Korean Job Discussion Forums

summer33ny · Joined: 10 Aug 2006

What is a typical university job like?

Aside from less work hours do you think that university jobs are a lot better than public school jobs? Are the students more motivated? More capable? The classes more fun? etc...?

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

michaelambling · Joined: 31 Dec 2008 Location: Paradise

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

it's like waking up for your morning poo and never having to replace the toilet paper.

it's like rediscovering your feet and their ability to walk.

it's like having the only bottle opener while everyone else fumbles to open their beer with with a lighter or chopstick.

crazy_arcade · Joined: 05 Nov 2006

Can't polish a turd.....

It's still working in Korea.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

I did public school for 5 years. It was great; the kids were motivated, well-behaved and it was a great environment.

My current gig is better for a few reasons: first, my colleagues (I had never worked around people I respected as teachers), second, fewer in-class hours (but between prep and grading, the hours are pretty much the same) and finally, the vacations (my public school only gave me 2 months a year).

I wasn't in GEPIK, EPIK or SMOE; my public school was a in a school that had received a grant from the local board of education and hired me as part of a rural renewal program. The school was an hour outside Seoul, a long commute, but it was a great job.

So, a university gig is generally better, but it is, a the_beaver said, a personal thing. I had declined looking at a uni job for years, as I felt I still had a lot to learn about myself as a teacher, and the public school gave me that chance. Children test the width of your teaching, while young adults will often test the depth.

kimchi_pizza

Young FRANKenstein

OiGirl · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: Hoke-y-gun

A good university job, i.e., in a department, not a unigwon, teaching credit non-compulsory classes to university students, can be great!

The_Source · Joined: 09 Oct 2008

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

A good university job will generally trump a good public school or great hakwon job for any number of reasons. Having said this, there are unfortunately very, very few good university jobs around these days, and the competition for the ones there are is fierce.

Ask anyone who has a good university job and they'll tell you that they'll never do anything else.

ytuque · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Location: I drink therefore I am!

After working at 2 unis, I have found the working conditions are dependent on whether you have a decent western manager or a Korean manager with some understanding of how a uni is run outside of Korea.

If you have a typical Korean adjossi boss, the very common white sycophant reporting to said Korean adjossi, or worse yet, the white manager who doesn't realize that not everyone in the world thinks and behaves like a North American. it may be a difficult year.

I recently received a poor teaching evaluation because I referred students to Google for a difficult concept and my lesson wasn't interactive. What the clueless white guy fresh from the midwest failed to grasp was, the average TOFL score in the class was below 450, and you can't explain statistical functions using that level of language.

My first year, I had an American boss with common sense and a spine. It was a decent job other than crappy housing and terrible students.

ytuque · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Location: I drink therefore I am!

After working at 2 unis, I have found the working conditions are dependent on whether you have a decent western manager or a Korean manager with some understanding of how a uni is run outside of Korea.

If you have a typical Korean adjossi boss, the very common white sycophant reporting to said Korean adjossi, or worse yet, the white manager who doesn't realize that not everyone in the world thinks and behaves like a North American. it may be a difficult year.

I recently received a poor teaching evaluation because I referred students to Google for a difficult concept and my lesson wasn't interactive. What the clueless white guy fresh from the midwest failed to grasp was, the average TOFL score in the class was below 450, and you can't explain statistical functions using that level of language.

My first year, I had an American boss with common sense and a spine. It was a decent job other than crappy housing and terrible students.

bourquetheman · Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Suwon

This thread has caught my interest as I am going back to teaching at university. I've been here for 12 years and taught at a hogwan for 3 years, a university for 3, a high school for 2 and at a company for 3 years. All have been unique in their own respects. The hogwan was good to get a foot in the door to teaching in Korea, university was nice as I worked only Mon-Thur each week with either the summer or winter off, with extra pay for extra classes taught during the vacation. High school was nice due to the apartment being provided that was big enough for my family and I, plus I was able to have an 1.5 hours off and could go out the back gate to my apt. for lunch each day. The 4 weeks vacation and bigger classes was a downside though. The company job has been alright, 8 weeks of vacation, best pay I've had so far along with an apartment in Bundang, though it's a tight fit for the 4 of us. Hence my decision to move out to our own bigger place, work at a university again and do privates as I have an F2.

To each his own as some people are happy in different situations. Whatever floats your boat. Good luck....................