Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Aelric]

I'm mentioning this as a bit of warning for other teachers. I had an unruly student today that I sent to sit in the hallway. Not too unusual an occurrence, however this was one of the better English speaking kids in my middle school and I was surprised that she was acting so poorly (contradicting my lesson loudly despite being wrong herself after repeated warnings that she was disrupting the class). Well, she called home immediately and after my classes were over, my VP and head CT asked me to meet with the student with them as a mediator to basically try to get me to apologize for disciplining her because her parents are important people in Busan and apparently could cause waves for the school. For my awesome CT's sake, I played along as best I could without actually apologizing to the students, which may or may not have been enough (we'll see if I'm fired next week).

So, while I'm not particularly sorry for treating her like I treat all other unruly students, I figure perhaps I should warn newbies that money REALLY talks in this country and the rich kids can and will get the school to bend over backwards for them. It was absolutely pathetic seeing my VP grovel to a 14 year old girl for forgiveness and it's even more pathetic that after I've proven through testing to have significantly improved the overall English literacy rate in the school from last year that now my job might be on the line (which was told to me under no uncertain terms) simply because some spoiled little kid thinks she knows English better than someone who earned a Bachelor's in English literature simply because of the size of her parent's pocket book.

I've also been informed that the coming English writing essay test that I've been given "control" of grading in two weeks should reflect the students "great ability", basically meaning that no matter what her score may be, I'm expected to give her a pass on it.

To be honest, once again my CT is taking my side on this, which just goes to show how awesome she is and why I'm willing to play ball to a certain degree, but I'm not giving this kid an A+ unless she really earns it, even if it does cost me my job.

Anyway, this was more a vent, but have any of you experienced this kind of blatant politicking?

P.S. As a side note, this class happens to have two of the best English students in the school, this one included, yet the rest of the class consists of the most unruly and poorly preforming. Has this odd mix happened to others por do you usually do the "separated by skill level" configurations?

[chris_J2]

I've repeatedly found that the best & brightest students in my classes, are going to hagwons, paid for, by their comparitively wealthy parents. I've also found that the same bright students, often cause the most trouble in class, through sheer boredom, as they're usually way ahead of the rest of the class. I haven't quite figured out how best to deal with this scenario, other than to try & tread a middle ground in the classroom.

Why not offer to meet the parents? And try to bond with them?

[lifeinkorea]

[Khyron]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

You might see yourself as having a disadvantage, but this is where we as foreigners are actually in a much stronger position. You can take a stand without this crap ruining your career. I'd ask to speak to her parents. Tell them that their daughter is very smart but can do much better. Tell them that you want her to get into a very good HS or even foreign language HS but you're afraid that isn't going to happen because of her attitude. Make sure you talk to her homeroom teacher about this, too. If, after all that, they're still really upset at you, move on.

The day I saw my VP grovelling to a student is the day I'd start looking for a new job.

[Countrygirl]

I've never had something like this happen but it doesn't surprise me. I'm very impressed with your co-teacher.

I'm lucky that I live near all my students so most of the parents know me or of me and if I sent their child in the hall, most of the students wouldn't tell their mom because they would get in trouble. But I teach elementary so the students are not really cocky until grade 6, and, like you, some of my best English speaking students are starting to show off in front of their peers by being disruptive. I find that my best English students in grade 6 hate standing out because of their English ability. This is completely opposite of grades 3 and 4 who love to show off what little English they know.

I doubt that the student's parents are contributing at all to school but more directly to the Principal and VP's 'envelope fund'. It'll be a very tough time for you. If the other mothers found out the school was going to lose their great English teacher due to one family's influence, it's possible that they could cause a big enough stink to stop it.

Would it help to talk with the student directly? I always tell my high level disruptive students that I know that they have great English but that I need them to behave in class so that their friends can improve their English. Seems to work. But maybe this girl only cares about herself.

Good luck.

[cruisemonkey]

[chris_J2]

All I'm saying is that the students who are high level, generally have wealthy parents, who can afford to send them to hagwons after school. So they receive a double dose of English lessons, compared with their poorer fellow students, who only receive the bare bones public school curriculum. The students who go to hagwons, more often than not, have a higher English speaking ability & are more advanced than their poorer students.

I came from a low income, single parent family, yet have a degree, so I concede your point, that it has nothing to do with iq or ability. Rather, opportunity. The poorer students don't have the same opportunities. Does that clarify it?

[cruisemonkey]

Yes, thank you.

P.S. I agree... and will add -
In K-land there comes a point where the ability to pay for private lessons actually become counter-productive. The 'poor', rich kids are so tired from being in PS all day and the hogwan/academy all night, they can't learn.

[AgDragon01]

[moosehead]

[JJJ]

It happens with rich and middle-class and poor students as well. I've gotten in trouble with a terrible boy from their poor as heck parents because they think their son is an angel. Every parent thinks their son or daughter is an angel. So, now I don't do anything with out the co-teachers support and sometimes I drag in the old punishment boss to help. That's the only way to save my butt.

[D.D.]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[nathanrutledge]

I've had this happen before too, OP. I gave a list of rules to my kids before we started and had one kid that felt that he didn't have to do the work. So when he took his midterm and missed some questions that he felt were worded poorly, he asked me about it. I told him no, the questions were correctly worded and he should have studied. So, he and his parents came in and we all sat down and talked about it.

Now, this kid lived in Canada for a few years, speaks very well, and all around, he's a nice kid... That being said, the first question he had a problem with, I grabbed my stack of in-class worksheets and opened up my power point presentation and found the exact question and point in the presentation and showed him how he had only written down 1/3 of the answer, and hence, screwed the pooch... I never felt so good in all my time here!

Just make sure you have set rules, are even handed in it, and be able to back it up. I have yet to run into trouble with the parents/P/VP/student in this kind of situation, though there have been some tense moments... the comment made about "i care about your child's future/foreign high school/good life/etc;" excellent idea. I've laid into a number of my students on their errors after we've worked on them over and over and over, and that one line, "I'm concerned about your future" has always hammered the point home that it's completely professional and they usually take it that way.

Anyway, good luck.