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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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 Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:13 am Post subject: Globe&Mail:Cdn.Teachers "Turn Yourselves In!" |
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Nearly 50 English teachers from Canada have been detained, deported or investigated on allegations of visa fraud in South Korea, a country seeking to purge itself of young Westerners increasingly regarded as unqualified, unruly and unwelcome.
Long a magnet for foreigners drawn to working overseas, Korea has arrested hundreds of them in the past couple of weeks. Immigration officials have been rounding up dozens of teachers at their homes, work, or at the airports.
While as many as 10,000 foreigners legally teach the language at private English schools in Korea, the nation's media have been full of exposés about teachers with dubious credentials.
Many of the foreign teachers, if not most, are Canadian.
Many teachers say Korean officials and unscrupulous recruiters have long tolerated, even encouraged, the illegal activity.
Some Canadian teachers are worried that they, too, could end up in prison.
"I wish we could tell exactly how much trouble we are in," a 30-year-old Canadian teacher said in a phone interview from Kwangju, Korea, on Friday. "The idea of me being locked up and handcuffed and fed grog is ridiculous. They say what we're doing is criminal, but it doesn't feel that way."
The woman, who is from B.C., said she arrived on a spousal visa, but was enticed into teaching English illegally to supplement her husband's income.
Her husband, a legal instructor, said Korea's response is out of proportion to the situation. "We are all teaching children how to sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and ABC," hesaid, adding that he believes more than 150 Canadians doing this type of work have been arrested.
The couple -- who, like several other Canadians interviewed, asked not to be identified -- say they are contemplating a "midnight run" out of Korea, and complain that the local embassy has not done enough for jailed friends.
"The whole situation is totally inhumane -- I've heard of 70 [foreign teachers] being put in a room with capacity for only 30 or 40," the wife said. "It's not like they were dealing drugs or running guns."
Canada's Foreign Affairs Department says there are limitations to what it can do. It has officially logged about 50 English-teacher cases in the past two weeks: 35 have been deported, five are awaiting deportation and the rest under investigation.
"It's clear that the South Koreans are enforcing their laws in a recent wave that began as little as two weeks ago," the Foreign Affairs parliamentary secretary, Dan McTeague, said from Ottawa.
The Liberal MP warned Canadians in Korea to "make sure their credentials conform to the rigours of the law. If they don't, they are strongly advised to rethink continuing in that setting."
Many of the arrests of foreigners have followed that of a Korean man who is accused of selling fake diplomas. Many Canadians who tried to establish teaching credentials by buying fake university degrees are worried that their names have been handed over to the authorities.
One Canadian, who has taught legally in Korea for nine years and helps run an Internet message board for expatriates, is telling affected colleagues that the wisest course of action is to surrender.
"There are some people that freak out and say, 'I better get out of Dodge' -- and then they get nailed at the airport," he said.
Given that Korean authorities are believed to have an inch-thick dossier on illegal English teachers, he urged his compatriots to go a different route. "If you turn yourself in, immigration tends to take a more lenient thinking."
Like many Canadians interviewed, he said that Koreans have an innate xenophobia that has hardened of late. "There has been a definite change in the way we're being perceived in the last nine or 10 months," he said. "Before, it was, 'Please speak me English.' Now, it's 'Get out of my country, white devils.' "
Visa frauds go on in just about every country, but Korea's clampdown has been lent a sense of urgency by highly publicized accounts of immorality by young foreigners. Reports of marijuana and cocaine busts have long tended to feature Westerners -- including five Canadian teachers who were arrested two years ago.
But more recent events have led to a furor. An unknown English teacher in Korea used the Internet to post what amounted to a how-to guide for seducing Korean women. Then, two English teachers from Cape Breton, N.S., made the headlines for breaking a local man's jaw in a bar brawl. They spent 40 days in jail and were ordered to pay $30,000 (U.S.) in a form of restitution known locally as "blood money."
