Korean Job Discussion Forums

[blunder1983]

Well, everyone on this board rags on hagwons so I'm curious, anyone thought about setting one up?

Long hours,
Teachers which may be running out on you,
Parents dictating your success....

Seems quite stressful but I see the rewards as

Potentially making a DIFFERENCE to kids lives (more so than many haggies)
Increased credability because your an English person running an English hagwon
The ability to choose the materials and teaching methods for learning
Good money IF the school works

I'm thinking about forming one after a few years more experience but it looks like a LOT of hardwork for potentially very little gain (I'm not sure Koreans will view the teaching methods reccommended by the main language institutions worldwide as "acceptable" compared to their learn by rote method)

Opinions?

[the_beaver]

Thought about. Made an estimate of costs, rough classroom designs, teacher schedules, compensation, mandatory Korean, 8 level + speciality levels (public speaking, report writing, etc.) and everything else (there's a whole thread on this somewhere in the annals of Dave's).

Still in my mind but not at the forefront.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I considered making a difference in kids lives by not pondering opening my own hagwon.

[the_beaver]

Let me stress a point. . .

There was abso fucking lutely no way in hell I would open a kids hellwon.

[Ya-ta Boy]

I don't think I've ever met an ESLer who hasn't thought about opening his/her own hakwon and/or write a better text book.

[Dawn]

Have thought about it and had been building a substantial resource library with that goal in mind. This past year, though, I moved into an administrative position at a medium-sized hagwon and am fast losing the desire to ever have my own. The first question I generally ask when I walk into school these days is "Any parent problems I need to know about?" The second is "Any teacher issues today?" And that's despite being at an exceptionally good hagwon, complete with good owner, (mostly) supportive parents and better-than-average teachers.

[Cohiba]

I opened up a hagwon in Incheon. Dismal failure. If
you are serious then you would need to invest a minimum
of 100,000,000 won. Parents are looking for polish and
class. I entered into this by investing 13,000,000 won
and got burned. I was partners with an unscrupulous
person. The friendship, and partnership, quickly dissolved.

There are too many large schools out there with very deep
pockets. They will outclass you with advertising, interior
decoration, shared advertising etc. Being a foreigner is
definately not enough. We are a dime a dozen.

Needless to say I lost the 13,000,000 won and wasted
a lot of valuable earning time in the process. Basically,
why pay for a school with immense overhead, when you
can go to apartments and make money with no problems.

[bosintang]

[ulsanchris]

Thought about it pretty seriously for a period of time, was offered the chance to buy one for pretty cheap. But in the end decided not too. One big reason was that my wife said she wanted nothing to do with it. but there were many other ones as well.

[Zenpickle]

I'm doing the same thing Dawn's doing, it sounds. I'm in an administrative role at a hagwon, and I get to choose the curriculum, books, make schedules, put out fires, etc. I'm enjoying it, but I'm realizing what a whiny little pansy I was on the other side, fighting management for trivial things.

I've made schedules where people who start early leave early, and those who work late can come to work late. The schedules are pretty sweetheart, IMHO, and they're stable. No extra Saturday stuff, and I've put an end to phone teaching. And I have been setting up the books and curricula so that the teachers basically have their classes handed to them on silver platters, teaching fun stuff like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." We don't require, in fact, we discourage the teachers from teaching standing up because students connect better when the teacher is at eye level with them.

The dark underbelly of the world of parents is not for the faint-hearted. And foreign teachers, I'll admit, can become major prima donnas. (Go buy and change your own freakin' light bulb, princess.)

I'm dealing with the fact that the school has a waiting list, but I don't want to add more classes to the teachers' schedules, but our waiting list isn't big enough to justify opening enough classes to justify hiring another teacher. Yet there is an imbalance of students in classes that could be shifted to fit in the new kids.

That's when the mothers start shrieking about how little Mun Chon is smart enough to be with the level three kids, even though he doesn't know the alphabet.

I'm also learning how all the race politics we complain about in the hagwon system is rooted in the mommies. I've been wanting to hire this one very qualified person, who is kyopo, and the owner wants to also. The problem is that the mommies want a white face. We're now running the idea by the mommies about us replacing a departing whitey with this much more qualified kyopo. Jury's still out on that one. But I ran into a snag right away when I wanted to offer housing for a kyopo.

Still, it's exhilerating solving daily problems and having the power to fix problems that need to be fixed. Would definitely not open a hagwon. It's like going into the restaurant business.

[Panda_Dude]

Awesome post, Zenpickle.

Definitely gives a better idea of the complications of running a business, period.

[cubanlord]

Again, nice post Zen. I agree. I have been a member of Dave's for only a short few days, but have been visiting for over a year now. I must say, just reading some of the posts and having met some foreigner English teachers (only a few fall into this bracket)...well...you're right. People tend to forget how EASY they have it here.

Before coming to Korea (for my wife), I was on a fast track to a VERY LUCRATIVE future. I gave it up for her (somethings are more important than money folks . However, I was under pressure and was stressed out almost everyday (goes with the job). Coming here is like having a vacation everyday. It really isn't that bad.

I have witnessed all too many occassions when I read or hear about "this sucks, this is insane, yada yada yada". Man...I guess some people have forgotten how easy this really is compared to their home country. Yes, there are things that aren't fair. Though, there are somethings that are just (like you said) not worth the effort.

I have recently been asked to become the head-teacher at my school (we are expanding quickly and are hiring an additional two more teachers as we speak). I am glad that I get a chance to use what I have been trained to do in my career. I get a chance to weed out those unqualified, negative people that just want to show up and get the check. DON'T GET ME WRONG....Everyone (almost everyone) is here for the cash. There are those exceptionally few that may have other intrinsic or extrinic motivations for being here; besides monetary gain; such as making a difference.

However, I care about what I do; thus caring for my students' education. I am also lucky enough to rid the bias opinions Korean's have of someone being, "too old", "too ugly", etc. I look for those qualified despite of age, sex, etc. Thankfully, my school trusts my opinion and considers my opinion to be made with the best intentions. I have thought of opening up a hogwon in my area (don't have the cash reserves though). I firmly believe that with a good partner, we can make the hogwon one of the best in the city. I have enough training in the acounting and managerial aspects of a business to keep things straight. My teaching experience can use a few more years, as I am currently learning what works and what doesn't work for students at different levels (it's amazing that one thing will work for one level, but not the other). Anyways....I haven't found anyone I can fully trust yet (a Korean person that is).

I am lucky to have the co-teachers I have here. They are strong (in both the mind and their teaching). They are great people; I've learned many things from them and continue to do so. These guys, in my opinion, are invaluable. THESE type of people are what I want working here. Anyways...thanks for letting my place my input on your posting.

[Hanson]

Excellent post, Zen.

[Captain Corea]

[Ya-ta Boy]