Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pkang0202]

I spoke with some older teacher Korean teachers and they told me how Korea got into the state of education it is today.

They told be around 10 years ago a new education minister was chosen and he revolutionized the public education system...for the worse.

I don't remember the guy's name. Anyways, before him, Korea was your typical Confucian system where the teachers/educators were at the top of the social chain. They had respect and prestige that was unrivaled.

No one questioned teachers, not the students and especially not the parents. The new guy came around and set a new tone. His said that schools and teachers should be serving the needs of the parents and students. Ensuring that the parents and students are "happy".

This changed the culture of education. Now, the parents had all the power. They could call the school and bitch/complain and the school had to comply with their wishes. The schools/teachers got casturated.

I heard a few stories from veteran teachers. They said 10-15 years ago, if they told the student's parent that their child isn't behaving in class, the parents would take responsibility. Now, when they tell the parents, the parents say, "You are the teacher. You need to make your classes more interesting for my child."

The teachers complain that the principal and vice principal do nothing. They are too busy kissing up to the PTA and making sure that the parents are "pleased".

I've heard parents come into the school and tell a teacher, "You can't punish my child. I'm the President of the PTA. I can get you fired."


So, that is the gist of it. Granted, this was a conversation in broken English. There aren't too many details, but you can figure out the main topic.

[TheUrbanMyth]

Then if so...why do we hear so many stories about students being hit and teacher on student violence? Just a few years ago there was a thread about this video where the teacher is hitting a girl with a closed fist. All that happened to him (apparently) was that he was transfered to another school which is something that would have happened anyway.

[Cheonmunka]

That would be the guy my trade ministry friend be-friended back then. Lee, was that his name?

[ajgeddes]

Hmmmmm..... I heard something similar but different. The story I heard was that this education revolution came about 25ish years ago.

During the transition phase of about 5-10 years from the confucian to the western style education basically the people received the worst education as nobody, even the teachers, knew what was going on.

Well, 25ish years later these people are now the parents of all the students and basically aren't parenting very well and rely on teachers to teach their children everything, even how to behave, which most of us would probably agree is more the parents job.

This all came from an older Korean man who swears that thinks todays kids are the most spoiled and rude brats the country has ever seen.

[khyber]

I think it's probably more of a societal thing than something specific to school culture.

It's pretty clear that Korean society has changed a lot in the last 25 years (hell, the 4 years I was there, I saw changes).

I doubt it has much with one particular education minister.

[Bigfeet]

Well, if Korea wants to emulate the US educational system, it needs to spoil its kids more.

[cruisemonkey]

[tomato]

Think it's bad here?
Apparently in Japan, it's worse:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4083278.ece

[Bigfeet]

[tanklor1]