And lately, Korean TV has aired segments painting English teachers as inept, unqualified foreigners who frequently lie about their credentials.
"People basically think all foreign teachers are drunks and molesters who can't get a job back home," said the teacher who helps run the Internet board for expats. |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051010.wxkorea1010/BNStory/National/ |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:30 am Post subject: |
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| Wow. I thought I was reading something published in the Korea Herald. Not a hint of investigative reporting in sight. Reporting rumors, just like in the Chosun Ilbo. I'd say the editorial staff went to sleep on this one. Must have been a slow day for real news. |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:31 am Post subject: |
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| That seems a fairly thorough & balanced accounting of whats going on. Certainly in terms of a heads up to young Canadians who figure they can flout laws they deem not so serious. |
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fidel
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Location: North Shore NZ
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:38 am Post subject: |
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| Sounds like a reporter has been emailed by a Daves poster, listened to his whining and gossip then written an article. |
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Grimalkin
Joined: 22 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:36 am Post subject: |
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| Many of the arrests of foreigners have followed that of a Korean man who is accused of selling fake diplomas. Many Canadians who tried to establish teaching credentials by buying fake university degrees are worried that their names have been handed over to the authorities. |
True!
A friend of mine was deported last Wednesday (the "Korean man" was actually a recruiter). He was held in a room with about 100 other illegals after being arrested at his school. He didn't even get the chance to shower for the whole period of his detention. He taught elementary students here for 18 months and the kids and parents loved him. How many qualification do you need for that? |
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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| A university degree seems a reasonable minimal standard for vetting language teachers. Should they just welcome anyone? |
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vlcupper
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Wow. I thought I was reading something published in the Korea Herald. Not a hint of investigative reporting in sight. Reporting rumors, just like in the Chosun Ilbo. I'd say the editorial staff went to sleep on this one. Must have been a slow day for real news. |
If it were the Korean Herald, it would have replaced "Canadian" with "evil, fat, baby-eating Americans." |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:28 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Wow. I thought I was reading something published in the Korea Herald. Not a hint of investigative reporting in sight. Reporting rumors, just like in the Chosun Ilbo. I'd say the editorial staff went to sleep on this one. Must have been a slow day for real news. |
What are the rumors they are reporting? Could you point those out? It struck me as accurate. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: |
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I really don't care that they are rounding up the illegals. They shouldn't be here in the first place. It's hard enough to earn respect as it is from my students without having their minds polluted by some xenophobic members of the Korean media (since nobody has died recently in an accident that involves American soldier, why wouldn't they focus Canadian highschool dropouts illegally teaching in highschools?).
But, I believe that the Korean government needs to begin cracking down on Korean university students who teach at hagwons if it really wants to continue in the right direction. God knows there are many hagwons that employ students, and the number will increase now that they've begun deporting illegals. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:00 am Post subject: |
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There are people in Korea, right now, who are in jail because they sold language lessons. This is unjust.
But, what do we get from the flunky few here on Dave's? Basically "Good, they deserve it. Better for me".
You clowns, all of you. No different than any fool at home who wants pot smokers in jail or illegal Mexicans tossed in the klink.
Have some bloody humanity and try, just try you fools, to look past your own self-interest.
It is not right that one can be detained and tossed in jail, regardless of duration, for teaching. A small fine, if anything, should suffice.
And to those who think a Uni degree is a reasonable minimum requirement, it isn't. What it does is encourages all the unemployable 20ish Canadians who, by the mercy of god, managed to graduate from a university, to come here. The reason you support this is because you don't think you could compete with a real market.
Some people have a talent for teaching, and some don't (I don't). Without the absurd "minimum" qualification, and with more sane visa rules, the Koreans (the consumers, those who are supposed to benefit from us) would have more freedom to pick and choose their teacher based on that teachers ability. If you have a degree and you teach well, you get a good wage. If you haven't a degree and you teach well, perhaps your wage is slightly lower (good for equality in education, btw). If you have a degree in sociology and teach like shite, back to the GTA you go. The system now benefits very few and limits both the quality of our jobs and the quality of education as received by the Koreans.
