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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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 Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:17 pm Post subject: Do You Ever Feel Bad For Korean Parents? |
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I'm feeling pretty bad for the parents that shell out all this money for English knowing that most of them are relatively poor.
I have one student that said that her dad is a taxi driver and doesn't have a lot money. But he parts with some of what he does earn to give his daughter an English education. I can see his heart and know deep down he really wants his child to succeed, but the truth of the matter is the kid turns her nose up to my teaching and throws her father's money down the drain. I can't fulfill my duty to him in bringing education to his daughter, and that's sad. She's just unreachable.
It hurts because these parents are paying all this money and the kids just don't care. The money is flat out wasted when it can go to more important things in their family.
I know some of you come away with the attitude of, "I'm here for the paycheck." But look a little deeper at these families economic resources and you start to feel a little bad because you can't deliver them the service they are painstakingly hoping and paying for.
That's what's on my heart these days, anyway. |
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detonate
Joined: 16 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| The craze has died, you should probably head home. It is the fault of the media, not your own. |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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| detonate wrote: |
| The craze has died, you should probably head home. It is the fault of the media, not your own. |
Unfortunately I'd love to head home, but my wife has an outstanding job here and we just can't earn the same money back home--well, she couldn't.
Why do you say the craze died? |
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comm
Joined: 22 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: Do You Ever Feel Bad For Korean Parents? |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
| It hurts because these parents are paying all this money and the kids just don't care. The money is flat out wasted when it can go to more important things in their family. |
Sure I feel bad for the parents in these situations... but this really is something that comes down to parenting. |
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creeper1
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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The craze hasn't died down.
Moreover some posters on here have incomes in excess of 6 million won a month.
Because of the massive amounts of money spent on education in korea there has been a slight improvement in English ability.
However the market and earning potential remains essentially limitless.
Newbie - Choose Korea. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject: Re: Do You Ever Feel Bad For Korean Parents? |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
It hurts because these parents are paying all this money and the kids just don't care. The money is flat out wasted. |
All over the world, education is wasted on the young. Except perhaps in 3rd world countries where the kids relish the opportunity to get ahead.
If the parents want to ensure they get their moneys worth then they must vote for a change in government policy to allow the return of effective discipline.
All you can do in the meantime is do your best as far as the system allows. |
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madoka
Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:17 pm Post subject: Re: Do You Ever Feel Bad For Korean Parents? |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
I'm feeling pretty bad for the parents that shell out all this money for English knowing that most of them are relatively poor.
I have one student that said that her dad is a taxi driver and doesn't have a lot money. But he parts with some of what he does earn to give his daughter an English education. |
I remember talking to a cabbie about his daughter. He was so proud that she was studying in the U.S. I asked him if he ever visited her and he said that all his money goes to support her, so he's never left Korea. I was sad to hear how he resigned himself to not seeing his daughter for the next several years. |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:22 am Post subject: Re: Do You Ever Feel Bad For Korean Parents? |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
| But look a little deeper at these families economic resources and you start to feel a little bad because you can't deliver them the service they are painstakingly hoping and paying for. |
I wholeheartedly agree. My dad grew up in Gwangju in abject poverty. He and his 5 siblings had enough money to eat, but they didn't have enough money to pay for electricity at night, much less for pay for hagwons (Yes. Hagwons have been around for much longer than you think.)
Even with this adversity, my dad was accepted into and attended SNU in the 70's, when pretty much no one outside of Seoul got into SNU.
I have been around cousins to drag themselves through the whole process day in and day out and I have been through the educational system in the US. I think it's all a joke. I've seen kids pay over $5k in the US for an MCAT class, when my brother studied on his own and got a 42. I laughed at kids who took SAT prep courses and got a 2320 studying on my own (1520 old SAT).
While I'm sure there are some exceptional teachers out there, I still live by the mantra "If you want something done right, do it yourself." I think at least half of the kids in hagwons these days really don't need to be there.
That being said, I have a vendetta against the US educational system and especially the secondary school system as as well, so if you teach at a hagwon, don't take this post personally. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| One of the biggest problems with English hagwons is that Korean parents have low English ability themselves, and as a result lack any way to determine progress. As such, whether you're the best teacher in the world or the worst, most parents won't be able to tell. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:36 am Post subject: |
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Get your students to attend as many English competitions as possible. When they win some big regional contest or a paid trip overseas you can go home knowing you made a true difference. The day to day education is always going to be the same. Some kids will do really well, some will blow it off and the rest will fall somewhere inbetween.
Also it helps pad the ol resume if you can have multiple verified awards from your students. |
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Dodge7
Joined: 21 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
Get your students to attend as many English competitions as possible. When they win some big regional contest or a paid trip overseas you can go home knowing you made a true difference. The day to day education is always going to be the same. Some kids will do really well, some will blow it off and the rest will fall somewhere inbetween.
Also it helps pad the ol resume if you can have multiple verified awards from your students. |
good advice Steel. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:07 am Post subject: |
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| Dodge7 wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
Get your students to attend as many English competitions as possible. When they win some big regional contest or a paid trip overseas you can go home knowing you made a true difference. The day to day education is always going to be the same. Some kids will do really well, some will blow it off and the rest will fall somewhere inbetween.
Also it helps pad the ol resume if you can have multiple verified awards from your students. |
good advice Steel. |
Thanks.
Even if they don't win, its nice to have a focused objective, not to mention the students that are in these are usually the best n brightest so they are the most fun to work with.
If you are at a public school, I always love the gifted students class. Unfortunately, my gifted class this year is not so rewarding. The kids are really bright, but hyper-energetic and ADD-Smart, so its 20 minutes of order mixed with 20 minutes of anarchy and the chaos is usually English-spoken chaos so its a bit hard to discourage it. If you can get a good mix of students and a good bit of order, then it can be rewarding. Like, actually teaching stuff other than English, in English. |
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Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida
Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Location: Not Korea
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| Nope. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I think smart parents would teach their kids to self study and create an environment where that is possible. I understand that's difficult when people live in small apartments, and I'm not a parent myself, but it seems like a good way to get them out of the expensive hagwons |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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| When I was going to school, the kids with the best grades were the ones who were motivated to study on their own. I would point this out to my mother to try to get out of hagwon but she would always say those kids are unique. In the long run, all those tutors and hagwons made little difference. We could've saved a lot of money if my parents realized that sooner. |
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