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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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hubba bubba
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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 Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| CentralCali wrote: |
I saw the beginning of the letter and it's incredibly offensive. In short, it says, "The congressman, who's aware of 106 of you native English teachers having falsified your credentials, has mandated [...]." I interrupted my senior coteacher and told her, "I will not do it." She kept reading the thing, so I started screaming at her. When she tried to get it across to me what the BMOE was asking for (which I knew because she had the letter open in front of me), I got even louder and started cursing.
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Coteacher got the same thing, but I only got the page with the verification websites. Was that part in English? |
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tiger fancini
Joined: 21 Mar 2006
Location: Testicles for Eyes
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| Did anyone mention yet that merely being able to log into your university web site doesn't imply you've graduated. And what stops a person from getting an ID/# from a friend? Geez. Typical Korean half assery that's going to make honest teachers pay and provide an easy way for scammers to dodge the system again. Jesus christ, Koreans, just make a phone call to the university reg office. Holy freakin' crap. If there's no one in your english teaching enterprise that can make such a call, then you don't deserve staff. |
Yeah typical really.... Let's see now, you can fake degrees, transcripts, references, health checks etc. What is a cast-iron way to establish that this person is the real deal? I know, we'll check it out on the internet - that place is safe as houses....  |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| hubba bubba wrote: |
| CentralCali wrote: |
I saw the beginning of the letter and it's incredibly offensive. In short, it says, "The congressman, who's aware of 106 of you native English teachers having falsified your credentials, has mandated [...]." I interrupted my senior coteacher and told her, "I will not do it." She kept reading the thing, so I started screaming at her. When she tried to get it across to me what the BMOE was asking for (which I knew because she had the letter open in front of me), I got even louder and started cursing.
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Coteacher got the same thing, but I only got the page with the verification websites. Was that part in English? |
Nope. In Korean. The part I love about it is that, due to my university actually obeying both federal and California law (my state has, or at least used to have, some very strict laws regarding a person's academic information), my principal will have to do some hoop jumping himself. He's a good guy and he retires at the end of this school year.
I think I left off another part of the opening of the letter I find offensive: "This is required so we may forward to the prosecutor's office the names of those found to have invalid credentials."
By the way, I never had any intention of not complying. I just felt the need to express myself over the 25 minute notification. |
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IncognitoHFX
Joined: 06 May 2007
Location: Yeongtong, Suwon
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Can't they just do a conference call to your university's regristrar with you, and... ask? |
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Mosley
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not w/SMOE but I got the same BS request yesterday. I've been here since March & I've been very tolerant of various FUs but this royally pissed me off-for all the reasons that have already been listed. Felt bad for my co-teacher too-poor woman has enough crap on her head w/o this nonsense. She seemed genuinely embarrassed about the whole thing.
Bottom line? I ain't doing anything-the Ed. Off. can give my docs to the cops or whoever & they can shove them. |
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Cater
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm in Daegu and I'm in the same boat. I actually had to stay home today because my daughter was sick, but I have been called 6 times in the course of 1 hour to answer more questions. It's completely ridiculous. My co-teacher says she needs everything by tomorrow, which technically is no problem, but the way it's being handled is just unbelievable! |
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SeoulShakin
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I work for SMOE, and today is the 25th. I leave in 15 minutes, and have heard nothing about it. I wonder if it was sent to everyone, or if they were scared and only sent it to the male teachers? |
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whatever
Joined: 11 Jun 2006
Location: Korea: More fun than jail.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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| This all seems so ill-conceived and offensive. I feel really fortunate not to be in the shoes of those off you on the receiving end of the nonsense... |
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jaganath69
Joined: 17 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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Luckily my school had my info on file and sent it off. I informed them that the criminal record check would take considerably longer and they would have to wait for it. I'm leaving in three months, anyhow, so I also told them they should get their ducks in a row vis-a-vis the four or so new teachers they plan to hire to start in March.
One thing though, someone mentioned getting angry at a co-teacher for reading the letter. These people are just the monkeys, not the organ grinders and are just doing what is requested of them by higher up. My Korean co-teacher is a decent bloke and he concurred with me that it's a load of bollox and I told him in return I know it's his job and that I feel sorry for him, what with all the extra work. So please, don't take it out on your co-teachers, instead mail a turd to the relevant ministry and make sure you eat some extra-spicy kimchi the night before.  |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 11:39 pm Post subject: |
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so will all this criminal record check stuff mean that Korean schools will actually start arranging for teachers months in advance?
