Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vlcupper]

[Blind Willie]

[Suntzu]

I haven't seen the show yet. But everyone is asking me if it is true at my school. One woman told me that the show stated that only 5% of teachers here are working legally (is that part true?). It would be nice to send some letters to SBS. (Does anybody know how to contact them) This pathetic moral panic is out of line.

[Real Reality]

TV Program Warms Up Foreign Teacher Controversy
Foreign teachers are once again the talk of the Internet. Saturday's edition of the SBS investigative program "I Want to Know That" reports English teachers in Korea engaging in sex with underage local girls, offering drugs to students and faking qualifications.
English teachers have been under the spotlight since one posted demeaning comments about Korean women on the web early this year and risque pictures from a mixed party were released. There have been calls to expel all English teachers from the peninsula.

The report, entitled "Is Korea their Paradise? Report on the Real Conditions of Blond-haired, Blue-eyed Teachers," reveals that teachers at some language schools engage in sexual relations with middle and high school students and offer their students marijuana. It says some teachers use fake academic records to get jobs with local private language schools, universities and businesses. The show includes fresh explosive comments by foreign teachers like, "I think only 5 percent of foreign English teachers in Korea are qualified," "Korean women are the easiest women to get into bed," and "I think of Korea as a big cash machine."

Immediately after the broadcast, the bulletin board on the program's website was flooded with over 1,000 furious posts. "I was so infuriated after the broadcast that I couldn't sleep," one read. "I'm frightened to send my children to an English academy," read another. "Foreign language institutes must do some soul-searching," said a user giving their name as Han Seon-yeong. "We must quickly deport all those low-quality foreign English teachers who try to pick up girls near Hongik University or Apgujeong."

The extreme nature of some of the attacks has led to concerns for the safety of foreign residents in Korea. "After watching the broadcast, I began to look differently at the native English speaker who teaches in the elementary school where I work and the Korean English teacher who works in the same classroom," a user giving her name as Yun Eun-hwa said. "I wonder if because of people like me, Koreans married to foreigners or those who have to work with foreigners might be afraid to go out in the street now." And indeed, user Im Mi-mi, who says she is married to a foreigner, said, "Since the show aired on Saturday, I've been afraid to go out... It's absolute nonsense that I should now look like a *beep* just because I live with a foreigner."

The fallout of the broadcast has hit private institutes where foreign English teachers work. When critical posts began flooding the bulletin board of a famous language institute, the school on Sunday placed a notice on its website telling visitors that the broadcast had nothing to do with their establishment. SBS confirmed the program was not about the private school in question and suspended VOD service of the program on its website.
by Kim Jae-eun, Chosun Ilbo (February 21, 2005)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502210020.html

[matko]

That's friggin BRUTAL!

Good luck guys.


Seriously.

[trevorcollins]

Hey Matko, if I die you can have my skank smelling bathroom slippers.

[Real Reality]

The report entitled
"Is Korea their Paradise? Report on the Real Conditions of Blond-haired, Blue-eyed Teachers"

[matko]

[nateyb]

I am wondering where this goes from here? Will we see those hapless cause-heads take to the streets?

[Hanson]

Hey Trevorcollins, that's got to be the most disturbing avatar yet...

At least I'll have the nightmares to look forward to...

[jurassic5]

so will this stop korea from being the hub of asia?



why don't they do stories about what a normal english teacher does:

go to school...teach, come home, eat, drink some beer with friends, come home and go online and post on here.

also, shouldn't the program have investigated the school for hiring the applicant without doing a proper background check?

[vlcupper]

[inkoreaforgood]

Heads up people. I think that we all need to be aware that this issue is not going away anytime soon, and that there are likely to be several incidents involving Koreans and foreigners now. Keep your eyes open, and your wits about you.

[some waygug-in]

I think, (yes, sometimes I do that ) that this is going to have a negative effect on ESLers across the board. Immigration is already implementing some new "regulations" and doing extra backgroud checks.

Not, that those are a bad thing, but I am sure that more legitimate teachers are going to be needlessly hassled.

I know I had trouble the last time because my degree was written in Latin.
God knows what they will try and pull on me next time.

For those places who hire illegal teachers, it's basically their own fault. They usually offer such bad working conditions and such ridiculous contracts that no legitimate teachers would work for them.

So they hire whomever they can............ yeah well, like they say,
you get what you pay for.

[JongnoGuru]