Korean Job Discussion Forums

[madowlspeaks]

Yes, yes they both have their perks.

Uni
Pro's
* long vacations
* lots of autonomy
*shorter teaching hours (usually)
Con's
* smaller apartments
* less pay

Public School
Pro's
* larger apartments
* more pay
Con's
* shorter vacations (just how long are they anyway??)
* less autonomy
*more hours


I have heard that some public school gigs are phenomenal-to the extent that they outweigh uni benefits. Is this so?

Please share why you think it is better to work at public school or uni and why.

[The_Source]

[Ukon]

Public schools are decent but there are some bad ones...for instance mine is awesome and offering some wel paying after school classes....by septemeber I should be making a sweet 2.9 a month....on the flipside, the girl in the school next to me has no co-teacher and was pretty sure she was gonna leave by the end of the year.

My other friend has a school that for the most part dislikes her...my school loves me....however staff at PS jobs switch every couple of year...You could have awesome co-teachers one year, then get crappy ones the next....so the losers who caused other people to run just simply get moved, not fired.

The few long term veterans I've met who were leaving mentioned this as a factor.....they loved their staff for the first couple of years, then the d-bags moved in.

[hugekebab]

[IMF crisis]

Where are these crappy uni jobs? Outside Seoul, I'm guessing. I work uni and have friends that work uni and we love it. The pay is not great, but we do actually get raises every year. We don't have to teach any summer or winter stuff if we choose not to. We teach 12 hours a week and have absolute control over what we teach. Oh, and I would mich rather teach uni students than middle or high school kids.

[withnail]

Please see my post on pissing contests...

[bassexpander]

It really depends.

There are fewer great uni jobs, while at the same time, a whole lot of crappy unigwon jobs have been added.

The easiest job of all time was working at an all-girls high school in a rich area. I loved the Korean staff there -- miss them tons. The chairman actually married my wife and I. I was also becoming a bit bored with it, though.

University is more work (checking crap) and hours are split all over. I have days off during the week, though. The vacation is nice at my school, but at many unis, this is going away.

Treat any job the same -- weigh the pros and cons -- then decide.

Yes, many public school jobs are very nice. Some unis are nice too. Univs are fewer in number, and you stand a better chance of hearing what it's like to work there before you dive into a bad situation.

[JabberJabber]

sounds like a lot of people aren't prepping much or developing much in terms of program, activities or testing.

ahh the joys of working in the esl industry in korea.
it is always a wonder why people here demand to be treated with high regards when all they do is show-up for class.
administration believes a monkey could do this job because people put the least amount of effort as possible in what they do.
but i digress

i've worked in all areas of esl in korea and, i can tell you that some hagwons are better than some uni jobs, some uni jobs are better than some public school jobs and some public school jobs are better than some foreign language school jobs.

it all depends what you are looking for and where you choose to work.

[Xuanzang]

[makemischief]

so the simplified answer:

good uni jobs are better than public school gigs, hands down.
public school gigs are better than sub-par uni jobs.

would that be safe to say?

[JabberJabber]