Korean Job Discussion Forums

[crosbystillsstash]

Mrs sim is woried about her children's English education and considering how much she pays, I don't blame her. But can we really beleive what hakwons tell parents? Usually not. Would you have a problem with you child being taught by a homosexual?
From The marmot's http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/01/23/hagwon-mother-worried-about-english-teachers/



In the �Reader�s Page� section of the Segye Ilbo, Mrs. Sim Hee-su of Sangdo 2-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul expresses her concern about native English speaking teachers.

It seems a little while back, her child � who attends an English hagwon � told her that her native speaker teacher had quit and a Korean teacher was filling in. Of course, this made her a little mad, since she was paying a lot of money to sent her kids to an academy to learn English properly from a native speaker. She even thought of saving money and sending her kids to a different hagwon.

In the end, though, she called up the hagwon, which apologized, and said there had been a situation. Apparently, the native speaker they�d hired had lied about his schooling and background, so he�d been fired so they could hire a better teacher. The school explained that these days, there are some �vagrant English teachers� � youth from English-speaking countries who, when they run out of money as they travel around, get jobs at hagwon by lying about their education, save some money and leave a short time later. The teacher they�d fired was one such teacher, the hagwon said, and they asked they the mother to please wait a bit.

In fact, Mrs. Sim said, parents who send their kids to English hagwon are worried all the time. Recently, a teacher had been expelled for taking drugs he�d mailed to himself; there�d also been a shocking case the police had caught; and there were more than a few teachers who were either homosexual or had other problems.

If she were to make a suggestion to hagwon or the government, she writes, it would be to create a system for sharing personnel information between hagwon by creating a database of current teachers with verified background and educational records, much like the the information sharing system for Korean civil servants and teachers. If we constantly manage and oversee this system, it could prevent the hiring of unqualified native speaker teachers, she concludes.

[Straphanger]

I'm not fully understanding what the article has to do with the post has to do with the article. You're stretching it, boy..

[crosbystillsstash]

I don't know what you mean by stretching it.

How do we know the teacher at the hakwon called by this mother actually did lie? maybe he/she did a runner because they were getting shafted on pay or something. Maybe the hakwon was you know.....saving face.

also, " there were more than a few teachers who were either homosexual or and other problems." Is being a homosexual and a teacher a problem to parents? I'd like to know what people here think. In the west, is the idea of a gay teacher really more acceptable?

[Straphanger]

I still don't understand what the post has to do with the article. You're commenting on a comment on an article that has nothing to do with the article or your original comment? I'm confused. Why not ask the question without using waaaaay outside sourced material as a basis?

What are your motives here?

[moosehead]

gotta go w/the strap on this one.

[Straphanger]

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Wisconsinite]

Wow...first of all, it would be illegal in America for a school to fire a teacher for being gay. Second of all, most evolved people would not care one bit that a teacher was gay or straight. But like I said, EVOLVED PEOPLE.

The article states a teacher was fired for being an illegal teacher. If it is true the teacher lied about their educational background or forged documents then they should be fired.

Listen to me when I say this OP: There are bad people in every single country. In Northern Virginia, they just arreested a whole whack of Koreans involved in the Korean mafia up there including running sweatshops and prostitution rings. Would it be fair for me to generalize that every other Korean was part of the mafia??? In addition, I can tell you some VERY scary stories about working in public schools in Korea about the behavior of KOREAN teachers while out for dinner as a faculty or on a teacher trip. Male teachers harrassing women teachers. Propositioning me and female Korean teachers (oh yeah, they were married by the way). Various other behavior that was very shocking to me coming from American public schools.

So please take these generalizations somewhere else. There are so many teachers here who work hard, teach well, and love what they do. They are ones that should be celebrated.

[Biblethumper]

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools...
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.

[meangradin]

isn't it irrelevant what I or any other foreigner think, as we are not Korean? Perhaps you could have made a poll that asked this question; "do you think a Korean parent would allow a homosexual to teach their child?

Actually, upon reflection, it's still a stupid question.

[Yesterday]

The mother who made the complaints is as crazy as the media for printing her trash..

The people who should be scrutinized and arrested here is the Hagwon owner/director...

What on earth was the Hagwon doing employing a teacher and charging the parents $$$$$$ without getting the teacher a visa - which would have required

a degree
sealed transcripts
police certificate
medical check
etc

If the Hagwon had done all those things - before allowing the teacher to begin teaching at their hagwon - this would not have happened..

The Hagwon is 100% at fault - and because they are Korean scumbags - are placing the blame of foreigners...

Obviously the Hagwon knowingly employed an illegal teacher and for some reason then got rid of the illegal teacher - then - when a mother complained - fed her a load of crap about foreign teachers...

the mother should be complaining about the Hagwon (not foreign teachers) and the Hagwon should reimburse the parents back the students fees....

[wylies99]

[hauwande]

to the people who voted "yes" - what is your problem? why would you be concerned if the teacher is gay?

what does it have to do with the education of the children?

im not gay personally; im as straight as a lamp post. but i do have 3 siblings who are gay. gay people used to go through hell because of stupid people like you...

thank god most people have moved on this century and people,for the most part, have more intelligence and heart these days.

i believe you, too are more intelligent and have more heart that you are showing here.

if not, wake the *beep* up or go home...

[aka Dave]

Younger Koreans, in my experience, are far less homophobic. I was talking with a Korean senior at my Uni, and I asked her what was the most remarkable cultural difference she encountered living in Canada. She said that in her home family there was a gay guy, and he had a boyfriend. She was "shocked".

However, I asked her if she was morally offended and she said no, it's just a matter of "taste". They were friends and the guy actually invited her to go with 5 gay guys on a road trip to Vancouver, and she declined. I'm open-minded, support gay marriage, but I'm not going on a road trip with 5 gay guys either.

A matter of "taste".

[lebowski]