Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Actions against Anti-American Teaching

The Ministry of Education and Human Resources said that it would ban any kind of classroom activities promoting anti-American sentiment at primary, middle and high schools nationwide, which they see as compromising education neutrality.

The move came after President Roh ordered an investigation into alleged anti-American classroom teaching led by the Korea Teachers and Educational Workers Union (KTEWU).

"Although KTEWU's anti-war peace education is doing good to students by teaching brutality of a war and promoting peace-loving mind, but it also seems to put too much focus on American unjustness and violence, which could lead to hostility to the U.S. and anti-American sentiment," it added.

donga.com
APRIL 27, 2003

[The Lemon]

I guess this may curb the activities of the teachers in Taegu who in December supported the actions of some grade 6 girls who wrote "Die Americans!" in their own blood. "They're our best students," the principal cooed.

[TheUrbanMyth]

What about hakwons? We were doing a presentation for the parents, a so-called "Drama Festival." The older girls were doing a kind of quiz that was being run by myself and a Korean teacher. Everytime they got a answer right, they'd hold up signs proclaiming "beeping USA. " I'm Canadian, but this still bothered me. I think they were getting a bit of their own back from some previous class discussions. Eight months and they still want to talk about this incident. I could understand if these girls were relatives, but this...?

[posco's trumpet]

[The Lemon]

Some would say that as English teachers we shouldn't be discussing this kind of thing in class - not what we're paid for, the thinking goes.

But I heard similar complaints from my Canadian high school history students when I took off points because of spelling and grammar errors, and poor essay form. They cried: "This isn't English class!!!" They didn't get very far.

Teachers are teachers. And our subjects are not islands.

[Dan]

i never directly brought it up in class, but i've never heard a slur against the US from my kids (and they're at that extremely insensitive age) and i believe that is because they all know that I am from America and that I love my home, adopted though it may be.

just by setting an example i think you do a great deal to encourage tolerance and understanding in the classroom.

[indiercj]

Lemon, Usually any principal is the public enemy #1 for the Union. There are two major organization of teachers in korea. Korea National Teacher's association and Korea Teachers and Educational Workers Union. The former is a government union that was made to control teachers while providing them welfare assistance. This group consists mostly of principals and supervising teachers so they are very pro-government and conservative in nature. The Union represents about 40% of normal teachers and as far as i know they never supported what you wrote above.

RR, My GF who is a teacher and a union member said the anti-war class was just about a 20-30 mins of discussion between students. As long as the teacher don't intervene in too much but just provide facts, i think the president Roh have no right to ban what they are teaching. Isn't it censorship?

[Gord]

[Circus Monkey]

Gord,

Since your comprehension skills seem to be lacking, I'll highlight the relevant portions of what Lemon said:

[Ajarn Miguk]

Anti-American comments used to bother me a great deal until I started eating pizza with corn on it. I can't explain it. I don't even try.

[Manner of Speaking]

These days I can't help but be unsympathetic to complaints of Anti-Americanism in the classroom, when I have seen so many examples of the US media -- and government -- grossly distorting and misrepresenting other countries and cultures, in particular the Middle East. I tend not to talk international or domestic politics in my classes because I don't like to talk politics in class, period. Whatever my misgivings about US -- or Canadian, or any other country's foreign policy -- certainly I'm not going to teach bias. That would be abusing one's 'power' as a teacher. But quite frankly, if I see people/students expressing grossly inaccurate or biased opinions against the US, I don't really care anymore.

[narsty dog]

hey indiercj -- not censorship??!!!! in korea ??!!!!! Phew , i couldnt believe that for a minute.

[narsty dog]

lemon: to push out a few ideas to your comments.


teachers aren't paid to , what exactly ?????
as a language teacher you are dealing directly with 'texts' - spoken, written , visuals, the works, - that s your job - to deal with texts . Problem - how is the text to be read ?
texts are , if you are a structuralist , read through signifier and the signified, they have a meaning which can be read off and understood - if you 're at the deconstruction end of the playground ( a pun!!!!) then they have multiple readings , and invoke play, not truth .

as a language teacher whatever you 'believe', texts provoke reactions, as they present the reader/ interpreter with questions- you are doing this as you read now.......
you can t avoid this . if you pretend it s not there thats another matter........

pick up the korea herald, your textbook , write your own material, and then see if it s 'neutral'.

Your idea that language can is simply functional - grammar, punctuation is one of the great tricks of TEFL - a positivist , functional 'language' that can be transmitted to the learner. The RSA DELTA doesnt even get past this basic mistake. And likewise history is not just 'the past', written about in 'functional' language - ie get the 'facts' right and get the 'grammar' right and then it'll be 'good/ true/ worthy', etc. No- the 'now' text of history is the way to interpret what happened before , it s only read/ interpreted/ 'understood' in the discourses/ texts/ ways of understanding that are present now eg - question - NOT 'what WAS ancient greece like' but rather 'what IS ancient greece like?'

[Butterfly]

[narsty dog]

it d be interesting to see how 'anti-american teaching ' would be defined.......

is anti-bush the same as anti-american?
is anti-republican the same as anti-american ??
does it mean stopping people eating at KFC/ Mcdonalds ??? whoooooo..they d have a hard time in seoul trying to enforce that .....

this whole nonsense scenario comes from the basic premise that America is the enemy . The corporate world might be the enemy, mightnt it ?? The IMF/ World Bank?? the Arms trade ?? The military industrial complex?? but these things somehow although domianted by america are consumed by capitalism as a globalising force anyway ............And South Korea ??? No crony capitalism ?? No excessive consumerism ??? No destruction of their ancient culture and an enlightened environmental policy ?? A heightened sense of awareness/ empathy for those like themselves truly exploited by colonialism and left to be exploited by dictators and multinationals and a testing ground for multinational pharmaceutical companies who won't sell drugs cheaply to save lives- Africa - NO WAY.

Take the log out of your own eye ...????