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TheChickenLover
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Location: The Chicken Coop
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 Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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| crusher_of_heads wrote: |
| TexasPete wrote: |
Why do people think this dude's in the wrong for quitting? Last i checked, we all had free will and signing a contract doesn't negate that or bind one slave-like to the employer (for those who think the latter is OK, you've been in Korea too long). If the issue here is quitting without giving any advanced noticed, that's a bit of weak sauce IMO, but it seems that in this country, that's the only way to end your job (pre contract expiration) here and be guaranteed not to be screwed over in some way, shape or form.
OP--kudos to you for putting up with that BS for so long as i certainly wouldn't have the patience for that. |
Hey, the OP is right, but don't forget the title of the thread
Sign this or you can't work here
good on the OP for doing in Rome as the Romans do, right Homer? 
ps that kid with that note-he'd have been eating lunch without a word spoken in Englisheeeee alone with me for 3 days, and only off the hook until he apologised, without mentioning the tard Kteacher in question.
Damn man I'm glad you did what you did but no kudos for lasting that long, you should have left sooner. |
Thanks crusher. I am not new to bad behaviour. I used to be a prison youth counsellor in Canada, so bad behaviour isn't exactly new to me. When you go to a new place, you can observe for a month or so to see how things are and you adapt to the circumstances you are faced with. If you show absolute inflexibility, then you'll never survive (unless you work for yourself).
After the first month I changed the class curriculum and that needed time to work. By the end of the 2nd month, it's not too long that you're super tired, but you also see the winter vacation coming. When work gets into a grind, you just do what you can on a day-by-day basis to get through the day. This is a temporary solution though. You CAN tolerate stuff for awhile, but the new demands from me took away what little benefit I could get to keep my sanity and I knew it. Hence I resigned on the spot. Giving 2 months notice would have been an open invitation to being fleeced and suffer even poorer treatment from co-teachers to an absolutely intolerable level.
Also, late Dec - late Feb had very few classes and a much better schedule. It was better and I also received alot of overtime for each class I taught on holiday. I was not expected to stay at all, simply come in and teach and go.
I'll post Jan-Feb tommorow, and thanks for reading everyone. It helps to vent.
Chicken |
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semi-fly
Joined: 07 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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| crusher_of_heads wrote: |
| Yes, but don't write the name of the coteacher-not that the garbage in question doesn't deserve to be outed, and embarassed, but the letter won't get published with the name there-remember, saving face is a **collective** character defect in this part of the world |
He could write an abbreviated version of his experience at the school using the same naming scheme Mr. A, Mrs. B, and so on and submit it as an OP/ED piece to the Herald or the Times. I'd imagine he'd get similar comments on those websites that he's receiving here.
Looking forward to CL's next update. |
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TexasPete
Joined: 24 May 2006
Location: Koreatown
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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The more i read this, the more i think that the only thing the OP could have done better on quitting day is to go to each of the dipshits in his school and tell them exactly what he thought of them. It seems to me that it's laughable that any of your ex-colleagues could call themselves teachers with a straight face. Nothing they did, as outlined by the OP, bears any resemblance to teaching that i know of.
As to that little SOB who handed the note about learning Korean, i can't believe the OP didn't tear the kid (or that bastard teacher) a new one. I assume CL has some knowledge of Korean, being married to one and all that. He has a much better temper than many i know. |
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SHANE02
Joined: 04 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| TexasPete wrote: |
The more i read this, the more i think that the only thing the OP could have done better on quitting day is to go to each of the dipshits in his school and tell them exactly what he thought of them. It seems to me that it's laughable that any of your ex-colleagues could call themselves teachers with a straight face. Nothing they did, as outlined by the OP, bears any resemblance to teaching that i know of.
As to that little SOB who handed the note about learning Korean, i can't believe the OP didn't tear the kid (or that bastard teacher) a new one. I assume CL has some knowledge of Korean, being married to one and all that. He has a much better temper than many i know. |
I agree Pete. It seems that having English classes at that school is a waste of time and money. It's about the culture of the school. |
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howie2424
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| One particular student sat down with a smile and handed me a peice of paper. "If you want to speak with me, learn Korea". He then stood up and left. Later that day I mentioned to Ms. A that a student came to me with that comment and she had said she wrote it for him while laughing a little. It was surprising, and also very insulting to have a co-teacher actually helping a student insult a teacher and not try to encourage him to do better. |
This is the day I would have quit. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Wed Apr 09, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| howie2424 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| One particular student sat down with a smile and handed me a peice of paper. "If you want to speak with me, learn Korea". He then stood up and left. Later that day I mentioned to Ms. A that a student came to me with that comment and she had said she wrote it for him while laughing a little. It was surprising, and also very insulting to have a co-teacher actually helping a student insult a teacher and not try to encourage him to do better. |
This is the day I would have quit. |
Nope. Two months earlier when the "bully" called him shi-bal-nom and walked out. |
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Mr. Pink
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China
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| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Young FRANKenstein wrote: |
| howie2424 wrote: |
| Quote: |
| One particular student sat down with a smile and handed me a peice of paper. "If you want to speak with me, learn Korea". He then stood up and left. Later that day I mentioned to Ms. A that a student came to me with that comment and she had said she wrote it for him while laughing a little. It was surprising, and also very insulting to have a co-teacher actually helping a student insult a teacher and not try to encourage him to do better. |
This is the day I would have quit. |
Nope. Two months earlier when the "bully" called him shi-bal-nom and walked out. |
For many here that would have been the day they got fired for beating the little bastard down 
As I said before 3.2mil isn't enough for that sort of job. I think 5mil would be a fair ballpark for stress compensation. |
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FUBAR
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: The Y.C.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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CL: A few years back when I work in the public/private school system, I had a similiar problem. Had a talk with the VP and eventually worked a compromise. I would stay until 4:30-5:00pm from Monday-Thursday, but was allowed to leave at 12:30 on Fridays.
