Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

I saw in one of CLGs posts that they dont grade classes on ability. I thought this surely happened in High School (like it does in England) and quizzed my coteacher on it.

His response? That parents dont want their kids in low grades and would get angry. So, instead of being able to teach to a level the class understands, you have classes where the best students are never tried and the worst students are totally lost.

Couple this with inability to hear ne type of criticism, pushing kids into study and extra curricular things like piano etc. do people think this desire to help their kids do the best they can is good or bad? And do you think it will ever change here?

Sigh, its things like this I find most depressing here.

[mindmetoo]

The Korean government doesn't want elite universities to require prospective students to write English essay questions on the entrance exams. The reason? Parents are spending too much money on prep courses for the SKY triumvirate. Are there way too many deluded parents, thinking their lil hagwon rat is SNU material? I think if parents had much more reasonable expectations of what their kid is capable of in life, they'd throw away a lot less money on courses.

[crazylemongirl]

Bascially it's a cultural thing. My co-teacher said that parents here view their kids as being part of themselves thus any problems at school aren't the kids fault. She was shocked when I told her that if there was a problem at school my parents would be angry at me rather than anyone else.

[jaganath69]

I worked in a hagwon my first year and ranted and raved till I was blue in the face about the importance of ability groupings. A friend who specializes in gifted and talented teaching from back home sold me on the concept. However, I was told numerous times that the parents wanted a routine that would suit their own social and working life first and foremost and that any inkling of advanced and remedial classes would be seen as an affront by those parents whose children were in the lower classes. I even suggested that these lower graded classes could be marked on basis of effort, because after all its just a hagwon. Sadly my advice was ignored. Now at my current job things are made a bit easier as students are grouped by toefl score. While it still creates a few disparities, its by far a better system.

[crazylemongirl]

[blunder1983]

You see this is the point i get confused at.

If I play up in school I get punished, first at school then at home.

So here its the schools fault and the kid is blameless.

Now this is the bit which flummoxes me. The above arguement as I see is fundamentally flawed, I act like an idiot, I should be punished. BUT is that just my inability to see the cultural difference, or is western thinking correct on this point and they do in fact have it wrong.

Whenever I talk about this sort of thing I find I can intelligently justify my point, whereas the K arguement is simply, that is how it is. Which, IMHO, isnt an arguement at all.

[joe_doufu]

Koreans view their children as an investment. Sort of how you'd view a mutual fund. Imagine the market gains 12 percent this year but your mutual fund only gains 11 percent. Would you be cuddly sweet and lovey dovey to your fund manager? No way. It's not the mutual fund's fault, it's just a dumb financial product, it has no feelings, and is fundamentally (no pun intended) no different from any other mutual fund. Obviously you need more and better fund managers working on it for more hours of the day.

[blunder1983]

I'm not sure they are that callous Joe, if that were true then this place is far darker than I imagined.

I think they think they are helping their children out but I dont see many kids at school who'd agree with them, and all this treading water amounts to what? The children are no more intelligent than any other countries. I bite the hand that feeds but WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY.

[waterbaby]

[guangho]

Education is the last thing on their minds. On a tangent, is it just my public school or do K teachers in public schools spend their time chatting on msn whilst sitting at their desks and the kids are waiting for whatever morsels of wisdom may be thrown their way? It's a fascinating thing to see really.

[peppermint]

I don't know, but I know we get an average of 2-3 inter buildiing memos poping up on the computer screen per class each day. That wouldn't be so bad, if the course didn't rely so heavily on showing CD-ROMs.

[panthermodern]

face it folks ....

90% of us are just aiding in the pollution of the "Korean Educational System" ...

The vast majority of Korean Hakwons are scams.

[ejmlab]

I'm not sure what it's like in general but I've been teaching at a private high school for the past year and I'd say that there's definitely a punishment system in place. I'd say 90% of the teachers heft wooden sticks or switches to discipline the students with. At first I was amazed...I even told my students during the first week of class that I'd treat them as young adults (foolish me coming from 5 years teaching Uni I should have known that they're still children) and most importantly I explained that I wouldn't strike them as it wasn't considered polite in the Western world. I'm biting my lip now. Children who are conditioned by the rod respect little else.

~~cheers
ejmlab

[inkoreaforgood]

[Yu_Bum_suk]