Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GaryCooper]

Although I have my problems with the current E-2 visa reforms, I think we as teachers should be as transparent as possible with regard to our criminal backgrounds. We should, because we as a group have begged for the regulations now upon us.

It may be said that we are a minority in this country, one that needs to fight the prejudices of the majority. The current prejudice is that foreigners teaching English in this country are doing so because they are somehow unfit for work in their own countries. By this reasoning, it makes sense that so many of them are pot-smoking, beer-swilling losers who don't know squat about teaching and don't care what happens to their kids, that they are oppotunistic money-grubbers willing to fake credentials and do as many illegal private lessons as possible.

As a minority in this country, we should try to show ourselves as individuals to the Koreans we come in contact with, as people who don't fit the mold that less enlightened Koreans have made for us. Regardless of the perceptions we as a group have seemed to accrue, we need to show that our nationality, color, gender, and so forth does not matter when judging us as individual teachers.

This is a strategy that has worked before. I worked for a place that was reluctant to hire women. They seemed too flighty, lacked loyalty, did not approach teaching seriously, etc. for this employer's tastes. Just one problem after another, these women. However, when backed into a corner to replace outgoing teachers with, oh well, more women, this employer found them to be dedicated workers who produced greater profits. They went on to prove the prejudice wrong, and the employer was able to double the number of potential recruits. A happy ending against prejudice, I think.

My fellow foreigner, your legal recourse against these new laws is nil. You can talk about requirements all you like, but the fact is we're all at the legal mercy of whatever immigration decides. As a group, we are not as credible as you would like to believe.

However, though we don't have much legal recourse, we do have moral recourse: prove to your students on a daily basis that you are not the loser the media may think you are. Fighting this stereotype in large numbers is something that we, alas, are not doing, perhaps because of the work it would involve. Plan lessons, grade work, follow up on student performance, etc. -- the serious teaching that few expect of us. The word gets out that one of the good ones works at so-and-so hogwan, and that he or she is doing good by somebody�s son or daughter. That's how the revolution for greater foreign-teacher empowerment has to begin.

So long as we're performing on average as the fly-by-night employees of our fly-by-night employers, we are begging for all this government oversight. Don't like the new laws? Don't teach as if they would be necessary. Don't fit the stereotype. Take teaching much more seriously than John Q. Backpacker does. Then maybe we can fight the negative perception that taints all of us, which in turn can fight the regulations.

I submit that this is not the only strategy we need to upgrade our image, but it is an essential one.

Your thoughts?

[lucas_p]

Well put.

I have always tried to live my life doing whatever I did to the best of my ability. It has allowed me to move up in ranks back home, as well as jump up the teaching job "ranks" here quickly as well.

I think respect is one of the most important things anyone can have. Respect for others, for themselves, for the job that they do, whatever that may be.

If one follows that way of thinking, it may take an investment at first, but the rewards become abundantly clear not too long after -- and it is something that stays with you forever, as I know that I can go into any industry with excellent referrals and contacts.

[CPT]

The thing that bothers most people, is that one thing doesn't really have anything to do with the other.

Does being "arrested" for going to a house party that police were called to mean that you can't be a good teacher?

On the flip side, you can have teachers that pass all of their checks that will still be the lazy, show up for class hungover, yet still find cause to complain, kind of teachers.

[stevieg4ever]

As far as I am concerned its Korean soil and with issues such as these I dont have a problem. Then again I dont have a criminal record so I would be inclined to take that view. I was shocked and astonished to learn (from a recent thread) of how many teachers in Korea actually had a criminal record. I might get flamed for this but, for me, a criminal record of any kind is a big deal.

In the UK you cant work in social services or with vulnerable persons full stop if you have a criminal record. Im not sure whether this covers 'minor' offences but the law is the law im afraid UK or Korea.

Korea needs to take much more precautions in the recruitment of foreign teachers, thats a no-brainer. I would also like to see more done to penalise the Korean profiteers in ESL ie hagwon boses, recruiters etc all in good time is all we hope for in that respect I guess.

[Yesterday]

[zizi]

I think the problem lies in not being taken seriously, and schools that don't take English education seriously, just money. I am at one of those schools and it is so tiring, and such an uphill battle to try and teach professionally one, to get decent material for the students, and to teach classes of students that are all on the right level, and have enough room in the classroom for every student to have a place to sit. The hagwons don't take us seriously, a lot of the students don't, and after arriving here and having the illusion of actually teaching smashed, our attitude towards this job changes over time. Korea sparkling, it's hard to take so many things seriously here and not lose your mind.

[lucas_p]