| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Cerriowen
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Location: Pocheon
|
 Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:22 am Post subject: Why? (My rant about public school hours) |
 |
|
Why?
Why.... after I spend several hours preparing new and interesting lessons, filled with exciting activities... and go to class and have the kids (mostly) enjoy my lessons and think they were interesting, and even possibly learn something...
Why... WHY... WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...
Do I have to sit on my arse for the other 20 hours every week, and 40 hours a week during vacations?
Why can't GEPIK let us go home? What is so sacred about keeping us here, twiddling our thumbs, without a darn thing to do??? Why can't someone with a brain be put in charge of GEPIK and realize that we'll work far more efficiently if we aren't sitting around doing nothing most of the time?
The kids are on vacation for 2 months nearly straight. I have not a cotton-picking-daw-gone thing to do for the next month that requires I'm at school.
Can anyone tell me why? I mean... beside the fact that koreans are obsessed with contract hours and spending lots of time at your job while doing absolutely nothing...
Why can't it be like a Uni job?
If they made it like a uni job (put in your 20 hours or what ever, and some office hours... and then GO HOME) they'd have teachers lining up to take them.
I like my co-workers. I like the students (well enough for middle-schoolers, most of them are pretty cool actually). I hate, hate, hate... all the free time I'm doing nothing. And I hate it so much, I won't renew my contract. I can't stand another year of doing jack-sheeeot.
<Please don't give me ideas for wasting/spending time at work, believe me... I have TONS... and I am getting certificates and practice making lesson plans a-pleanty... but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I'm still essentially being creative about wasting time.>
/rant off... but doens't feel much better about it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ji
Joined: 15 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
I felt the same way working public school. Now I'm working at an academy and feel differently....  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
| When I worked for SMOE back in the day that's exactly the reason I quit after 5 months. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:51 am Post subject: Re: Why? (My rant about public school hours) |
|
|
I can understand why they keep the teacher there during a normal work week. Imagine the complaints from the Korean teachers if the foreign teacher got to go home whenever they liked.
But I see zero reason for keeping the teacher in an empty school. That is one of the biggest reasons I will not be applying to any Epik or Gepik programs. The people that run those things are clueless on how to keep a teacher. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:59 am Post subject: Re: Why? (My rant about public school hours) |
|
|
| oskinny1 wrote: |
I can understand why they keep the teacher there during a normal work week. Imagine the complaints from the Korean teachers if the foreign teacher got to go home whenever they liked.
But I see zero reason for keeping the teacher in an empty school. That is one of the biggest reasons I will not be applying to any Epik or Gepik programs. The people that run those things are clueless on how to keep a teacher. |
What about all the teachers who are not sitting in an empty school due to working camps all the time? That's the reason I quit after six months.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ukon
Joined: 29 Jan 2008
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:15 am Post subject: |
|
|
I like how my school told me to "go home" during that week....my school doesn't believe in desk warming...
Also, if you not stationed in the principals office or your co-teacher is cool, just leave every day....Nobody is watching...just make sure your there for lunch, and then just head home....my co-teacher is there less than I'am.
Seriously, nobody is gonna care, and in the rare event you get a call asking where you are, just say you had to go to the bank/post office/ pick up a package and then high tail it back to school. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cerriowen
Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Location: Pocheon
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:43 am Post subject: |
|
|
I have a VP who watches all of us like hawks.
I think her entire job (which she does very, very, very efficiently) is to sit there on a raised platform, overlooking all the other teachers... watching. Just... watching.
If she wasn't sitting there overlooking all of us...
Well I still wouldn't go home, because I signed a contract agreeing I'd be there. But... why the hell do they make us??? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
Find a public school that doesn't make you seat warm in the vacations. Also many public schools offer after school classes in the last period of the day.
Or go teach at a uni and get paid less and have no desk hours. Maybe you will end up with having to mark papers and stuff outside of your teaching hours. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
| D.D. wrote: |
| Or go teach at a uni and get paid less and have no desk hours. Maybe you will end up with having to mark papers and stuff outside of your teaching hours. |
Or find a university and get paid more and mark papers and stuff outside of your 12 teaching + 2 office hours. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:12 am Post subject: |
|
|
| the_beaver wrote: |
| D.D. wrote: |
| Or go teach at a uni and get paid less and have no desk hours. Maybe you will end up with having to mark papers and stuff outside of your teaching hours. |
Or find a university and get paid more and mark papers and stuff outside of your 12 teaching + 2 office hours. |
I'm starting to think this would be easier to find than a PS job with no deskwarming or camps. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ukon wrote: |
I like how my school told me to "go home" during that week....my school doesn't believe in desk warming...