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hubba bubba
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| jaganath69 wrote: |
One thing though, someone mentioned getting angry at a co-teacher for reading the letter. These people are just the monkeys, not the organ grinders and are just doing what is requested of them by higher up. My Korean co-teacher is a decent bloke and he concurred with me that it's a load of bollox and I told him in return I know it's his job and that I feel sorry for him, what with all the extra work. So please, don't take it out on your co-teachers, instead mail a turd to the relevant ministry and make sure you eat some extra-spicy kimchi the night before. |
I'm glad someone said this. It's not the coteacher's fault. I think my coteacher was kinda embarrassed to have to go through it with me. Bullsh1t is bullsh1t, and everyone can see it. I'm sure they have to go through similar carp that we just don't know about. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| IncognitoHFX wrote: |
| Can't they just do a conference call to your university's regristrar with you, and... ask? |
No. Anyone could pretend to be me. What's required is signed permission from me. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:08 am Post subject: |
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| jaganath69 wrote: |
| One thing though, someone mentioned getting angry at a co-teacher for reading the letter. |
That would be I. I wasn't upset with her for reading the letter. I was upset with her for continuing with reading the letter when I told her that its requirements are not possible since my university does not maintain that information online for all and sundry to view and for dropping it in my lap 25 minutes before it was due.
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| These people are just the monkeys, not the organ grinders and are just doing what is requested of them by higher up. My Korean co-teacher is a decent bloke and he concurred with me that it's a load of bollox and I told him in return I know it's his job and that I feel sorry for him, what with all the extra work. |
My senior coteacher is generally a decent sort but in this case all she would do is repeat, "What's the problem? All you have to do is provide the information now." That's the problem! It can't be provided now. She realizes how offensive the whole thing is, though, and understands why people are blowing up over it.
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| So please, don't take it out on your co-teachers, instead mail a turd to the relevant ministry and make sure you eat some extra-spicy kimchi the night before. |
Funny! Actually, what this country needs is more people who will stand up to stupid bureaucratic requirements and irrational deadlines. I know the way things are done here is "the way they've always been done." That doesn't always work, though. Let me put it this way: Korea sometimes seems to me like a 60 year old brothel. When it started servicing clients, the hooker was great: young, fresh, beautiful, friendly. The business was going strong and the customers were young and willing to spend their money to get some service at the brothel. 60 years on, the new crop of customers are young and willing to spend their money to get some service at the brothel. Same hooker, though.
The local bureaucrats have to realize that the new customers (foreigners who are going to spend their money and/or time here) are not the same dudes who showed up when the place opened (Koreans). They need to provide a different service (plan ahead and make rational requests). |
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PeterDragon
Joined: 15 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:26 am Post subject: |
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I got stuck with this BS last week, and again this week. Last week, my co-teacher asked me if I remembered my student login for my University. I informed her that I had no student login; those are only for current students. She called back the educational office, told them this, and they said they would settle for anything publicly hosted on my university's website that listed me as an alumni. Fortunately, my university keeps the handbills from commencement ceremonies publicly available in PDF. I learned this by Googling my first, middle and last name in tandem with my University name, then combing through every place my name appears on the university website. It's worth trying, they may be dumb enough to settle for ANY instance of your name on the site; who knows?
THIS WEEK, they asked for another copy of my sealed transcripts and another criminal background check. When my co-teacher told me this, I didn't raise my voice or swear, but she could see in my eyes that I wanted to. I pointed out to her that I had already submitted my transcripts twice, because the educational office "lost" them the first time. When she explained to me that it was because of the Canadian pedophile, I asked her a rhetorical question--- I asked her if her brother in Iowa City had to resubmit his immigration papers this past spring when "Killcrazy" Cho shot up Virginia Tech. She admitted that he hadn't, and promptly called the Educational office and got them to back down... for now. I'm still ordering another copy of my background check and my transcripts just in case. I've called my recruiter (who still keeps in touch with me). He says he'll go to bat for me if another request for my papers is made. I've also contacted the GEPIK regional coordinator, a fellow American, and filed a complaint. He says to hang tight for now; he'll meet with me and help me determine a course of action if any real trouble arises from this.
It's all bull$#it. |
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rabbitsaregood
Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:22 am Post subject: |
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The Korea Herald is interested in running a story on this. If anyone would like to talk about it please e-mail me.
If you would like to be anonymous, it would be good to know the type and location of your school (e.g. High School in Gyeonggi province).
Regards,
Paul from the Korea Herald
[email protected] |
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