Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

What do you think? Has the government taken advantage of the Chris Neil pedophile situation as a way to crush the hagwon system in Korea?

I agree that background checks and degree checks are good. I, however, feel that other "rules," and lose interpretations of rules, are putting us at risk of being screwed with no recourse.

As has been stated, you now have to have a consulate interview in your home country before you can get a job. That means you have to take a hagwon job sight-unseen from afar. It's the same for public schools, however to a newbee, a public school job sounds a lot safer (and arguably is). We've already heard that public jobs (EPIK/SMOE) are "fast-tracked' in some ways, as far as getting visas. If you take any hagwon job sight-unseen, you run the risk of being outright lied to, and finding yourself in a horrible situation: bad housing, a cheating boss who won't pay or follow the contract hours, etc.. Try to fight it, and you soon learn that immigration will no longer issue you a new visa for another school -- even though it was your boss that was cheating.

You end up going home with less money than you came here with, and that's a huge danger.


Furthermore, it has been posted that even a car accident can kill your chances of getting an E-2.

I believe the gov't knows all of this, and has made the regulations difficult in an attempt to kill off the hagwon industry. They don't want people coming here to see a job first. That's what the consulate interview at home is for. They want to discourage people from coming here to become comfortable with a hagwon, or even for an illegal tourist visa teacher to find a school and go legal. They want to cut the teacher supply off from the hagwons.

Your thoughts?

[SHANE02]

I don't think it's a huge conspiracy. It seems like the stiffening of the tutoring laws may even help hakwons.

[BreakfastInBed]

I don't know, the hagwon industry is more than English hagwons, and they're the only ones who would be affected by these new regulations. Undermining a segment of this population which is already a fraction of a much larger whole seems a far cry from crushing the system. I suspect that shutting a few hagwon doors is just an added bonus.

I think it's as simple as it looks. For a long time, if you met their not too rigorous criteria, Korea's door was wide open to you and they were practically begging you to come. No one else offers free flights. Predictably, plenty of people came who didn't/don't behave all that well and many locals are fed up. It was a bad policy to begin with, they're trying to fix it. They're not doing so well at the moment.

[nomad-ish]

come on, conspiracy? i doubt it, they couldn't plan ahead if their lives depended on it

i think it's just a knee-jerk reaction to the CP thing, that in addition to prevalent myths about foreigners (we're all druggies, infected with AIDS, etc.).

[The Hammer]

What does Metallica have to say about hagwons?

[SHANE02]

I really don't like the visa transfer rule where you can't transfer your visa to a new job unless you've done 10 months. I think that is a real killer for new teachers considering the amount of shady stuff that goes on.

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

It seems like all this policy is about holding foreign teachers in the public sector and universities.

Seems like a good move to me. Shame about the directionless jobs at such places though.

[bassexpander]

[chachee99]

I don't think this a conspiracy to kill off hogwans. Makes no sense. You have to submit the same things for a public school as for hogwans. These regulations will hurt the entire industry, not just hogwans.

[Juregen]

It will not hurt the Industry.

The customers are still prepared to pay good money to increase the chances of their children to succeed in life.

As long as that doesn't change, hagwons will live.

It is strange that most of you don't understand that there is almost a hagwon for any academic discipline.

Hagwons will die the day that University entry exams are finished and all the kids have to go to public school till 17:00

[brandon adams]

I have seen references made to completion of 3/4 of contract (9months)as a condition to job change. Others state it's 10 months. Which is it???

[bassexpander]

It might be 3/4. I'm not honestly sure. I've seen both as well.

[spliff]

If you don't know your past, you won't know your future.

[Netz]

Conspiracy? Who knows?

It does seem like a cosmic alignment of forces that will change the way things are done here though.

You've got the new E2 reqs

The clause of 9-10 month completion before transfer

No visa hopping

An overall tightening down of the regulations

I saw this yesterday:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/02/117_19296.html

I couldn't find the post again though.

And the thing I just read about PS school teachers needing a K teacher with them 100% of the time?

What I'm trying to figure out now is, does this mean that all the agencies that sub-contract temp work will now automatically be illegal?


If they are subbing out anyone other than an F visa holder with a registered tutor license, they are effectively assisting in violating the law (that's not even including their potential "tax reporting errors" lol).

Or, an E2 holder can work ONE other part time job IF their current employer agrees?

I can't make heads or tails of this &$^# anymore. It's already like a huge mess, and the 15th of March is still weeks away omg.

But yeah, I'd say it's looking like the "death knell" for a few hakwons.

It reminds me Global Warming.

Global Warming may be a natural process (dismantling the corrupt and inefficient ESL system in Korea),

BUT

Humans (SK Govt.) are probably accelerating the process

[Korlingus]

Conspiracy? I think you need a little more aluminum foil under your hat.