Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

I think her post was quite interesting, and its comments like this which give me heart, thinking that the education system WILL evolve in to a less corrupt and better run system.

My only gripe is the innoccuous blame she places on the native speakers. I put a lot of effort into all I do here, and in all honesty I don't think I've met a person who doesnt. The REAL problems here are things like the widespread corruption, the highly illegal business practices of Hagwons, the constant immature one upmanship the whole country faces.

My reasoning behind this attitude is that the country developed very swiftly economically, but as a culture/community their social development has evolved at the normal rate. Its why it seems like the 50s here even tho everyone is PC banging etc. The only solution I see is to quit bashing whitie and grow up.

[Wrench]

[the_beaver]

I admit, I don't see what the problem with the article is.

[steroidmaximus]

the problem is she never points the finger at her own kind

she does state some truths, but not all of em. I'm waiting for a Korean to step up and state it like it really is.

I'd say she's a Derrek protege.

[joe_doufu]

[joe_doufu]

I admit I'm criticizing it more from a writing teacher's point of view than a political stance.

[gypsyfish]

She writes better than many of the posters on this board.

And I'm damned if I see her mention Canada anywhere in the article.

[fidel]

[howie2424]

The article was interesting in that she poses some tough questions about serious problems in the Korean private education system. Sad however that she made the classic Korean assessment of those problems; 'It's a foreigner's fault'

[Hollywoodaction]

[Hollywoodaction]

[VanIslander]

As someone who has co-taught and graded hundreds of Canadian undergrad students in critical thinking courses I have to say they don't do any better on average than this law student at Hanyang University.

C+

[periwinkle]

Wow, there was a lot of venom in that article. Hatred for foreigners spewing everywhere. I'm guessing she worked in a hakwon- she seems to have a lot of firsthand knowledge. She scathingly writes about how we're here for the "bucks". I don't know about her, but the main reason for working is (drumroll)- MONEY! I love how she groups all of us into one neat category. I know of plenty of qualified teachers, people with Master's degrees, people with high-stress jobs back home who need a break (I know a lawyer, former wall-street stock broker- I know that there's a social worker on this board), etc. What does she think all of these "so-called 'teachers'" do in their classes? Reading, listening, playing vocabulary games, singing, etc. is... a waste of time? In all the places I've worked (and the, um, pro-bonos I've done), we did all the above, plus testing, writing assignments, grammar workbooks, reading comprehension homework, etc. Does she think ESL teachers get paid for doing absolutely nothing? In all the hakwons I've worked, there were complaining mothers, and kids who talked to their parents about what was done in class that day. I'll bet you a response like,"We ran around the classroom while song sang nim read the paper" would warrant a call to the wong jang and swift disciplinary action.

[kermo]

It just goes to show that putting things in quotes can be used as a substitute for real arguments. Snark will prevail.

[lastat06513]

If she wants to blame teachers- fine!
I would let her do that.
If she wants to blame the 6-month mongers for the corrupt practices in this country, she can as people would say and say again~
"Korea is a democracy, we have the right to say whatever we want...."

But what Koreans can't grasp is that even in a democracy, there must be some kind of "restraint" or "sense of responsibility" when saying or writing something in the paper.

If this article was written in a US newspaper, I can almost assure you that lil' Miss Yang and the newspaper itself would be slapped with a defamation lawsuit somewhere (she should have learned that somewhere while she was studying "law")

Koreans get overwhelimgly pissed-off whenever there is something negatively said or written about Korea. And when they say the same about other people, they only shrug their shoulders and remain quiet.

You can't blame all blacks and hispanics for all the crime in the US
You can't blame all arabs for the terrorist attacks that occur
You can't call all native americans lazy and alcoholics

Korea expects people to feel any sense of pity or remorse for it if they can't see the difference between a good teacher or a bad teacher. Judging and generalizing will not make the situation better; concrete action can...

If she is using some kind of first-hand experience to write the article, it is tainted by only one-time experience. If she wanted a clear cut picture of the situation, she should have worked at several of them, with several foreign coworkers and under several bosses.

Then she could see that there is enough blame to go around; to the Koreans as well as the foreigner expats here.