Korean Job Discussion Forums

[beege]

We see the posts everyday. Looking for "female" teacher, looking for "Caucasian" teacher, prefer "Canadian", "E-2" visas only. A recent post for a winter camp position posted by Camp Korea threatened not to acknowledge your email if you didn't following simple instructions which were to submit your name, age, visa status, and present location. The threat, written in majuscules clearly instructed applicants not to send their CV's. This is another example of discrimination that takes place everyday among Korean companies as it appears the camp was looking to hire applicants who fell within a specific age group. I suppose Camp Korea has no interest in finding out if you're a licensed teacher, a TESOL degree holder, or if you're experiential in teaching at camps. I cringe every time I see these blatant acts of discrimination which in western society, as we all know, is illegal. The problem is that we have an entire society that lacks critical thinking. It never occurs to Koreans that by asking for your age or photo, they are either discriminating against you or discriminating for you. Paul defines critical thinking as "the art of analyzing and evaluating thinking with a view to improving it" (Paul, 2009). Freire says the purpose of education is to practice freedom. By practicing freedom through critical thinking, he believes we can transform the world. There are plenty of us taking action with a view to improving it. In other words, to end human suffering. Camp Korea is an example of a company that perpetuates human suffering. This is a culture so fixated on mammonism, kids are asking parents for plastic surgery as a birthday present to improve their chances in getting hired. When will this country realize hiring standards should be based on merit and merit alone? As a former professor at Korean universities, it was incredulous to me how many students openly talked about their hate towards gays. If they practiced critical thinking, they might realize gay marriage is a basic human right. It becomes a civil rights issue meaning live peacefully without government interference. They might also realize there shouldn't be borders on human rights. Once you set boundaries, you're basically telling a baby "you better me born in the right country because if you're gay and in the wrong country, you'll never get an opportunity to get married." How about Blacks and Asians. We know hagwons desire blond hair, blue eyes. People are incapable of teaching English because of their ethnic background? Critical thinkers understand the injustices that take place and are willing to do something about it or in Paul's words, to improving it. So many Koreans make assumptions and conclusions based on fallacies and ethnocentric behavior. They still believe blood type has something to do with chemistry. Critical thinkers know this is nothing more than haberdashery. So why do we put up with a society so close-minded education in Korea is considered a crisis. I choose to criticize companies that practice discrimination. These walls need to be torn down. They need to know social injustices are taking place and that inequality in education is prevalent. We need to show them our numbers. What are your thoughts?