Also, if you not stationed in the principals office or your co-teacher is cool, just leave every day....Nobody is watching...just make sure your there for lunch, and then just head home....my co-teacher is there less than I'am.
Seriously, nobody is gonna care, and in the rare event you get a call asking where you are, just say you had to go to the bank/post office/ pick up a package and then high tail it back to school. |
This is solid advice. I never bought the issue up and just came and went as I pleased during the vacation. During the normal school year, I don't really see how it would work leaving when you are finished. It would piss me off if I was a Korean teacher. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rae
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Cerriowen wrote: |
I have a VP who watches all of us like hawks.
I think her entire job (which she does very, very, very efficiently) is to sit there on a raised platform, overlooking all the other teachers... watching. Just... watching.
If she wasn't sitting there overlooking all of us...
Well I still wouldn't go home, because I signed a contract agreeing I'd be there. But... why the hell do they make us??? |
Damn, and I thought I had it bad. You make me wanna give my VP a parting gift! Seriously though, my VP is cool, and he just passed the principal test so he gets his own school soon! I really shouldn't complain as much ... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
the_beaver
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Draz wrote: |
| the_beaver wrote: |
| D.D. wrote: |
| Or go teach at a uni and get paid less and have no desk hours. Maybe you will end up with having to mark papers and stuff outside of your teaching hours. |
Or find a university and get paid more and mark papers and stuff outside of your 12 teaching + 2 office hours. |
I'm starting to think this would be easier to find than a PS job with no deskwarming or camps. |
In all honesty, it isn't difficult to find good university jobs. Getting the jobs gets easier and easier as a person gains experience and qualifications. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Otherside
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 4:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
| D.D. wrote: |
Find a public school that doesn't make you seat warm in the vacations. Also many public schools offer after school classes in the last period of the day.
|
Far easier said than done. More and more public schools are expecting camps from teachers, coupled with the "Official" guidelines from EPIK, GEPIK etc that teachers "should" stay in school for the full 8 hours even during vacation.
The number of leniant schools are further diluted by the constant rotation of teachers/principals, with "hostile" principals moving into previously leniant schools and neutral/lenient principals moving to hostile schools. A good school in 2008 can easily be a bad school in 2009, yet it's less likely for a bad school to be a good school during a changeover.
Finally, with this (very) limited amount of good schools, the chances of a teacher at one of these schools sticking around is high making even fewer opportunities available. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
expat2001
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:59 am Post subject: Re: Why? (My rant about public school hours) |
|
|
| Cerriowen wrote: |
Why?
Why.... after I spend several hours preparing new and interesting lessons, filled with exciting activities... and go to class and have the kids (mostly) enjoy my lessons and think they were interesting, and even possibly learn something...
Why... WHY... WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY...
Do I have to sit on my arse for the other 20 hours every week, and 40 hours a week during vacations?
Why can't GEPIK let us go home? What is so sacred about keeping us here, twiddling our thumbs, without a darn thing to do??? Why can't someone with a brain be put in charge of GEPIK and realize that we'll work far more efficiently if we aren't sitting around doing nothing most of the time?
The kids are on vacation for 2 months nearly straight. I have not a cotton-picking-daw-gone thing to do for the next month that requires I'm at school.
Can anyone tell me why? I mean... beside the fact that koreans are obsessed with contract hours and spending lots of time at your job while doing absolutely nothing...
Why can't it be like a Uni job?
If they made it like a uni job (put in your 20 hours or what ever, and some office hours... and then GO HOME) they'd have teachers lining up to take them.
I like my co-workers. I like the students (well enough for middle-schoolers, most of them are pretty cool actually). I hate, hate, hate... all the free time I'm doing nothing. And I hate it so much, I won't renew my contract. I can't stand another year of doing jack-sheeeot.
<Please don't give me ideas for wasting/spending time at work, believe me... I have TONS... and I am getting certificates and practice making lesson plans a-pleanty... but that doesn't mean I don't feel like I'm still essentially being creative about wasting time.>
/rant off... but doens't feel much better about it. |
A while back ,I met a former expat who taught at a Public School in the mid to late 90s. According to him , at one time the foreign teacher got just as many holidays as the koreans. However ; for whatever reason , the K teachers started to complain and as a result , the foreign teacher had his vacation reduced.
Personnally , I think its all about control. The Koreans just want power over us. I have to go to every teachers meeting. All the meeting are in korean and no one ever tells me what they are about. I'd bet the meetings have nothing to do with me. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
