Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sojourner1]

Many people cite that there is a great deal of negativity on Daves, and there is, but the fact is, there are real problems with shady hagwon directors causing foreigners to give Korea a bad rap. At first, I blew it off as some people just being big babies, but this simply is not the case. I did manage to work most things out through diligence and tact, but a bad director never stops her game until you do. While I am disappointed, I do realize my experience is typical and not as bad as some more atypical experiences. I am not giving Korea a bad rap, but large chain hagwon franchises simply are not good for parents, students, and teachers due to dishonest financial management practices and an intentional lack of communication. Most all of them try to get over on you when it comes to many small amounts of money and then will not tell you what you need to know in paying your bills while they say they are taking bills out of your pay. They are so disorganized and will leave you in the dark despite your efforts to inquire about finding out the things you need to know. They will fool a newbie into thinking it's a good school and they will do the right thing, because this simply is not the case even with a pretty kindy school that costs 1 million won a month per student.

It was very hard for me to complete a contract to the end as the director was slimy, trying, and hoping I would go away so she wouldn't have to pay me while she had to keep me to keep her business model going. I seen where she was hiring for my position 2 and 3 months before my completion date to start ASAP as I created an email account to investigate and was talking with her and my head teacher via internet about my own job! They were trying to do an 11th hour firing, but didn't have anyone to replace me!

I had many last minute changes sprung on me as if things were emergency issue and I were being irresponsible, but the fact was, I had no way of knowing all these sorts of specifics. I had utility services shut off several times and the director acted like it was my fault when it was hers and would not tell me what I needed know. They failed to plan and communicate anything and then acted like it was my fault. This put me in an embarrassing situation and the director makes you out to be irresponsible. Large chain hagwon directors do know what they are doing, especially those who are fluent with speaking, reading, and writing English like mine is. She was intentionally late on paying the last 2 months of my pension and when I asked her about it last week, she says she paid, but NPS says not and then she comes up with all this that I caused her bad credit. She says she wants me to visit her school again. I will to let her know what I really think and know now that I don't work for her.

I finished my hagwon contract 3.5 months ago and heard from my director 2 days ago on email who said she has bad credit from me not paying my phone bill of 20,000 won! Since that phone was in her name and if she was paying her bill for all her #'s, then she must had knew about. Also, I told her about the last phone call on my last day and she agreed to take it out of my tax return as for my final exorbitantly high handwritten utility bill sprung on me at 8PM of my last night. Surprise! Surprise! She also agreed to take out the 170K final utility bill for the last 2 weeks of my stay and says my 500K won tax return won't cover it. Every time I would attempt to communicate about these sensitive issues, she would say I don't understand nor respect Korean culture which is a crock of shit. Fact is, I almost know I will discover that she pocketed my taxes instead of doing the right thing; paying to the national tax service. Normally my utilities totaled 70K to 100K, but she told me in January it was 170K for the last 2 weeks and now says 500,000 won't cover a total of 190K now that I got NPS on her for failure to turn in my pension money. It's only right I get my last 300K of pension and 300K of tax return after the final bill deduction.

I reminded her 2 days ago how we agreed that my final unpaid bills were going to come out of my tax return. She acted like she forgot about my phone number on her account at the bank as well as our agreed upon arrangements! She can't manage for nothing; just a crook who puts on a good face. Last Friday, I told her she is wrong and why it is so. While this is losing face, she caused me to lose face by playing these money games on me in a deceitful manner which was embarrassing and frustrating during most of my time in Korea. She is a lying and irresponsible sack of shit is what she is with her excuses and corrupt games with utility services and small amounts of money as well as operating illegally and unethically. What a lying and using deceitful bitch!


* If you are going to Korea, help the Korean government bring English teachers to public schools and decrease the size of the corrupt hagwon industry as it's no good for parents, teachers, and students by joining the public school system. Don't work for English Friends, Kids Club, etc. Look out for your health and welfare first, instead of suffering worry, fear, and anger over a deceitful hagwon director as your boss. Do understand that the Korean government wants foreign teachers in the public school system; not hagwons for these and many more reasons.

[Vlad Spinner]

You advise public schools, but if my experience is anything to go by, that's where you'll find the worst abuse: Teachers beating the crap out of students with big, mean sticks, savagely twisting their ears, slapping them or even punching them full in the face, hitting them over the head with books.

Make no mistake, folks: By the standards of almost any other country on earth, the average Korean public school teacher BELONGS IN JAIL, on a LONG, EXTENDED STINT. The average Korean school teacher IS GUILTY OF BATTERY AND ASSAULT, GUILTY OF CHILD ABUSE/MOLESTATION (ahh . . . the irony of these new E-2 regs! The utter, effing irony! Sweet Jesus!), deserves FRONT-PAGE HUMILIATION IN LOCAL AND NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS, together with immediate and permanent REVOCATION of his/her teaching license.

Korea really is that bad. It's a horrible, wicked, evil country, where child abuse of the very worst sort has been so completely normalized that no one things twice about it. That's the awful truth about Korea.

Public schools are also where you'll find the biggest and worst lies (eg, the "Three Kingdoms" lie, the Dokdo lie, and all the rest of it) being taught as truth. Seeing these kids being brainwashed into a belief in Korean greatness each and every day will do you no good at all. As though the physical abuse were not bad enough, these kids are being mentally abused as well. The Korean educational system propagates lies as a matter of course. It is utterly anti-human, and obscene.

If institutionalized child abuse appeals to you, however, go right ahead. No country on earth mistreats its children the way Korea does--and there's a per capita suicide rate to prove it!

