Korean Job Discussion Forums

[nrvs]

I don't feel bad about Korean English teachers getting paid less for more work in hogwans.

The standard argument is this:

According to this thread, the average starting wage for Korean English hogwan teachers is 1.0-1.2 million won. For native-speaker English teachers it's between 1.9-2.1 million won. In most hogwans, the Korean teachers are saddled with longer hours and more responsibilities than foreign teachers. The native-speaker English teachers usually don't pay rent. Their gross wages, not even including an apartment, are almost twice that of Korean English teachers. This, as the argument concludes, is completely unfair.

However, I've been arguing otherwise. Am I insensitive or misinformed? I don't think so. I've been presenting this argument in fragmented form to my fellow native-speaking English teachers at my hogwan. They understandably get irritated when the Korean English teachers act snippy towards us, but still end up feeling guilty because of the typical argument I outlined above.

To begin, most Korean English teachers don't pay rent either. All of the Korean teachers at my English-only hogwan are unmarried women. They live at home. Their parents pay for the basics of life, often including the use of a car. Their mothers even cook meals for them each day.

Also, Korean English teachers haven't flown to the other side of the world, sometimes on their own dime, to work at a hogwan. They speak the language. They understand the work culture. They understand Korean culture in general. Native speakers are strangers in a strange land, with all the stresses and culture shocks that come along with that.

Teaching at a hogwan isn't a profession for most of us. TEFL is certainly a profession in and of itself, but most dedicated EFL teachers in Korea pursue employment at the university level, with its better pay and working conditions. Korean English teachers at hogwans like to portray themselves as "real" teachers, but most of them are no more qualified than the average native English speaker. Although most have TEFL certifications, the majority of Korean English teachers at my hogwan have degrees in other subjects. I suspect some might not have degrees at all. They cannot find work in the comparatively well-paid public school system because they are unqualified for employment there. I seem to recall reading on Dave's that 3.0 million won p.m. is the initial wage for a Korean public school teacher. This wage is comparable to the starting salary a public school teacher would receive in the United States. Korean English teachers try to make the hogwan industry their profession, but it's simply not a professional pursuit with professional wages.

Korean English teachers also have special privileges not accorded to native speakers. I'll reiterate some points "some waygugin" makes. They all participate in the National Health Insurance Corporation's plan without any shadiness. Their employers pay into the pension scheme as well. They can teach privates legally. No immigration formalities or contract extortion. Privacy at home (because it's their parents' house as well). Far more respect in the classroom. And so on.

Yet, they whine and complain and shoot the evil eye at the native speakers. Why?

For most female Korean English teachers, I think most of this stems from their past-expiration date ages (30+) and their inability to find a suitable husband with a well-paying job. Of course, if they got married they'd likely have children, and if they had children they'd almost certainly leave the workforce. I think this is what most female Korean English teachers were planning for all along. It's nobody's mistake but their own to try and make a career in the hogwan industry while putting all their chips on the prospect of marriage. It's not the foreign teachers' fault they didn't obtain the necessary qualifications to become a professional teacher in a public school, or pursue a different line of work entirely. They knew what qualifications they'd need to pull more than 1.2 a month. This is what they should have done had they wanted to pursue a real career in teaching.

(And it's what I'd have done as well, because I'd be working at an international school someplace warm and pleasant and not in some drafty hogwan in Korea. )

I'd love your criticism and/or support of my argument. Please post away.

[nrvs]

I forgot to add this:

I just returned from my 6 day holiday in Singapore. Naturally, encountering such a civilized, pleasant place after 4 months in Korea got me thinking about working there myself.

Anyway, tonight I've been idly browsing Singaporean job websites to see what's available in my old profession (IT). Most entry-level IT jobs (for "fresh graduates" as they're called in Singapore) have a starting wage of only S$1700-2000 p.m. That's 1.1-1.3 million won.

Why? For many of the same reasons as in Korea. Most young, unmarried people in Singapore live with their parents until they marry. They don't need to make more than those starting wages because it's only pocket money. Their parents cover the essentials. By the time marriage rolled around, they'd be making more, and they'd also be able to combine their incomes. Unlike Korea, in Singapore (and most civilized nations around the world) it's perfectly acceptable for women to continue their careers after marriage, even after they have children.

But somehow I wouldn't expect a young Singaporean working the same job as a foreign worker to be upset at the foreigner's higher wage (minimum S$2500 p.m. to qualify for a visa). They'd have the good sense to understand what an undertaking it is for a foreigner to move to Singapore and set up her life far away from home.