Maybe you can make some kind of compromise like that. Stay longer on Mon and Wed, leaving earlier on other days.
Wish you guys well.... I can't ever see myself going back to those days. |
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Insidejohnmalkovich
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Location: Pusan
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| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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Quitting openly and honestly and on principle: this is something most of us have wanted to do at bad schools.
And these new visa regulations have made it prohibitively inconvenient for those of us on E2 visas. Open up the labour market!
I would like to see a market where we could quit a school and just walk over to another school and get hired. And where a school could fire a "hagwon monkey" without notice and hire a better teacher easily. |
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gangpae
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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C.L. you continue to post ad nauseam about your trials and tribulations whilst teaching at this allegedly difficult school. Okay we get it: the job sucked. But what you must understand is that most jobs suck, that's why it's called 'work'.
Not getting paid by a sleazy hagwon - good reason to quit.
Discipline problems with students - bad reason to quit.
Problems with co-workers - bad reason to quit. |
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SHANE02
Joined: 04 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:01 am Post subject: |
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| Keeping sanity and self respect = good reason also. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:04 am Post subject: |
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| gangpae wrote: |
Problems with co-workers - bad reason to quit. |
I quit a job once because I couldn't stand being around one of my coworkers. You have to spend so much time around these people, if they're intolerable it's a good reason to quit. Ugh, I hated that guy. He wasn't even bad like the ones in this thread, he just had a really awful personality. I'd quit that job again today. |
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SteveMiddleton
Joined: 08 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:48 am Post subject: |
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| TheChickenLover wrote: |
Sorry for the delay's in responses. I had met with the school 3 times to discuss leaving early prior to signing a work contract with them, and that being there till 5 was NOT possible for me due to my other obligations.
I NEVER agreed to work 9-5, I signed the contract on condition that I would not be held to it. All was good until the other teachers complained that I was leaving early.
I think you've missed that point. I tried to be extremely clear and careful before I got into this mess. The bait 'n switch is a clear deal breaker.
Chicken |
I don,t know you as a teacher and I don,t know the school so I will take care how I phrase my response.
What broke the camels back for the school was probably the reasons you wrote about in your OP. I can imagaine that they would be upset if you clear off at 1pm every day.
Quote "I started leaving school early to avoid the stress that comes with this school. I�ve been doing this for the past month (I finish @ 1pm, my classes are prepared until next Dec,"
Unquote.
Leaving was obviously the right thing to do for you.
The more I re-read all the posts the more convinced I become that whilst you may be a good teacher academically, you were a fish out of water with regards to classroom management with this particular group of students. Some of these kids sound like they have Medium Learning Difficulty............which now requires a teacher sufficiently and specifically trained to deal with this.
The whole thing just sounds.........." confrontational " from the outset.
HEY KIDS ! This is who I am....THESE are MY rules now listen UP !
You have already stated previously that some 70% of these kids were " rejects " ?
Lots of kids like this have a low self-esteem and a whole bunch of other issues combined with a lack of responsibilty. I kinow that you have stated you are there to teach them, not to be their freind. All well and good but with this particular group you also make yourself "unapproachable".
You probably come across as being very rigid and unbending in your management style. This is hinted at by the fact that you have prepared all your classes right up to December. How is that possible?
Its fine to have a term plan outlining core courses and structure and " where we have to be " but your advanced classroom preps to December makes no allowance for the different learning abilities and progress of individual students.
This is not criticism....far from it. Perhaps just a pointer?
Throwing some responsibilty onto these kids shoulders sometimes works wonders. You could ask the students what rules they would like to see in the classroom? Whiteboard the rules down and then discuss which ones are appropiate and which are not.
I only ever have one rule..........Be polite at all times. There again, I believe respect is earned and not given. IMHO.
Anyway, you are probably a good teacher but in this instance you don,t have the required skills to deal with this. Don,t worry about it, many teachers don,t. Its best left to those who have the more specialised skills in areas such as these.
I wish you luck and obviously enjoy your stress-free sex. 
_____________________________________________________________
Been there done that. China, Vietnam, Thailand. Korea awaits. 
Chok dee khrab. |
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SteveMiddleton
Joined: 08 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:18 am Post subject: |
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| TexasPete wrote: |
As to that little SOB who handed the note about learning Korean, i can't believe the OP didn't tear the kid (or that bastard teacher) a new one. I assume CL has some knowledge of Korean, being married to one and all that. He has a much better temper than many i know. |
Lose your temper in class.........and you,ve lost the class. Teacher training not instill that in you? |
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TheChickenLover
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Location: The Chicken Coop
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| Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: |
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I wanted to clarify that I left the school @ 1pm ONCE a week on Thursdays. I did NOT leave @ 1pm everyday. I usually left around 4pm.
Chicken |
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