Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Hijynx]

I have worked in the same hagwon for 3 years now and haven't had many complaints. The staff is friendly and committed, and the director is generally a nice guy.

However, there have been a couple instances there that have disturbed me greatly. The first, was when one of the teachers, who was a gyopo, got pregnant outside of marriage and they fired her. Their official line was: "it's not good for the baby if she continues to work." I read them the riot act, but was assured every step along the way that it is a cultural difference and I just couldn't understand.

Today, an American teacher who is qualified (has taught in Korea for over 2 years) and is a hard-working and dedicated teacher, was told she could no longer work at the school because she doesn't look western enough. She is of Korean heritage, but is 100% American. They would rather pay the 800,000 Won recruitment fee for a new, unqualified, *white* teacher than keep on someone who isn't a fit advertisement for their foreign teacher population. When I confronted them about it, they said that perhaps something could be worked out. By worked out, they meant that if she were willing to accept a lesser contract (less pay and benefits), they would keep her on. They said she is a great teacher, but there are "other considerations." Basically, it is a HUGE problem for them that she looks Korean, but if they can pay her less that problem magically disappears?
This stuff makes me sick to my stomach. I am under contract there for quite a while longer but am seriously considering telling them to find a new teacher...

Anyone else run into crap like this? I'm not really sure what to do about it, but I feel that inaction on my part is equal to saying it's okay.

[fermentation]

Korea isn't up to par when it comes to concepts of race. Some of them even seem to think one's physical features dictate which language one speaks. My one year at Yonsei gave me plenty of examples.

Once, LG representatives came to the international dorm at Yonsei because they wanted to hire native speakers of various languages test out their voice-activiated GPS navigation system or something. It was an easy gig and they pretty damn well. But they only hired people who "looked" like they were from the country they said they're from. They wouldn't hire this Korean-French girl even though she spoke fluent French but not a lick of Korean. Other than her physical features, she's 100% French. But noooo, its not possible that a non-white person would speak a "White" language fluently. They also wouldn't hire my visibly hispanic looking Mexican American friend for the Spanish portion of the testing. But they did hire South American woman who lied about being from Spain. They checked her ID and her home town happened to have the same name as a city in Spain.

Another time a Korean lady came to the dorm looking for a Spanish tutor but would not hire my Mexican American friend. According to him, she straight up told him that he probably doesn't speak "real" Spanish.

[proustme]

Disgusting. But from the many stories on this board, it's not surprising.

[Jane]

This topic has been broached many a-times already.

A portion of Koreans are xynophobic, racist and have dispicable labour practices.

We can move on now.

[proustme]

Write up a piece for a Korean English newspaper. This crap needs to be published.

[PigeonFart]

The backwardness of the Korean mind does not surprise me at all.

The 'hermit kingdom' indeed.

[endo]

[bluelake]

Maybe there needs to be a "Misuda" type show with gyopos speaking fluent English...

[Xuanzang]

[zai]

I have been on the end of the sh*t stick myself.

I've been looking for a job for the past 2 months. I have had over 2 years of teaching experience here with hagwons. I have had numerous good reviews from student surveys and parents.

However, I decided I needed a change and went to look for jobs with public schools or after school programs. I have found a couple willing to hire me, but the pay was crap.

I was constantly told by recruiters that schools were looking for "foreigners" or "native speakers". When I told them that I was born in the United States and barely understand any Korean, I got the typical commentary that they want someone who looks white. One recruiter, when I asked him why schools are racist, told me that "Koreans are not racist, business here is."

My girlfriend, who is white - blonde hair, blue eyes, has no problem getting job offers. She will even ask the Koreans at her school what's up with the Korean American bias. And all they do is shrug and mumble about "oh, its one of the problems in Korea." Lately, I've even taken to the label "gyopo" as a racist slur. I am really sick and tired of all this.

What's funny also is that most of the time, Koreans don't look at me as Korean, they usually think I'm Chinese or Japanese (which I suppose doesn't help my case). I came to Korea to teach English and also to learn a bit about my parent's culture.

Looks like I'm going back to my old hagwon.

SIGH.

This is the paradoxical nature of Korea. This is also why I feel like, the more they progress economically, the more deeper their cultural/global integration issues will run.

[mongolian spot]

[youtuber]

[Steelrails]

[redaxe]

[Triban]

Stop tryna hold the white mang down.