Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hater Depot]

[jacl]

Really?

[trigger123]

don't hate the player. hate the game

the whole english private english system in korea makes me laugh sometimes. if people are daft enough to pay good money for english 'lessons' in a virtually unregulated system then people are going to clean up big-time. the demand should for the commodity of 'english' shouldn't even be there. a quality, properly funded state education system, with realistic levels of achievement for all students, would go a long way to pushing the private sector out of the field of education, which in my opinion it has no place to be in. it is not reasonable to expect all students to be skilled in a second language, nor is it really necessary for the entire workforce to have these skills.

waegookins might complain about the pushy korean mothers at their hagwon, or the wangjangnim treating teachers like a commodity, but its that same competitive culture that drives the hagwon system and all the private lessons in the black economy.

the korean teachers may or not be making that kind of money, who knows whether the figures are right or not. in my experience they probably aren't. hagwon teaching is not a respected profession, and even state teaching staff aren't paid particularly well.

but what i find amazing is that so much money leaves the country in the pockets of a largely unqualified, mercenary work force. rather than shelling out for private lessons, parents should be lobbying for improvements to their state system, which in the long run will raise standards.
good luck to you if you pull 5, 10, 15 million per month. but i hope that somewhere down the line the net tightens and korea gets it's game together, for korea's sake.

[Mr. Pink]

To the OP:

You mentioned that the teacher's get money in kickbacks from the students. This used to be VERY common. However, the government has made it illegal for teachers to accept money from students or parents. I am talking school teachers here, not hawgwons.

Back in the day I would guess they might have gotten anywhere from 10-30mil a year "extra". My wife told me when she was a 3rd year high school student that the amount of money their homeroom teacher's would get from parents was enough to buy a car.

If a teacher is caught doing it these days, the government is VERY strict. If you have been here for five years, you must know about the current president and how he really hates corruption.

Also remember: the person who told you this is most likely bragging and exageratting. I knew a former high school teacher who went into the hawgwon business. He told me he made about 10mil a month, but to do that he had to work 14-16hrs a day, 7 days a week. That involved classes that went till about 2am. Specialized classes like TOEFL and TOEIC, which is really where the money is at in this country.

[mack the knife]

[Aussiekimchi]

Yeah I wasn't talking about hagwan korean teachers. I was talking about Korean school teachers.
My boss is not a hagwan owner now.
He was talking about kickbacks from students and mothers.
He has been out of the Education game for about 7 years now I guess.
President Roh has enforced a big crackdown on teachers accepting bribes from parents and students, but I just wonder if it is still happening.
I mean, there are a lot of speed cameras around. Does this stop the drivers from speeding?
And yes I did intially raise the question in this forum because if it is true..I am bl dy jealous!

[Cheonmunka]

[Aussiekimchi]

If a teacher is caught doing it these days, the government is VERY strict. If you have been here for five years, you must know about the current president and how he really hates corruption.

Ummmm...WTF?

Yes everything is rosey under the current govt and there is no corruption because the current president really hates it.......well played young man..I have no comeback to that insight.

[Hollywoodaction]

[Latina714]

Well it's true you guys! This teacher is definitely making the big bucks in Korea.

Here is the recent article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-million-teacher-230500699.html

[beentheredonethat777]