Korean Job Discussion Forums

[itiswhatitis]

Recently I read the book "The Psycopath Test" by Jon Ronson.

I have had a few different jobs in Korea and my co-workers were a very mixed group. However my six months at a kindy hagwon in Gangnam seemed to attract a real toxic group. I personally took the job because I wanted to work day shift and because I thought that it would be a legit. teaching job (without getting into detail it was the least legit. teaching job that I have ever had in Korea).

Of course giving someone the label of being a psycopath is serious. Having said that I consider 2 of my former co-workers (both native teachers) to be highly likely to be psycopaths. I don't want to get into detail, but they had both worked there for some time and were quite proud of the power that they had and that they had the power to ruin people in the workplace as sport.

In the book "The Psycopath Test" Ronson notes that within the UK prison system that the great majority of the psycopaths are in London prisons and that the prisons in Scotland have significantly less psycopaths. This is because psycopaths are attracted to the glitz of the big city/London.

A thought: does the same apply to those who live/want to live in Gangnam.

I would NEVER take a job in Gangnam again (not at a kindy at least) after my experience there.

Any stories/thoughts????

Is my experience representative or just random bad luck???

Thanks!!!

[young_clinton]

Interesting, is the guy who wrote this book British? Anyhow something interesting on the side, the British police are thought to be compiling lists of people who are nothing but trouble and presumably have personality disorders. A lot of people in Britain don't like that. As for my experience with Brits when I worked in Bangkok, the school was inundated with Brits, some of them quite nasty and noticeably different from the rest of the foreigners, a few outright louts among them. Some were openly racist towards the non-native subject and English teachers. Then again some of them were very nice. You have to wonder if these particular Brits were escaping a Britain that is increasingly not tolerating them.

As for my co-workers in Korea, one was controlling but not manipulative, that was my main co-teacher. The other un-official co-teacher was very nice and seemed understanding especially to the fact that I was a foreigner, but towards the end I started thinking maybe she was two-faced, I mean almost like she was a liar, difficult to be sure about that though.

[Stan Rogers]

I agree. I've met some very nasty Brits in Thailand. Some good ones but a disproportionate amount of very bad ones.

[Stan Rogers]

Maybe it's Gangnam style.

[Waygeek]

A very very high percentage of Waygooks are absolute nutters. Not just in Gangnam.

[Weigookin74]

I'm a Skitzophrenic and so am I.

[cdninkorea]

[andrewchon]

Go back to GangNam and get a job again. Once you've had the taste of the power game, you won't be satisfied with anything less. If you go to other places, natives will be mystified by the baggage you've brought with you.
You could say that:
1. GangNam has corrupted you or
2. made you more sophisticated,
eitherway, you are battle hardened now.

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Swampfox10mm]

I think England, beause it's a smaller area, is able to do like Korea and really watch/control/clamp-down on bad behavior. The psychopaths you mentioned may leave partly because they feel they lack the freedom/power to be psychopaths back home. In a foreign country, be it Thailand or Korea, they can get away with more just because they are a foreigner.


The difference with England may be that lack of control over their own lives, and the "us/them" attitude many of those who come here seem to harbor. Many people there seem to fall into the trap of letting the gov't provide for them, and they are stuck. They realize this, and just begin to hate, hate, hate.

In my experience, many (but not all) English expats here detest people like Thatcher/her kind, and are very opinionated about internal politics. They will talk at length about it if you bring it up, but they seem happier discussing US politics, and tend to spout-off with their localized opinions -- attempting to apply their own beliefs to the USA. Perhaps the USA is less upsetting for them to discuss?

The psychopathic tendencies may actually be their form of lashing-out at everything in society that they hate. It is a learned form of resistance to society and those who might do better than they. This is often combined with a certain snobbish elitism that many English harbor. To let off steam, some actually enjoy tearing other people apart.

[Harpeau]

A very interesting thread about an awesome book! Gangnam attracks psychopaths like flies to honey. Money and power. I think it is also true about many pastors of super-churches in Gangnam. Lots of pathology rolling around those pews, I tell ya!

[tran.huongthu]

[rockbilly]

The problem isn't with Gangnam. The problem is with teaching.

The classroom attracts psychopaths because it's one of the few places where (as a teacher) you've got total control over others. Everyone else there has to listen to everything you say. They've got to answer you on demand, and do as you command. As teacher, you're god of your own little world in the classroom. It's the perfect setup for a psychopath.

Don't get me wrong--I recognize that teaching also appeals to those at the opposite end of the psychological spectrum. Some are attracted to the classroom because they want to nurture, care, make the world a better place.

For the record, I live in Gangnam. I'm an ex-teacher. I hope I'm not a psychpath, but who knows.

[World Traveler]

[joelove]