Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Real Reality]

Teachers Arrested in Exam Scandal
Police said yesterday a group of senior teachers took bribes in return for doctoring students' exam records in a privately run high school in southwestern Seoul. The police arrested six teachers and four parents in connection with the exam scandal.

A former principal wanted by police for being involved in the scandal is out of the country to avoid police. According to the police, the principal identified only by his family name Kim, 56, received about 1.4 million won from a parent with a request to alter her son's exam scores.

Kim allegedly instructed two teachers to fake the record and they manipulated scores about six times in return for a few hundred million won.

The teachers are accused of switching the students' exam answer sheets or leaking the exam questions in advance to students, whose parents were all parents' association members. The former chief of school affairs, only identified by his family name Kim, 48, is accused of taking about 6.3 million won from three parents.
By Joo Sang-min, The Korea Herald (February 24, 2005)
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/02/25/200502250010.asp

Teachers, Principals Involved in Manipulating Students' Scores
The vice principal also allegedly received 2 million won from Ku to grant three honorary awards to the student from the school.
By Chung Ah-young, Korea Times (February 24, 2005)
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200502/kt2005022418082211970.htm

[McNasty]

[rapier]

I wonder how much hagwon mothers would cough up?

[tzechuk]

What really bugs me is that Korean parents would never hype this up as much as they do foreign teachers... I'd be interested to know how many angry posts there were an hour after this piece of news was published. Over 100, perhaps... ? I can imagine it to be anywhere near the 1000 the posts involving foreign teachers attracted.

[FUBAR]

[Real Reality]

McNasty asked,
"Real Reality, didn't you post something a while back on salaries?"

Salary for teachers
Korea stands out as having a long scale reaching a much higher level than that of other countries. The starting salary for primary teachers in Korea is $24,140, marginally behind that for Australia at $25,775. Australia ranks 3rd in the starting salary offered to teachers but Australian teachers reach a relatively modest maximum of $36,175 (ranked 12th) quite early in their careers. Korean teachers, on the other hand, reach $39,921 after 15 years and $66,269 at the top of their scale.
http://www.austcolled.com.au/pubs.php?id=538

For primary education, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Mexico have relatively low salary costs per hour of instruction ($13, $15, and $16, respectively); by contrast, costs are relatively high in Denmark ($48 ), Germany ($49 ), South Korea ($62 ), and Switzerland ($48 ). Salary costs per primary teaching hour in the United States are in the middle of this range at $35. In South Korea, high costs per teaching hour at the primary level are balanced by a relatively high student/teacher ratio (31.2) and a low proportion of current expenditure on nonteaching staff, resulting in below-average expenditure per student (OECD 2000.)
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind02/c1/c1s7.htm#c1s7l3

[manlyboy]

There's an old guy teaching second grade at my school who tells me he's on 4 million a month.

[Gunshake]

[Zenpickle]

[weatherman]

Never under estimate what Korean mothers will do for their sons.

[Randall Flagg]

[tzechuk]

[Gunshake]

[PolyChronic Time Girl]

I worked at a high school in gyeonggi province last year. The main principal at my school was promptly arrested and thrown in jail for something I don't know. Hmmmm, I wonder if he was part of this.