Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Easter Clark]

Another thread got me thinking about this... At my public school it's completely up to the students to keep the building clean. So naturally the homeroom teachers' classrooms are pretty clean while the rest of the building (hallways, bathrooms, stairs) is covered in filth.

My own classroom is much, much dirtier than I am accustomed to. I would clean it myself, but have been told that "cleaning is a kind of education." The students aren't given any real cleaning supplies either, beyond some old brooms and rickety dustpans. A mop and mop bucket would be nice...and I've resigned myself to the fact that the floors in my class will never have the luster of wax that my classrooms in America had.

We do have one "janitor" but all he does is make copies two days after I need them, turn the heat in the English Zone off and keep my classroom sweltering in the summer time!

Is this a Korea-wide thing or is it limited to a few unfortunate schools? I think I'm going to start having my last class of the day put their chairs up on their desks so the troublemakers can clean my room.

[creesschaef]

I have the same problem. I am supposed to have a group of students who clean, but they forget half the time.

I was told that they don't use wax because they were having problems with the students slipping and falling on the floor. I fail to see how it is any worse than the body slamming that goes on.

I clean my classroom, I can't stand it being too dirty. The dust is tremendous though, it returns overnight.

I have seen an ajumma or two who clean the hallways on random days. I think these are the same two who clean the bathrooms.

Let me tell you, I use a vacuum and broom that are made for people much shorter than me. It's a really good workout on my back.

[nomad-ish]

i voted for messy. the kids do a really halfa$$ed job at cleaning: using the same dirty towel to wipe down every table surface in the classroom/office without so much as dipping it in a bucket of water inbetween, swirling around dirty water on the floor of the office with the mop, when they clean the bathrooms they mop up urine and inadvertently drag it into the hallways (the hallways usually smell like urine after they clean).

i sometimes clean the office or english zone too, usually while pointing out things for the kids to do..

[Omkara]

Oh, the smell of piss!

[cruisemonkey]

[KYC]

The kids clean the hallways/classrooms everyday after lunch. Everything is pretty clean except the restroom. It always reek of urine or the floors are always wet. Ah, and no one washes their hands & you only get tp on lucky days

[Easter Clark]

[Dome Vans]

Hehe! Over the vacation we had brand new bathrooms fitted in one of my schools. It's now the nicest room in the school. It's even got heated toilet seats that play a song while you have a dump.

Before this refurb, it was a peehole of a place. Rarely cleaned by students probably wanting to avoid getting any number of urine related diseases.

The same at my other schools, although elementary schools tend to be cleaner.

The school gets swept with brooms by the students between 5th and 6th. It's only mopped as punishment for some students.

[matthews_world]

My main school is pretty good. Certain homerooms have cleaning detail during the week. There's a security couple that "live" at the school and they do some spot work. The school is about 25 years old. Cafeteria is hosed down and bleached at the end of the day. Teachers have their own bathrooms which are clean enough. Homeroom teachers or kids must supply their own toilet paper for the entire classroom.

Other 2 schools are in the countryside. Old squat toilets are generally clean but smell. One school's water isn't drinkable.

I have my own brand new classroom this year in my main school. The school bought a laptop and a big screen TV for the room. Other classroom computers never work or hardly ever work at all, which is my biggest beef.

I'm having a pretty good tour this time around. All 10 co-teachers speak English and the kids are fun. I'm in contact with 1,200 student during the week and have had the flu once during the last vacation. No pink-eye yet during my time here.

[Dome Vans]

Holy crap!

I forgot the Cooking room. I have no idea how the students cook in that room. I give cooking lessons once a month at one of my middle schools, and the state of the sides are incredible. Dust, dirt, food you name it. I make sure they're washed down properly or well as can be expected before I teach. The utensils/chopping boards are cleaned and then wiped down with the aforementioned dirty rags, or just left to drip dry when I'm not teaching.

After being a chef for 4 years in Stockholm, hygiene is important to me. This is not hygiene.

[Omkara]

. . .and the spit dripping down the stairs, puddled along side desks. . .

[ernie]

my school isn't clean, but it IS really really wet all the time... the bathrooms smell of a combination of piss and mildew, which is what happens when you don't use soap or mops!

[mistermasan]

no soap, hot water or hand drying devices in the restroom. the same nasty mop is used for everything. never changed. no mop bucket/wringer...they just drag the mop everywhere like a giant snail trail. so if some kid pukes they mop it (not "up") and then drag the nasty stew across the rest of the school to the faucet.

[fromtheuk]

I just hoovered my office.

Thankfully, next to my office is a toilet for male staff. It's hardly used, it now has a couple of dead cockroach-type creatures near the urinals.

But apart from that, it's clean enough.

[Hank the Iconoclast]

Filthy. They really need to get janitors here.