Korean Job Discussion Forums

Karabeara

Imagine this scenario:

You work for a public school, and putting aside the regular crap encountered at any job in Korea, you like the place. You are given a lot of vacation (in excess of 2 or 3 months) despite your contract saying only 2 weeks. The job is basically easy, and the students are pretty good. Teaching hours are 18 or so per week.

Would you leave it if you were offered a job at a university which paid 200,000 won per month less, offered similar or less vacation time, and similar or just a few more hours? I have not been offered a university job. In fact, I have not interviewed for any yet. I am just curious if you would leave for the university merely for the sake of working at a university?

If I were ever put in a position to ponder the thought, I might leave just for the experience, in hopes of getting a better university job some day.

Ya-ta Boy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Established in 1994

Following your scenario, no I wouldn't do it. Just being able to say, "I teach at a university" is not worth W200,000 a month to me.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

Nope. I haven't left my high school for the many years I've been there.

Just to say "I work at a university," is a stupid reason to work at one. I mean who is impressed by that anyways? Koreans?

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

Scott in Incheon · Joined: 30 Aug 2004

I might...considering a few things...

One...that the public schools are starting to get real tight on the actual holidays you get...

Two...you get to leave your uni whenever you have classes...come just before your first and leave just after your last...

Third...depending on your uni...you get up to 5 1/2 months holiday and that is pretty good...

Fourth...overtime in a uni comes after your core hours (12-1 Cool

and you can easily up your salary working a few extra hours...all legal and within school grounds...and your extra work in the summer (if you have to do it )just mean more money...you can easliy make up the missing 200K

Fifth...again depending on your uni...you can teach content courses where you really get to teach...I could never give up my writing course for my education students...

Sixth...absolutely no classroom discipline problems...ever happens kick them out give them an absence (enough of those and they fail)

So...yes i probably would give up my public school job for a uni job unless there was something special about the high school...

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Karabeara · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:44 am Post subject:

Beaver, you surprised me. You would not move to the university job?

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

I hope that I will never again have a position in Korea where I don't have the power to positively, or negatively, affect the students' lives.

Without the power to fail them, you are treated like a clown no matter what you do.

Without that shiny "F" in your hand, you are no better than a guy playing guitar on the street.

Universities give you that "F." That goes back to Mom and Dad, and they can't protest to your boss, have you fired or turfed out of your apartment. The students can give you a poor teacher evaluation, but those can take forever to come back to you if your boss likes you. If.

The students are still impossible to motivate, arrogant and resentful of your position above them but it's a lot better than being seen as an intermission to regular beatings from the Korean high school teachers.

Hagwon teachers are at the beck and call of a hundred neurotic ajumas. Public schools, I dunno, but I don't see why you'd want to hang out with a bunch of spastic teenagers all day.

jacl · Joined: 31 Oct 2005

More money is better than less money.

denverdeath · Joined: 21 May 2005 Location: Boo-sahn

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

I'd rather say "Wake up!" than "Shut up!" any day!! Laughing

That said, when I taught in a hagwon, I loved it! I loved the kids and their enthusiasm. Now that I'm at a uni, I love the contact OUT of class that I make with students, and the in-class time when I can actually turn a student from "I hate English" to "English isn't so bad".

Karabeara · Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 7:09 am Post subject:

Some questions:

1. What is the difference between an F and a D, or a C? I keep reading about universities who discourage giving low marks. Do you mean the power to F a student who just does not show up? Have you ever failed a student who did show up for class every day?

In public high schools, grades are fixed. The students do not generally get below a certain percent. The ones that are at the bottom know it, and so do the parents, so they may as well be getting that shiny F. The difference is that these students must come to class, whereas at a university, they can skip class at least sometimes. But at least they are forced to show up at a public school.

I guess what I am asking is, Pyong Shin, do you F a lot of your students? Do you F more of the male students than female students? Do you enjoy giving them your big, shiny F? Wink

Just having fun.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

I've never failed a student who came to class every day, as attendance is 30% of the grade, so even if a student does really badly on exams, they STILL have a chance of passing.

My grading system is this: 30% mid-term, 30% final, 30% attendance, 10% "my choice". I use the "my choice" to take points away from students who are rude or obnoxious in class. Students START OUT WITH 40%. I'm really tough about attendance, though. Each absence (in a 2 day a week class) is -3 points. In a 1 day a week class, it's -5 points.

The closest a student ever came to failing when he attended every class was one guy who got a 59.8 total grade. (Listening class, not converstaion). I gave him the option of getting an "F" so he could re-take the class, or a "D" so he wouldn't have to. He took the "D".