(And then they'd probably go out for dinner together because Singaporeans are a hell of a lot friendlier than Koreans. But I digress.)

[Rather_Dashing]

They get paid according to what the market allocates to them. It's basic economics. In general, Koreans send their kids to language schools to learn conversation skills and they want to see whitey teach them. I'm not making a judgement as to if this is right or wrong, I'm speaking strictly in objective terms here.

Also notice how wages for TESLers have stagnated for the past 4 or 5 years. That equals to about a 10% pay cut

[hellofaniceguy]

[some waygug-in]

It's weird to see that some people pay attention to what I write, unlike the current events forum where they rush to skim over the message so they can hurry up and post a bunch of childish name calling in response.

In defense of Korean teachers, I must say that there are certain age groups (young children) at beginner levels where they are far more effective than untrained foreigners. The kids listen to them and will actually learn something from them.

I'm not saying that a foreign teacher can't be effective, but there have to be a lot of conditions met first before this is possible.

First and formost there has to be discipline. If the school has no discipline policy and doesn't support a foreign teacher's efforts, the battle is already lost from day 1.

Secondly, there have to be proper resources, textbooks, tapes, games, whiteboards, and most importantly good BOOKS FOR THE STUDENTS.
(not mismatched, used leftovers, or some hackneyed konglish thing that some idiot who can't speak English put together)

Thirdly, the school has to try to address the issue of level placement. They can't put 8-year-olds in a class with teens and expect it to work.
It is difficult enough when the ages are equal but their English abilities are
not.

But I digress.

Back to Korean teachers, I have met some quite excellent Korean teachers here whose English skills were excellent. I have also met some of the kind mentioned above. Just like not all foreigners can be lumped together as a bunch of untrained losers, not all Korean teachers are the same.

[turtlepi1]

[sadsac]

Having worked in a hagwon for three years, where we only employed native speakers and now the last year working with Korean teachers, I can certainly understand the critisms leveled at Korean teachers. Of the 9 Korean teachers employed at my current hagwon, only two have a very good command of English. Add to that, a director who doesn't speak English, though this was not always the case, her husband was the original director, but he nows has his school in another city. Trying to converse about the program or the difficulties with certain students is a nightmare at times. Also listening to the Korean teachers teach phonics is abominable. They need to place a requirement on Korean teachers, as they do on Foreign teachers. The one single constant that I've noticed with all the Korean staff, is their level of self esteem and self worth is almost zero.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I feel sorry for the KTs at our hogwan, who, with one exception, are wonderful, helpful people. The boss doesn't say anything beyond 'hello' and 'goodbye' to us but gives them $#@% whenever there's a problem, even if it's us who are at fault. A couple of them are really stuck at a dead end. They desperately want to quit their jobs and go live or study in Canada, but they have only the vaguest ideas of how they might accomplish this. They really like children but don't like the working conditions. They have to come in early and leave late for no particular reason. They're always stuck in long, boring, pointless meetings with the director.

Are they worth at least as much as us? Of course, but as someone said, it's market economics. There are a lot of single, unemployed, university-educated women in this country and apparently teaching hogwan is preferable to a working-class job. Is it fair that somewhere in Canada there's a teacher who hates his job, is useless with kids, and knows far less about his subject area than me, making $70,000 a year when I'm getting less than a third that to babysit children who can't speak English?

[jajdude]

Well yeah only getting 50-60% of what the foreigner gets may seem bad, but I think I feel worse for those in SE Asia who get more like 10-20%

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

There are many Korean English teachers who don't speak or read English well. They get paid very little because their English is terrible and that throws the numbers out of whack. Also there are Korean English instructors who earn big money. The TOEIC or Time teachers in downtown Seoul earn much more than any foreigner hogwon teacher.

[jajdude]

A Korean friend once mentioned she knew a bi-lingual Korean teacher making up to 10 million/month teaching TOEFL. That's a lot! No doubt working a lot of hours...

[captain kirk]

Like the OP's new perspectives on K-teachers. True, they rest in the lap of family, live at home, don't speak English that well, will probably eventually get married before their 'expiry date' of 30.
The pretty fluent one who specializes in middle school does a lot of coaching. Specific requirements like get ready for a test, interview.
They have to call the parents and be 'homeroom teacher', though. That's a lot of blather to get through. Not to mention to sit, dutifully listening, bored look on their faces, as the quick-stepping King or Queen of the heap holds court, rather dictatorially. Must be exhausting, that, having no friends and being a tyrant, manipulating all the time. Must give the boss flowers.

[peppermint]

[nrvs]

[Blind Willie]