Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NohopeSeriously]

Check out at Daum. A lot of Koreans are now blaming the President for degrading the parents. Wow.

[cyui]

(∞)....... (∞).......k>y>u

3 ( u)>k(2)< 3(-3)y>4<6

[southernman]

I was talking to my co-teachers about this yesterday.

Another sad thing is that these kids are gettimg major pressue from everywhere and then the ones the come out the other side, earn low money. As in very low money. I have met two people who are in their mid thirties who are working as scientists, although I don't know their actual duties. Both earn less than me.

When I said this to my colleagues over a lunchtime smoke they agreed and shook their heads, that it's true. One said that's the reason Korean Scientists aren't the best, they get paid low wages.

Apparentley, some are opting out of KAIST and going to Engineering or Medical school, In both cases, those professions start on roughly 9 Mil a month (Engineers in the shipyards, that is).

[Cedar]

It's standard in the US to not be able to apply for or keep your scholarship if you fall below 3.0

In other words, the policy doesn't seem out of line to me, and the tuition is not that much. If you fall below, buckle down, get free tuition the next term. It should be a wake-up call, not call for suicide.

Yes, I feel bad for the stress on the students, but learning is their job, 3.0 is the cut-off for good performance, and that's real world training in my opinion. They're lucky they had the opportunity to earn free tuition in the first place.

Also the prof who killed himself was accused of embezzelling (sp?) 20,000+ USD of the university's funds.

[UknowsI]

In my opinion the problem is how people handle tough times and has nothing to do with the grades, the competitiveness or the scholarships. People are easily put into buckets of either being successful or a failure. When a good student get the message that he has to pay scholarship because his grades are not good enough he feels like he has gone from being successful to become a failure and that all he has worked for his entire life is wasted. What they fail to realise is that getting a below average GPA from a top university is not the end of the word. Later in life you often realise how little importance these grades actually have, but when your life is nothing but studying it will seem like your world is falling apart.

I don't think it's useful to discuss how hard Asian universities are compare to western universities or how the grading is done. These kind of suicides happens in competitive uni's in the west too, but in my experience the pressure to not be a failure and how easy it is to be socially labelled as a failure is much stronger in South Korea.

[happiness]

i think alot of western parents use the expression "its all on you" western individuality.

in asia, esp Korea and China, if you fail, the family doesnt look good.

my old hs teachers always asked me why Obama praised the S Korean education system. i dont know


ALSO i think a big thing was alot of the classes were in English, which is a bad idea in a Korean class, but unless you know how hard it is to have to study IN a foreign langauge for important tests AND of course, you miss alot of information because youre not a native speaker.

Even as a Korean speaker and an English Teacher, I think its a bad idea. Here in Korea in theis context.

[Milwaukiedave]

[Milwaukiedave]

I have no idea if this is true, but my wife said because of the rash of recent suicides, many universities are going to scale back teaching subjects in English. If it is true, then it is a shame that Korea is taking a step backwards and not embracing teaching some subjects like business and engineering in a global economy where English language skills are needed.

[Illysook]

I saw the article in the Korea Times this morning and it was like the English language was being blamed for the suicides. I'm accustomed to their yellow journalism but geeesh, they are really grasping for straws there!

[isitts]

[isitts]

[sbp59]

[Swampfox10mm]

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

If it's going to be so painfully difficult for them, then why don't they just NOT GO?

Better yet, create a magic Korean national pride theme park, and make it clear to everyone that anyone who goes there is a genius. Inside, you can do anything you want, as long as you take a moment every day to hate on anything not Korean and talk about how all Korean things are superior to all other things in the universe-- you get to masturbate 24/7, go on drunken rampages, kill children with your car, play Starcraft until 4am, ANYTHING... all of it is to be regarded as an act of genius and proof of your innate superiority.

That would be the ultimate Korean university.

[UknowsI]

A very classy response from ESL Milk "Everyday above. I am stunned by his insight on Korean universities and culture.