Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cedar]

Did you read the paper or see the news reports on the prof who had never even gotten a BA who was teaching with Bangkok diplomas from Columbia and Princeton at Konkuk U raking it in??? He had himself a PhD and everything (on paper) and they pay bonuses if you publish, so he was self-publishing on the net. He overdid it, they got suspicious, found out it was self-publishing, checked out his degrees, found out they were false... Whooooo-eee! Talk about some red-faces! The guy was even married to a Korean woman who DIDN'T know he wasn't the real McCoy! He's been working there a couple years! Ha ha ha! The paper said he used to be a bell-hop.

[Real Reality]

You can see it posted in the Job-related Discussion Forum.
"Real Professor" (third page and scroll down)
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=18265&start=30

[peemil]

Oh... That is brilliant. I haven't smiled all day... Till now.

[J.B. Clamence]

The funny thing about the article in the online Choson Ilbo is that they call him "Mr. M" to hide his identity, but in the accompanying photo where the policeman is holding up his fake degres along with his drug paraphenalia, you can clearly see his full name written in bold Gothic text on his degrees. And even the caption under the photo refers to him as "an American known as M." So much for anonymity!

[rapier]

hilarious!!

What Koreans don't realise is that its entirely possible for a Bellhop in America to have more Brain cells than a company executive here, no matter how many prestigious universities Oma and Opa sent him to.

You got to hand it to the dude..

What is the penalty for those caught with fake degrees here btw? deportation?

[J.B. Clamence]

There's a lot of money involved in this case. The guy took this uni for a ride, swindling them out of millions of won, not just in salary but also in grants and bonuses for his publications which he didn't even write. According to the JoongAng Daily, he pocketed 68 million in a year and a half. They might just deport him, but since there's so much money involved, I guess they might charge him with fraud. And of course, there's the matter of his marajuana plants he was growing in flowerpots in his on-campus apartment (according to the Choson Ilbo). The guy is screwed.

[The Bobster]

If all the things I'm hearing about this guy are true, then he deserves to get reamed.

But first, two points to mention :

1. It is something I've often suspected and heard about among hagwon teachers - I am one, and I like that part of the economy for various reasons - and the last few times I was in Bankok, I saw several printing stores willing to sell very nice looking diplomas for not a lot of money. Hagwons might not have the time or expertise to check credentials that are claimed on a resume. Universities, do, or ought to. (In the end, I really don't think it takes more than a phone call or two.)

2. It is possible he will not be alone in being reamed, especially if this becomes a cause celebre among Koreans in their perpetual love-hate relationship with foreigners. Even at hagwons, it might be a little harder to convince people your credentials are real - yeah, even though you don't need anything more to teach English than a Bachelors in Geography.

(Side note : I have known Geography Majors here who turned out to be damned fine English teachers, so I have no quarrel with them, especially as they never lied about their background. )

If what is being said about this guy is true, it is a bad stain for all of us to bear. We have observed on this very Forum how a traffic accident or an adjuma pushing someone on a subway becomes (in our eyes) an indictment of Korea as a whole ... you might guess that Koreans will not make a distinction about foreigners in general as opposed to foreigners in particular.

I bellieve that Lonely Planet still targets Korea as a good place for people fresh out college with little interest in education to spend a few months and save a little cabbage to finance their trip to Nepal. Some of the people who do this are still good teachers despite their lack of commitment to the profession - however, Korean society has traditionally valued the kind of ommitment that credentials tend to display.

What we are seeing now might be a bellweather, an indication of what the climate for education here might be in the future.

[Ajarn Miguk]

[candu]

In no way do I mean to defend or excuse this guy, but I've read numerous stories over the years of Korean high-ranking university officials, national assembly reps, and business figures exagerating or simply inventing impressive university credentials for themselves. I personally know of Koreans who have gone the Bangkok route in order to land a better job here. (I would guess that more than a few people have cooked up their own documents without leaving the ROK.) My point is that this story indicates that there will always be a few shady characters out there, irrespective of nationality. It shouldn't be a "foreigner thing", but the media here will no doubt focus on that aspect.

I think more people should be asking how a relatively prestigious university could be duped so easily. My guess is that they not only didn't make any serious effort to check this guy out, but that they didn't consider consulting any Americans or other foreigners on staff to give his documents a look over or sit in on one of the interviews. I may be wrong, but a minimal amount of effort likely could have prevented this guy from getting an interview in the first place. Maybe they'll learn from this incident... Maybe.

[rapier]

Even if all the foreigners all behaved impeccably here, gave out free english lessons, gave all their students candy every day, joined in with incredibly witty and friendly conversation at every tedious staff dinner, spoke Korean perfectly before arrival, and had a selection of real teaching qualifications for every hagwon job....

...We would still not be good enough in their eyes... so let them whine all they like, about bad foreigners defrauding their monkey teaching institutions. They ask for it.