Korean Job Discussion Forums

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

I recieved a PM, via the PM Advice Network, (a concept which I, "pm", suggsted) ....

"What is a hakwon"
"What is the difference between a hakwon and a public school"

This query was from a person who is thinking about coming to Korea to teach English.

The PMer did not want to post their question for fear of it being

"a stupid question" ...

So, I will ask for them ...

Please define the difference between a Hakwon and a Public School.
I PMed them but I think a more public opinion should be given ...

CYA

pm not PM

BTW: Smart assed comment really are of no help.

John Henry · Joined: 24 Sep 2004

Tells a lot about the tone of this board when someone is hesitant to ask questions like that.

I'll take the first one.
A hakwon is a privately owned language institute.

Konundrum · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: Boston

-Hakwons are a staple of the Korean education system and almost every child goes to one kind of hakwon or another after their regular public school classes....from elementary through high school. There are hakwons that cover pretty much any subject you can think of. They vary in quality and are not regulated by the government. The owner of the hakwon has all the say in what is taught in his/her institute.
-Hakwon classes are generally smaller.
-Hakwon jobs are ubiquitous throughout Korea.....
-

inkoreaforgood · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Location: Inchon

A hakwon is a privately-owned business, set up to make money by "educating" children in one school subject or another. The problem most people have when working at one of these places is that the boss is rarely aware of what it takes to run a business. They usually have few people skills, aren't very good with money flow, and always take it out on the employees when things aren't going well.

A hakwon I worked at 2 years ago was not doing well. There was an economic slowdown on, and we found that many parents taking their children out of our hakwon were in fact enrolling them in cheaper hakwons which taught several subjects(the English section had much lower quality teachers though). The boss said we teachers were responsible for at least half of the people leaving the school, yet the dropouts going to other places was 70%. The boss was really a good guy, but it was obvious that he wanted someone to blame for a problem that was based in economic difficulties being suffered throughout the country. The whole situation made all teachers there very uncomfortable, since the facts were obvious.

A public school is just that, similar to schools back home. A different set of problems, but without the sword of financial doom hanging overhead.

eamo · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.

A hagwon is a cram school. Most Korean schoolchildren go to one or two hagwons after regular school.

They are privately owned by businessmen/women who may or may not know anything about education.

Daechidong Waygookin · Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:31 pm Post subject:

A hagwon is a privately owned school. You dont want to qork for 90% of hagwons

A public school is a public school. Just like at home.

panthermodern · Joined: 08 Feb 2003 Location: Taxronto

Thanks folks, I will direct the questioning poster to this thread.

Sometime simple questions are the hardest to ask.

I emphasied the "buisiness" side of the hakwon (money making small business) while "public school" is government run and is a goverment service, and is technically non-profit.

JacktheCat · Joined: 08 May 2004

In Korea there two kinds of regular schools: public and "private" schools.

Public schools are pretty much the same as in Western countries; funded and run by the government with uniform standards and curriculum.

"Private schools", on the other hand, are run by organisations, churches, businesses, individuals, etc. "Private" is something of a misnomer, as they are not like private schools in Western countries and draw their funding from a combination of grants from the government, donations, trust funds, etc. It is actually illegal for them to charge tuition. Their standards and curriculum vary widely, but most tend to specialise in certain areas like computers or langauges.

chronicpride · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

To expand on hagwon. As others have said it's a privately-owned institute. Relevant in our case, as an english language institute. But there are also piano hogwans, ballet hagwons, ipshi hogwans (which would be more similar to what you can call a cram school, as they usually offer a full matriculation of subjects, including english), internet/PC hagwon, etc...Which is why you'll often see students coming to classes with violin cases, taekwondo outfits, and ballet stockings, as their evenings are often full of doing the hogwan bus circuit to the next place, and so on.