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employment ring busted
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weatherman

Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:14 am Post subject: employment ring busted

The marmot's hole is reporting:

http://blog.marmot.cc/archives/2004/12/25/english-teacher-employment-ring-busted/

Quote:

Yonhap (among others) is reporting that Seoul police have booked six people who were running an unlicensed employment agency that was illegally dispatching local and foreign English teachers to Seoul area elementary schools to teach enrichment English classes. According to police, the six recruited about 150 teachers, including about 70 foreigners, starting from January 2003 by use of an advertisement is what one news report referred to as an ��Internet cafe popular with foreigners.�� The group was able to get the 70 barbarians into the country by forging documents that made it seem they would be employed at a ��phantom�� English institute they had set up. Once in Korea, the group sent them to 58 elementary schools in the Seoul area to teach enrichment English classes, collecting W800 million of the nearly W1.9 billion in fees the teachers earned. One Australian teacher taught at two or three school between March and October, earning W35 million, W21 million of which was taken by the employment service as a commission, leaving him with only W13 million. This led, in the words of the police, to a viscous circle where the teachers were unhappy and class performance suffered.

An even worse problem was that the the teachers were, by and large, not particularly qualified to teach English in the Korean school system. Of the teachers recruited, only one was an English major. 60~70 percent were arts and physical education majors. Most apparently had no idea what they were doing, and the whole affair has revealed some serious flaws in the way in which schools hire their foreign staff. Under current laws, foreigners from English-speaking nations only need a degree – any degree – from a four year school to teach English in a Korean elementary school. Most of the responsibility for hiring seems to be left up to individual schools and regional education offices that are not very efficient when it comes managing the barbarian talent pool, which is how middle men like the ones above get involved and crappy teachers hired. Anyway, it seems a review of elementary school hiring practices is in order, and this latest scandal may hasten just such a review.

Daechidong Waygookin

Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:27 am Post subject:

I swa that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

weatherman

Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:12 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

There are so many problems with the ESL industry in Korea, that I am surprised that Ph.D's aren't studying the industry more. It really is damn fucked. You have naive foreingers trusting locals that eat them like sharks smelling blood. Sad on both parts. Better information is needed for 1st time teachers in Korea, and secondly the industry really needs to be professionalized, both within the management and with the teachers too.

Daechidong Waygookin

Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:14 am Post subject:

weatherman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

There are so many problems with the ESL industry in Korea, that I am surprised that Ph.D's aren't studying the industry more. It really is damn *beep*. You have naive foreingers trusting locals that eat them like sharks smelling blood. Sad on both parts. Better information is needed for 1st time teachers in Korea, and secondly the industry really needs to be professionalized, both within the management and with the teachers too.

Still, these guys were illegals. This is the kind of crap that ruins it all for the legal ones here. I hope they come down HARD on these teachers.

Real Reality

Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:29 am Post subject:

dutchman

Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: My backyard

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:32 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

weatherman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

Still, these guys were illegals. This is the kind of crap that ruins it all for the legal ones here. I hope they come down HARD on these teachers.

Illegal? Yes. But did they know what they were doing was illegal? Not likely.

Daechidong Waygookin

Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:33 am Post subject:

dutchman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

weatherman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

Still, these guys were illegals. This is the kind of crap that ruins it all for the legal ones here. I hope they come down HARD on these teachers.

Illegal? Yes. But did they know what they were doing was illegal? Not likely.

Doesnt matter.

dutchman

Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: My backyard

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:34 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

dutchman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

weatherman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

Still, these guys were illegals. This is the kind of crap that ruins it all for the legal ones here. I hope they come down HARD on these teachers.

Illegal? Yes. But did they know what they were doing was illegal? Not likely.

Doesnt matter.

Yes it does matter.

Daechidong Waygookin

Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 4:49 am Post subject:

dutchman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

dutchman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

weatherman wrote:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I saw that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

Still, these guys were illegals. This is the kind of crap that ruins it all for the legal ones here. I hope they come down HARD on these teachers.

Illegal? Yes. But did they know what they were doing was illegal? Not likely.

Doesnt matter.

Yes it does matter.

It doesnt matter. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. In any country. Teach them a lesson. 10m won fines and deportation would fit the crime. Time to crack down on ALL illegals.

trevorcollins

Joined: 02 Jul 2004

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:02 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

Time to crack down on ALL illegals.

Why? Most economies wouldn't function without them.

itaewonguy

Joined: 25 Mar 2003

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:23 am Post subject:

Daechidong Waygookin wrote:

I swa that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us.

ohh yeah!!!.. and what about the ruthless ring leaders?
you dont care what happens to them?!!

the teachers are just working. and they had majors.. just not in ESL!
JUST LIKE YOU!!
its the korean slime ball recruiters that need to be fined to the max!

mainsail

Joined: 06 Dec 2004

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:25 am Post subject:

Quote:

I swa that on TV. I hope those guys get fined the max and kicked the hell out of Korea with a 10 year ban on returning. More illegals totally ruining everything for the rest of us

Quote:

It doesnt matter. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. In any country. Teach them a lesson. 10m won fines and deportation would fit the crime. Time to crack down on ALL illegals.

....sounds like you blame the teachers more than the illegal agency for this. It was the illegal agency who created this mess and they are the ones who should receive the "10m won fines".

.

Quote:

Quote:"It doesnt matter. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. In any country. Teach them a lesson. 10m won fines and deportation would fit the crime. Time to crack down on ALL illegals."

Are these teachers ingnorant or victims? The agency was probably lying to them as to what qualifications they needed to teach English in Korea. The majority of the teachers who come over here just follow what the recruiters/agency tell them to do.

schwa

Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:36 am Post subject:

I'm confused. The teachers held legal qualifications to teach (a BA or BS) but were misled by unscrupulous recruiters into illegal positions. Is that right? Whether they were capable teachers or not is another issue. But it seems they met the visa criteria same as the rest of us.

TheUrbanMyth

Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:41 am Post subject:

schwa wrote:

I'm confused. It seems the teachers held legal qualifications to teach (a BA or BS) but were misled by unscrupulous recruiters into illegal positions. Is that right?

Whether they were capable teachers or not is another issue. But it seems they met the visa criteria same as the rest of us.

Only 70 of these teachers were foreigners though. What about the others? Didn't they know that what they were doing was illegal? I think we need more information before jumping to conclusions.

turtlepi1

Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 5:44 am Post subject: Re: employment ring busted

weatherman wrote:

An even worse problem was that the teachers were, by and large, not particularly qualified to teach English in the Korean school system. Of the teachers recruited, only one was an English major. 60~70 percent were arts and physical education majors.

How is that different than 60-70% of the teachers in hagwons...

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