old enough to be the grandmother of some of them. After two or three days of ogling young, tall, blond Western teachers, all students will wind up responding to them on the basis of their teaching ability and personality anyway. The novelty wears off quickly!

I hope this is an issue that can be addressed on the national level. Korean students and their parents deserve better.


Connie Arnold, a former English instructor at Pocheon Cha University and with the Gunpo public school system, lives in Seattle, Washington. -- Ed.






2007.10.18

[spyro25]

anyone with a korean herald subscription want to post that 'message to korean parents' article here or PM me with it? It would be useful for my dissertation...

[Juregen]

Everyone knows this, except the people who should.

[davejohnson333]

If you would not mind changing your location I hear that older teachers are very respected in China.

Dave

[davejohnson333]

I pulled this out of my private message box and I think it will help:

The person told me:

"I noticed one of your replies said that "old age" is a big detriment here. I can't say that I agree. I'm 63, came 4 months ago. I know two other teachers in this small city who are 57 and 48.

Good luck"

[Milwaukiedave]

I think there are so very large cultural differences in Korea in terms of how people are treated as employee or potential employees.

Certainly first off, the laws are much tougher in the US in terms of discrimination on age, race, gender or religious beliefs. I've been in interviews in Korea where I've been asked questions like, "Are you married or do have a girlfreind?", "What religion are you?", "How old are you?" and so on. Those types a questions are really taboo in western culture (specifically the US).

The writer does have a point about schools (especially hagwons) wanting the 20 something year old Canadian/American blonde hair, blue eyed female teacher. I have met many older people who are just as good of a teacher as their younger counterparts. It's a shame that they are treated so poorly because of their age. It's a lesson Koreans are going to have to learn the hard way.

[Pak Yu Man]

Yet this article falls on deaf ears. Translate this and stick it in a Korean (language) newspaper and some people might see our side.

[Ya-ta Boy]