Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ScottyG]

Lately, I feel like this whole Korea thing has just sunk to utter lameness. The teachers I meet, the girls I date, the places I go, the jobs I get offered, stuff I read on the internet, and the crap I hear in the Korean news is just getting to me. The worst part of it is, while I know that the Korean media just loves a waygook scapegoat and goes into cheap tabloid mode the minute a white man steps out of line, I have to admit that the cause and effect of the situation does emerge from a valid place. I really hate the picture that the media paints regarding the average white twenty-something male in Korea. However, what I dislike even more is that, although geared up, it isn't far off from the truth.

I'm not proud to be a white man in Korea. I don't feel the need to sew a maple leaf on my back pack. I don't like to tell people I am an English teacher, and I am emberassed by how some of my friends act when we "hit the town" so to speak. A few yeards ago this wasn't nearly as much of a concern.....but now things have saturated and we are seeing the effects of it in the Korean media.

Yes, the media is wrong to report things the way they do, but nothing happens without cause nor effect and we, the waygookin, have indeed become too complacent, expectant, and insulated as a whole. While, 5 years ago, I would say Korean hakwons were ripping more of us off than vice versa, I would say things are looking a bit blurry right about now.

Does anyone else feel like general crapedom is generally becoming more crappy? That Itaewon should be bull-dozed? That Redbull t-shirts bought on Kohsan road should be outlawed in the classroom? That Koreans should pull their heads out of their yingyangs and realise that they have become dancing puppets of the English industry? That they can only blame themselves for becoming the frat-house brothel for immature show-boat Backstreet boy wannabees who want a taste of Asia (and I don't mean kimchee)?

Does anyone else use the dating sites and notice a change in the weather amongst the girls who now assume white-man=sex starved predator?

All in all, these pastures can no longer feed all the moooing cattle. China, despite lower pay, is looking greener everyday. At least over there they don't have their minds fully made up about us.

[seoulsucker]

Like any other teacher here, this stuff gets to me a bit. What it boils down to for me is the supply/demand relationship.

Koreans are crazy for English, and so schools, both legit and shady open left and right. This creates an unreasonable demand for qualified native speakers to live and teach here. Since those demands can't be met, the schools cut corners and hire unqualified teachers, some of them who end up being rather unsavory. Keep in mind that there are plenty of unsavory qualified teachers out there as well.

I came here as an unqualified teacher, so I'm not totally against the system as it is. But unlike the 1-year booze-and-run zombie teachers who just fill a space, I used the opportunity to gain experience. Now I work for an excellent school, I have an amazing girlfriend, and a couple other fun extracurricular activities that keep my mind off this kind of stuff.

Do your job, keep your nose clean and fly beneath the radar. Whatever else happens is pretty much beyond your control, and you'll go mad trying to make sense out of any of it.

[Corporal]

definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely.
definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely.
definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely. definitely.



got it yet?


p.s. the only general crapdom around here is your post.

[poet13]

So the definitely definitely etc, was for which post? The OP or the first reply?

[rawiri]

There's truth to the cliche that "you create your own reality".

I don't give a flying fig what some random ajosshi thinks about me or my friends or my behaviour. Essentially i know i do a pretty good job here, i have excellent relationships with the kids and pretty good with my co teachers (all koreans, no other waygooks in my school).


Do i get caught up in the daves naysayeers, korean netizen, kbs,chosu herald stereotypes and hysteria?, hell no i don't. See it for what it is man, a friggin farce to sell more of their webspace, for Dave Sperling to attract more hits to his website, to sell more newspapers, to win the 6o'clock tv news wars.

If you are becoming unable to seperate reality, i.e that being what you know about the group of foreign friends you have over here from fiction, i.e what the aforementioned information sources tell about what they know of the group of foreign friends you have over here, then get out now man because it's not that far removed from you becoming full of doubt and maybe eventually self loathing.

Either that or extricate yourself from the internet and start working out or doing something a bit more productive to while away the hours.


And you think china is better than korea for esl........sure, so long as you are willing to take a 60% pay drop, be a lot more susceptible to dodgy operators and live basically the life of a peasant then go for it.

[ttompatz]

[bosintang]

I'm kind of caught in between. On one hand, I agree with rawiri, you have to sepaparate your own role and own life away from this nonsense, and that I do. So personally, I live my life, it's not my business what anyone else does or believes. If someon dissaproves of me but still pays me to teach them English, they can sort out their own demons. I'll just do my job.

However, from media reports, from discussions I've had with my (Korean) supervisor, from a few months experience in Japan and learning how the system developed there, and from just my general gut feeling about how Koreans behave and think -- that's vague, I know -- I really don't have high hopes for the ESL industry in Korea. Korea is not a beacon for good labour/management relations at the best of times, add in the fact that we are transients from a very wide range of backgrounds, add in the large cultural and language differences, add in the fact that Koreans are just spending too much money and putting in too much effort for intangible results and unclear rewards, count in that too many untrained, unexperienced foreigners are now going to be put in public schools where I think it's bound to be a disaster, and I'm very skeptical the Korean powers-that-be can get organised enough to develop a more substainable system. I really think the industry is about to implode on itself.

I wish I never got involved with this industry at all, and that's not easy for me to say, because I'm good at my job. There will be no ESL in China in my future. It may take a few more years, but ultimately the future of ESL in China is what we see here in Korea.

At the moment, I feel like I'm taking advantage of the chaos in Korea to earn a few bucks so I can move on, but ideologically speaking, I feel that the long-term outlook of what I've accomplished here and where this industry is going, is pretty soul-deadening.

[brento1138]

[indytrucks]

More self-indulgent, self-loathing navel gazing. Just what we need around here.

[flotsam]

[jmbran11]

The only time I get the impression that foreigners are disliked in this country is when I read this board. In my two years here, I've had almost no negative experiences, other than the general staring and inappropriate personal questions.

Maybe this is because I am woman or because I almost never go to places where the foreigners/U.S. soldiers congregate (i.e. Itaewon). As far as white men being perceived as sex-starved, I couldn't say. However, in fairness to Koreans, I do kind of get that feeling reading this board, because of the unbelievably high number of posts asking about finding/dating/pleasing/screwing/breaking-up with Korean women. I often get the feeling there are a lot of creepy (white) guys here. There are probably a lot of creepy women as well, but somehow we aren't perceived the same.

Let's face it - the ESL industry is basically organized to assist people who are impulsive and/or looking to flee their country of origin quickly. Of course, many people don't fit this description, but it only takes a few. Add on to this an industry that draws every honest and unscrupulous businessman due to quick profits and lacking oversight - and it's a wonder the whole thing hasn't imploded already. ESL is the crack of Korea.

[bosintang]

[periwinkle]

Ah, geez, the media? Are you referring to the Korea Herald? No one reads that piece of trash, so ignore it. If stuff like that bothers you, stay away from it. Same with some of the nasty message boards- stay away from them, because they are poison. Just by doing a few things like that will help you avoid negativity. If you are getting tired of your friends and the way they act, I would find new people to hang around with, or spend more time alone.

[bosintang]

[vox]

"Personally, I think that if the 20 somethings started acting like 20 somethings and stopped acting like drunken teens on a hot weekend then the media would have little left to fish for."

I wish that would happen too, but to do that, they would have to act differently from 20 something Koreans in Western cities, like the ones I taught in immersion programs back home and how crappily some treated their host families.

I think if every 20something totally reformed, the media would still find fish, they'd just make side dishes instead of entrees. I like the advice given by the first reply. Best to focus on the self and keep out of trouble. We're not in Kansas anymore.