Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mrbarryobama]

Review of Yeil Christian International School, now Gyeonggi Global School
A Precarious Situation

I worked at Yeil Christian International School for one contract as a NET, teaching one core subject. The school was located in Ilsan. The school has been rebranded as Gyeonggi Global School, with the same owners and administrative staff.

The short of it is that all 7 members of YCIS’ foreign staff were laid-off 10 months into their contracts, justified by the merging of YCIS and Gyeonggi International School in Paju. No contract completion payments or plane tickets were given, as negotiated in the original contracts. Additionally, governement records show that YCIS administration had been chronically skipping benefit and tax payments. These events were the bombastic end to a year of constant anxiety and frustration stemming soley from the two owners / principals. Currently, the teaching staff and the owners are in a legal battle over wrongful contract termination, unpaid taxes, and sexual harassment.

Read on if you’d like the gritty details.

On its surface, YCIS functioned as elementary/middle/high school. Students studied, teachers taught; there were the big four core subjects (English, science, math, history), and many electives were available. During parent conferences, students and their families expressed satisfaction with the teaching staff and the day to day functions of the school.

An old joke that used to float around the office was that Yeil wasn’t actually a school; don’t go throwing the s-word around! Nothing was accreditted or within regulartory code. Teachers were given minimal guidance, and there was no oversight as to what was actually taught. Students were at the whim of whoever was teaching that year, and most teachers were new due to Yeil’s infamous turnover rate. The only curriculum in place was a series of Bob Jones textbooks, full of irrelevant pagentry and strangely defensive rhetoric. However, it is not for these reasons that I write this review.

The work environment was characterized by ceaseless anxiety at its tamest, and outright hostility at its most intense. There are two owners, with one being the primary antagonist. As the self and repeatedly proclaimed “captain of the ship,” this particular owner tolerated no discussion of how to run the school. A long list of faults follows: firing defacto principal (education coordinator), firing one teacher, constantly changing school and vacation days, having many one on one conferences with each student, downgrading teacher housing, not paying overtime, sexual harassment of female employees, attempting to bribe accreditation company, admitting non-English speaking students to an all-English International school, verbally fighting with staff, the clandestine merger that was only discovered by the non-administrative staff due to a forgotten paper in the copy machine, and justifying all of these actions because of low student enrollment and retention. At its current iteration, Yeil has ceased to exist, and is now absorbed by the also financially-strapped Gyeonggi International School, with Yeil's owners being the new owners of Gyeonggi.

All in all, Yeil CIS was a wonderful place to work, and Gyeonggi Global School will be even better. I express no contempt in writing this review, only gratitude.

http://gischool.or.kr/ycis/
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=64975

[Chaparrastique]

[Scorpion]

Exactly.

The "captain of the ship analogy" is incredibly stupid. You only become a captain of the ship after many, many years of working your way up through the shipping industry, learning, growing, and maturing. Hogwan owners, on the other hand, often can't even speak English. They know nothing about English education. They have no interest in learning it, and often resent other Koreans who do / can learn it. They seek only profit, material gain and social status (you know, all those things Jesus was about).

In the military and maritime world captain's cannot be challenged openly because they are responsible for peoples' lives. The open ocean is not a classroom in Gangnam. They do, however, also permit their juniors to "speak freely" so long as it's not a direct and open challenge. The better captains seek to capitalize on the combined knowledge and experience of all his crew. He will ask their opinions and admit to his own mistakes of judgment. It's a sign of maturity, self-confidence and respect for ones' crew.

In Korea the whole "captain" schtick is just selfsh, entitled, confucionist little-man asshattery wrapped in an analogy. You'd actually think that after the 'Sewol" they'd reconsider the wisdom of being thought of as the 'captain". We know how the captain of that vessel reacted in time of crisis.

He'd probably have made a great hogwan owner.

[jbradshe]

Check another post where the actual director/headmaster shows up to defend himself. http://www.waygook.org/index.php/topic,88903.0.html

But of course, none of this is true. It's common knowledge that all foreigners lie. Its actually a great place to work /s.

[northway]

[Paddycakes]

[sligo]

I've bever heard a good word said for "Christian"schools in Korea. Just like Christian people i suppose, follow the bible when it suits them.

[trueblue]

[sligo]

[trueblue]

[trueblue]

[sligo]