Korean Job Discussion Forums

[OculisOrbis]

The title pretty much sums up the post:

http://www.expathell.com/?p=4111

[ewlandon]

I'm pretty sure this author does not know what he is talking about for the most part.

He simply describes the process of getting your paperwork and how he (niavely)thinks he could get around it. Here is a comment i posted "waiting for moderation" though.

Although your solutions are great the only point I can agree with is the drug/hiv tests. I agree 100% and you put it perfectly.

Other than that Korea is not really doing anything wrong. Almost any country you teach EFL in will have the same process. Not many con artists are out there to get a fake degree in order to teach EFL. Not many convicted murderers are out there to get fake background checks in order to teach EFL either. And the process is set up to be the least expensive and most effective way to prove education and background. Also you would have to be completely insane to try to send fake fingerprints and ss numbers to the FBI in hopes of them clearing your name for employment. And as for the degree, again people in the business of forging degrees are not looking for employment in EFL.

This process (everything minus the drug/hiv test) is pretty universal for EFL industry and until there seems to be a problem with people exploiting it illegally by forging documents through the FBI/accredited university than I do not see countries that hire EFL teachers taking money out of pocket to make the system even more foolproof.

[ewlandon]

Also I didn't mention in my comment but I meant to say I only agree with the HIV test part.

I see nothing wrong with them drug testing you when you ENTER the country. Most of us are teaching kids, KOREA has a strict law on marijuana and they know the US doesn't, they don't want people coming here who cannot clear a drug test when they enter and there is nothing wrong with that.

Drug tests every year is silly though, after we enter we should be treated like other teachers. We got all the paperwork and passed all the medical/drug tests and we have had no issues with the law so we should be able to work here.

[YTMND]

I think they are confusing crime with qualifications. The Christopher Paul Neil incident may not have been the start of criminal paranoia, but it did show how a person could commit a crime in one country and find shelter in another. I believe the CBC was set to prevent criminals from easily going to another country without having to go through some procedure. It's like locking the door to keep a burglar out. The theory is that the burglar will go to another house.

If we are to question the teacher's credentials, then a CBC is not going to matter. There are plenty of priests who are well educated and have done far more heinous crimes than Mr. CPN.

A Harvard graduate doesn't necessarily know how to teach. A mechanic who works on your car and explains the problems will have better communication skills than another who simply "fixes" the problem. We as teachers need to become part of the solution, not the bandaid in some Korean's grand scheme to fix a problem. I have been in numerous situations where the school expects me to walk into class, inject students with English for 40 minutes, and then walk out like it's some routine doctor check up giving students a shot. It doesn't work that way. We need to be part of the curriculum building.

Methodology, not qualifications.

[ewlandon]

yes, this is the real problem with EFL abroad. Not people trying to con the system, but the sytem set up to hire people who are not qualified to teach.

Most of us start in EFL with no experience teaching, no experience with this age group and often times without much grasp on the english langauge beyond conversational.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[slothrop]

edit

[PRagic]

The U.S. military does indeed assign someone to personally watch you drain your very own vein. When you submit a sample as a civilian, you usually do it at a doc's office where they have you strip down and put on hospital duds. This is one way to ensure that you aren't pumping someone else's pee into the sample.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[adzee1]

Yes many companies do watch you whilst doing the test, and some put coloured dye in the toilet so you cant use that water. Many labs in the UK and USA also test the creatine levels in the sample to ensure that you have not drunk an obscene amount of water before the test in order to dilute your sample.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[jurassic82]

This blog is garbage. His solutions are interesting but you can't expect immigration to spend the money and time to call the univeristy of every applicant who applies for an E2 Visa. The drug and HIV tests are not unique to Korea. Most countries make people who are applying for a VISA do the same. STD checks? Except for the HIV check I have never heard of anybody ever having to do an STD check. Also, getting a third party to do the FBI check would cost the government a lot of money. I would like to see the author of this blog compare Korea's immigration policy to others. I doubt theirs is much different. I am pretty sure a federal background check is standard in most countries. I doubt any of them would pay for a third party to do the check.

I recommend that people take what this blog says with a grain of salt. The guy (or woman) that writes it is probablly another disgruntled English teacher that got screwed by a hogwan in the past. He obviously has a chip on his shoulder. As inconvienent as the immigration policies are they are pretty reasonable in my opinion. Check out other jobs on the job boards an you will see that similar hoops need to be jumped through in order to get a VISA. The End

[cdninkorea]

A varsity athlete I knew in university said that someone would watch him pee into a cup for drug (steroid) testing to make sure he didn't put someone else's urine into the cup. If they're going to test for drug use in Korea, they should do that too.

[slothrop]

edit

[slothrop]

edit.