Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yu_Bum_suk]

So lately I've been surfing around some non-expat teaching forums and I must say, compared to here, the direction of conversation is really different most of the time. Of course, this site (and ajarn.com, gaiginpot.com, etc.) are also about expat life and foreign cultures, so the discussion's bound to take off in other directions, but there are still some things that really stick out. Things I notice about American-based teaching forums:

- Almost everyone writes grammatically. I would say that on Dave's about 50% of all posters don't write grammatically and 25% of posters cannot write grammatically. And most American teachers don't teach English or are elementary school teachers.

- No one discusses salary. In Korea, whether on the Net or in real-life, everybody is always talking about how much or how little they or other teachers make.

- On average, American teachers have bigger and worse problems with their coworkers and supervisors than we do. I know many people will find that impossible to believe, but it sure seems to be the case. Supervisors seem to have the power to make their underlings' lives hell in ways that are worse than what most of us ever experience over here.

- Dealing with parents sucks royally. Now, I know that often hagwon teachers say things like 'They told me some of the mothers complained but just for once I'd like to meet whomever complained and get the facts straight from her'. No you wouldn't. American parents frequently leave their children's teachers in tears. In America students don't have homeroom teachers who basically have the authority of parents and are on the same team as you.

- Most American teachers who post on-line are women and most of us here are men. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why...

- There's a lot less bragging on American-based teachers' forums.

- Most American teachers claim to work very long hours. When I was at school I remember seeing most of the teachers heading to the parking lot not long after the students left, but there sure are a lot of teachers talking about being up untill 9 or 10 every night with work-related things.

- Many American teachers are just as screwed as the worst-off chain hagwon teachers when it comes to discipline.

- A surprising number of American teachers are on one-year or one-term contracts just like us.

- Many American teachers in many parts of America have trouble finding work. Of course there are teacher shortages if you want to teach in certain inner cities, but for many teachers, quitting a school means months of subbing / menial labour jobs. A meteor could hit my school today and next week I could be signing a contract with a new school in any part of Korea.

- We have much more agency and power over our jobs. We can walk away from jobs with little or no consequences. We also have far less responsibility. This might relate to...

- Some American teachers sure get worked up over what would be rather trivial problems to me. In America, if you do something to piss off your coworker, you could find yourself having a series of unwanted meetings with the union rep. In America, parents can sue your school for more than just causing physical injury to their children. In America, you can get sacked if they think you've deviated from the curriculum too much. In America, you can't decide that you'll just show a class that's a pointless waste of time videos. In America, you can't ask a troublesome student if they'd like to go to the staff room for a beating. In America, unless you're dealing with lots of minority kids, you can't pretend to hear and not hear what you like. And in America, anything you say that could possibly be interpreted as 'offensive' by someone could land you in a heap of shit.

And despite that the situation sounds even worse on average in the UK and perhaps Canada. Few things make me happier about teaching in Korea than reading forums from other countries.

[BS.Dos.]

I doubt the teachers in America have as much time to spend browsing all the different teaching web forums all day long either.

[Smee]

What are some good American teachers' forums?

[RACETRAITOR]

I bet another difference is you won't find anyone on those forums who thinks it's acceptable to date students.

[Cornfed]

[BS.Dos.]

[xingyiman]

Back in grad school I had to take some elective classes that had about a 50% ratio of education majors. Most were women. All they did was whine and bitch about their jobs. Most were drama queens but as another poster put it, thats what you get when there are disproportionate numbers of women to men. I have to say that the men teachers seemed more professional and less apt to make sexist comments. The women teachers more ressembled what you'd expect out of a truck stop waitress.

[Cornfed]

[plynx]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Wow - I make some fairly neutral, objective comments (better writers, get worked up over seemingly trivial things, less given to bragging) about a group of people, the majority of whom are western women, and I end up with the misogyny fest of the week!

I'd better save the OP before some brilliant mod decides that the best way to deal with it is to delete the whole thread.

[aka Dave]

I taught both high school and Uni. in the USA. In high school, dealing with parents can be a nightmare. Oh, just awful, that's really why I'm here.

I had a woman who was hell bent on getting her kid into Special Ed because he was lazy. Personally, I could care less, but I had to give a professional opinion, and further saw no reason to bury a kid's future b/c his family is dysfunctional to the point of being psychotic. She put on a screaming performance for 45 minutes and I quit on the spot. They begged me to stay but I said no way in hell.

I'm much happier here.

The forums back home are more mature, practical, and professional. Most teachers are older and deal with serious problems. Here we gotta lot people just out of Univ. that frankly are a little immature. However, forums back home are also more boring .

[Justin Hale]

There is actually evidence that boys learn and behave and respond better with male teachers. Since there are a disproportionately high number of women in teaching (especially primary/elementary where men are often outnumbered by over 5-1), and since boys have fallen behind girls in education.....(draw your own conclusion)

[RACETRAITOR]

It's a little funny seeing people on this site slagging off real professional teachers.

Kind of like seeing security guards looking down their noses at real cops.

[ddeubel]

Smee asked politely,

[Smee]