None of this is prejudice. Rather, it's POST-judice. I taught English in Korea for nearly seven years, both at kiddie and adult hakwons, and at a regular secondary school. I worked in a law office for a year, did all the regular expat things, dated locals, made Korean friends. It took me years to begin to understand just how really rotten-at-the-core Korea is, because they'll do an awfully good job at fooling you, those who smile and ape Chinese/Japanese manners, pretending to be human when in fact they send their kids off for savage beatings and think nothing of it.

Koreans are not human beings. My proof: Members of the human species, homo sapiens, protect their young. Koreans do not. In fact, they exhibit child-jeopardizing behavior on a regular basis.

Stay away from Korea. If you're already there, get out (as I've now done). Public schools are not the answer. The entire country is evil.

If a known child abuser offered you employment, back home, in his school--would you take it? Rhetorical question? ANYONE accepting work in a Korean school is accepting work from child abusers, BECAUSE THE ENTIRE COUNTRY ABUSES ITS CHILDREN!

Don't say you haven't been warned.

[Insidejohnmalkovich]

Shut up. These little brats need discipline. I wish I was allowed to use the stick.

[Chicoloco]

[milkweedma]

I have to agree with Vlad. What he says is VERY TRUE. Ive worked Public School and seen abuse of girls that made my heart and whole emotional system quiver and shake so much that I thought I was going to throttle the P.E. teacher to death with hatred. Not to mention the regular twisting of boys ears and the daily thrashing of them with the cane.
Public school in Korea really is 1950s style still. Everyone who comes here needs to know how it is because you're going to be shocked at some point. It's all about the money. Korean's deserve the bulk of the negativity they get on Daves. Some Koreans are good and some really are pretty nasty.

[air76]

The bottom line is that there are good and bad public schools and good and bad hagwons. My first hagwon in Korea wasn't perfect but overall it was a positive experience, the manager was a little bit of a weasle, but nothing too bad, I always got paid on time, had my own apartment which was nice and clean, got my bonus no problem, etc, etc. My only real complaint was that I would be given off-site overtime that was paid in "class-hours" and so then all they had to do was cut back on my hagwon hours to lower my OT pay....but even that being said I was paid more for my off-site classes and therefore would often only teach 3-4 classes at the hagwon and was still pulling in 300,000 in extra cash above my salary....but all in all I recommended a buddy to go work for them so I would say that it was a good enough experience.

And the hagwon I'm working at now is great. I have no complaints whatsoever and I think that it will end up being a great place to work.

You really need to call and speak to the current teacher at a hagwon before going to work for one. If they can't arrange this, then don't take the job.

And in response to the "Korea is evil" guy....I agree that Public School jobs are not the answer, I think that it would be horrible to work in one of those places....but I think that you're a bit over-jaded and should have got out of here sooner. That being said, when I first left Korea I was quite jaded, but now I'm happy to be back here.

[Toju]

Korea gets a bad rap from the teachers working therein because they are, for the most part, whining septics and cannucks who expect everything for free and if it isn't they go complaining to all and sundry within seconds.

You came here to work? Then work. You don't hear Korean teachers whining through their back teeth when they get asked to do something. They just get on and do it. If you don't like it, leave.

Welcome to Korea.

[Unposter]

I'd have to agree with the OP, but it really isn't just limited to the Hakwons. There is a lot of cheating of FTs, psychological manipulation and abuse, lack of proper training, explanation, and organization.

I've seen a lot of good teachers, coming here with the best of intentions, can beaten up by the system and give up.

Still, there is plenty of good things too. It is not that Korea is bad that bothers people; it is not bad; it is that it could be oh so much better and it is not, and that is what is most frustrating.

[hauwande]

I guess there are different experiences regarding public schools. This is my second year in koea and i have worked at a total of 8 public schools so far. i've had a total of 30 or so co-teachers (a couple of the schools are very big.

well, i just haven't seen the physical abuse that you guys talk about. there are sticks in each classroom, but i have rarely seen them used (only twice, actually) In those cases, it was a soft tap more than anything. the students barely felt it. the vast majority of cases where punishment has been dished out, it has been the students standing up at the back with their arms up - only for a couple of minutes or so.

i must be honest, i just haven't seen the abuse that is mentioned in this thread. and i am certainly no korean apologist...

[newteacher]

[Bibbitybop]

My public school never beats the kids. The worst is a slap across the hands with a stick. I had teachers hit me the same way, just to know how it feels. I promise the hitting games the kids play at lunch hurt worse. There are also physical punishments in the form of maintaining an uncomfortable position. "OTL" is a popular one and not harmful.

The worst I've seen is a student get slapped by a male teacher because this 3rd grade middle school student insulted the man's mother and challenged him to a fight. While the slap wouldn't happened in the states (legally), Korean culture is different and that boy was old enough not to challenge a teacher to a fight.


Do I hit kids? Nope. Do I make them "OTL"? Occasionally. I'm here to teach English and teach culture through example, but not force my beliefs on people because a kid get's a rap on the hand for not doing his homework.


On the OP's post, I agree with the corruption and every word he says. But I have talked to teachers, even those in hogwans, that recommend Korea for at least a year to people in their home countries.

[Gamecock]

My eyes have been opened! How could I have not seen it before? ALL hogwans are evil and ALL public schools are abusive!

Well balanced posts.

[T-dot]

Ive seen the beatings. I dont condone it, but Ive excepted it. I much rather walk through the school hallways seeing students discipled rather walk through a hallway fearing for my life. North American education could use more discipline.

There is bullying and violence in every school, but I have yet to see a Korean student threaten the life of a teacher or bring a gun to class.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[it's full of stars]

Bloody slow learner if it took you seven years to see the light, maybe all the sparkling was dazzling you.

Not to mention you then leave the country before you start to make any waves.

Let's see "oh, I've got my money now, I'm gonna sod off and whinge about Korea, hehe", why didn't you leave after 1 year or 2? *beep*.