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Hagwon owners - how important is a good product?
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shifty



Joined: 21 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:35 am    Post subject: Re: Hagwon owners - how important is a good product? Reply with quote

PatrickGHBusan wrote:
Same goes for our son's hockey school now. The first one he attended had a good reputation but ended up being an overcharging pile of manure of a place. WE only found this out after the sessions started....


Now Paddy, you now how it is with dads and their sons in sport. They don't accept coach's word that the B team is the place for now.

Otherwise I take your point that it happens all over the world. How must I know if the extra lesson math teacher is any good when for all I know 2 and 2 makes five?

However, I think Korea takes this to a new level and beyond. A kind of simple-mindedness and immaturity.
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PatrickGHBusan



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:12 am    Post subject: Re: Hagwon owners - how important is a good product? Reply with quote

shifty wrote:
PatrickGHBusan wrote:
Same goes for our son's hockey school now. The first one he attended had a good reputation but ended up being an overcharging pile of manure of a place. WE only found this out after the sessions started....


Now Paddy, you now how it is with dads and their sons in sport. They don't accept coach's word that the B team is the place for now.

Otherwise I take your point that it happens all over the world. How must I know if the extra lesson math teacher is any good when for all I know 2 and 2 makes five?

However, I think Korea takes this to a new level and beyond. A kind of simple-mindedness and immaturity.


All I am saying my friend is that as PARENTS its hard to be sure of how good a school is in reality before your CHILD attends it. There is always a chance it turns out badly and this can cause some parents to feel stressed and to go a bit overboard.

Now you calling Korean parents simple-minded is pretty damn low. Why resort to such insults? Oh wait...that must be a missunderstanding right? All you meant was to say they (Korean parents) are ignorant..no wait that was not it either..you just meant they are stupid..darn thats not it either.....

Consider the words you use my friend, what you said was pretty darn demeaning and insulting to Korean parents...even if thats not how you meant it.
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shifty



Joined: 21 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:45 am    Post subject: Re: Hagwon owners - how important is a good product? Reply with quote

PatrickGHBusan wrote:

Now you calling Korean parents simple-minded is pretty damn low. Why resort to such insults? Oh wait...that must be a missunderstanding right? All you meant was to say they (Korean parents) are ignorant..no wait that was not it either..you just meant they are stupid..darn thats not it either.....


For the life of me I can't understand why you think I didn't mean it.

So....you think Korean parents are ignorant and stupid, hey!!?. These are your Freudian Slips as you tried to come to grips with my comment.

Before, if anyone had asked I woulda said, "NO, not Paddy!!"
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Dodge7



Joined: 21 Oct 2011

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigBuds wrote:
My wife and I have owned a hagwon for around 8 and a half years and quality as well as a more personal touch to running the business makes a big difference.

Over the years, I seen at least 20 hagwons come and go bust. We are the only hagwon still around from when we first opened.

My wife goes to the hagwon association meetings and most, if not all, directors are compalining about lossing students and down sizing their businesses while we are continually gaining students and need to expand and put on more staff pretty soon.

how much money (net profit) do you guys make a year? How many students do you have?
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meangradin



Joined: 10 Mar 2006

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
This is what poster Juregen means when he speaks of obfuscation in the industry. The reliance on test results brings forth some real monstrosities.


I think you are wrong here. Parents are entitled to their expectations; they are the ones paying the fees. If they want something tangible, like improved test scores, then so be it. It is so very arrogant to say that their expectations are wrong. IMO, it is good business to recognize their wants, and provide a service that matches their requirements. To that end, at my school, we employ the best Korean teachers we can find. That is not to say that NETs aren't important, but I think the benefits of our efforts are much harder to measure and see.

The confusion in the industry as I see it, is the "big box" school mentality that sell "systems," when in reality they are businesses over schools, more interested in selling books than adequately teaching the material in the book.
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T-J



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

shifty wrote:
T-J wrote:

The product for a hagwon is the education measured, right or wrong, by the student's test results.


This is what poster Juregen means when he speaks of obfuscation in the industry. The reliance on test results brings forth some real monstrosities.

A grade of D is no ways a D. It's an A+. Always.

Unless you feel like going home unpaid.


If I understand your implication, I think you are misunderstanding what I was saying.

The grades that parents measure hagwons by are the grades their students get in school not the hagwon.

Generally speaking, the majority of NETs in Korea lack the skill set to affect grades especially when time constraints are considered.



Last edited by T-J on Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ZIFA



Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare

PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dodge7 wrote:
BigBuds wrote:
My wife and I have owned a hagwon for around 8 and a half years and quality as well as a more personal touch to running the business makes a big difference.

Over the years, I seen at least 20 hagwons come and go bust. We are the only hagwon still around from when we first opened.

My wife goes to the hagwon association meetings and most, if not all, directors are compalining about lossing students and down sizing their businesses while we are continually gaining students and need to expand and put on more staff pretty soon.

how much money (net profit) do you guys make a year? How many students do you have?


Big Buds ain't talkin.

But I can exclusively reveal that he gives each student a bag of candy each day to keep them coming.
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shifty



Joined: 21 Jun 2004

PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ZIFA wrote:
Big Buds ain't talkin.

But I can exclusively reveal that he gives each student a bag of candy each day to keep them coming.


It seems Big Buds likes to be cryptic and then leaves it hanging in the air.

Certainly, a NET husband/Korean wife partnership must have a considerable step-up on most of the competition. So I'm not wildly imagining that he has any magic bullet to share with us.

In any case, his wife appears very diligent, attending the hakwon association meets and all. They say behind every successful man is a woman.

Besides, I often would see poster Big Buds at O'Brians, looking pretty much chirpy.
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Juregen



Joined: 30 May 2006

PostPosted: Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

T-J wrote:
shifty wrote:
T-J wrote:

The product for a hagwon is the education measured, right or wrong, by the student's test results.


This is what poster Juregen means when he speaks of obfuscation in the industry. The reliance on test results brings forth some real monstrosities.

A grade of D is no ways a D. It's an A+. Always.

Unless you feel like going home unpaid.


If I understand your implication, I think you are misunderstanding what I was saying.

The grades that parents measure hagwons by are the grades their students get in school not the hagwon.

Generally speaking, the majority of NETs in Korea lack the skill set to affect grades especially when time constraints are considered.



Yeah there is some confusing going on.

Parents have other ways of testing the progress of their children, but every test has a flaw, especially when hagwons prepare for tests rather then teach English.

Buyer Beware
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BigBuds



Joined: 15 Sep 2005
Location: Changwon

PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

shifty wrote:
ZIFA wrote:
Big Buds ain't talkin.

But I can exclusively reveal that he gives each student a bag of candy each day to keep them coming.


It seems Big Buds likes to be cryptic and then leaves it hanging in the air.

Certainly, a NET husband/Korean wife partnership must have a considerable step-up on most of the competition. So I'm not wildly imagining that he has any magic bullet to share with us.

In any case, his wife appears very diligent, attending the hakwon association meets and all. They say behind every successful man is a woman.

Besides, I often would see poster Big Buds at O'Brians, looking pretty much chirpy.


No. I've just been busy and haven't been back to this thread till now. I'm also busy right now I'll throw up a few answers tonight.
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