Everybody would benefit if sanity were to be allowed in this industry.
What we have now is a joke. |
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BigBlackEquus
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:23 am Post subject: |
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| fidel wrote: |
| Sounds like a reporter has been emailed by a Daves poster, listened to his whining and gossip then written an article. |
Unfortunately for we Canadians, it seems that all of this 'gossip' is substantiated by some very legit facts. I have a feeling that more than a few of these 'whining and gossiping' people who have been known to linger on this board are currently laughing it up with a big fat, 'I told you so!'
I hope we get some actual demographics about teachers busted.
I do know for a fact that one guy who is a friend of a friend was American and here on a fake degree via this Kang character. He left, or attempted to leave at least, this past weekend. His friend says she thinks he got away OK, but I'm not sure if she is just saying that because she knows he headed to the airport.
It's not all Canadians. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:29 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
There are people in Korea, right now, who are in jail because they sold language lessons. This is unjust.
But, what do we get from the flunky few here on Dave's? Basically "Good, they deserve it. Better for me".
You clowns, all of you. No different than any fool at home who wants pot smokers in jail or illegal Mexicans tossed in the klink.
Have some bloody humanity and try, just try you fools, to look past your own self-interest.
It is not right that one can be detained and tossed in jail, regardless of duration, for teaching. A small fine, if anything, should suffice.
And to those who think a Uni degree is a reasonable minimum requirement, it isn't. What it does is encourages all the unemployable 20ish Canadians who, by the mercy of god, managed to graduate from a university, to come here. The reason you support this is because you don't think you could compete with a real market.
Some people have a talent for teaching, and some don't (I don't). Without the absurd "minimum" qualification, and with more sane visa rules, the Koreans (the consumers, those who are supposed to benefit from us) would have more freedom to pick and choose their teacher based on that teachers ability. If you have a degree and you teach well, you get a good wage. If you haven't a degree and you teach well, perhaps your wage is slightly lower (good for equality in education, btw). If you have a degree in sociology and teach like *beep*, back to the GTA you go. The system now benefits very few and limits both the quality of our jobs and the quality of education as received by the Koreans.
Everybody would benefit if sanity were to be allowed in this industry.
What we have now is a joke. |
Whatever. They really aren't in jail, so none of them is in danger of being shanked or made into someone's prison bitch. They are simply waiting for deportation in a large room somewhere at Immigration, which is routine according to what I've heard, because they were guilty of commiting fraud when they got their visa (hardly compares to smoking pot--which only affects the smoker, and thus should be legalized--and most illegal Mexicans who don't get jobs teaching in public schools). I would be standing right outside the building in protest, placards and everything, if they were political dissidents from some South East Asian country who would probably be shot right there on the tarmac the moment they get off their flight home. But they aren't. I bet Mom and Dad will pick them up at the airport instead. |
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FUBAR
Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: The Y.C.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| BJWD wrote: |
You clowns, all of you. No different than any fool at home who wants pot smokers in jail or illegal Mexicans tossed in the klink.
Have some bloody humanity and try, just try you fools, to look past your own self-interest.
What we have now is a joke. |
Hmm.... Now you are comparing the plight of the illegal English teacher to that of illegal Mexicans. Last time, I heard, those people were travelling to America because they couldn't find jobs back home and ran the risk of starving themselves and their familes. It is a matter of life and death for some of them. Compare that to the Illegal teacher who teaches privates, so they can add a few more zeros to their bank account. Because, that what it is. It's definately not because they are starving. Not when they can afford to take a trip to somewhere in South East Asia every six months or send home a million won a month. You can even look at the illegal teacher who has a forged degree, even they aren't starving back home. There is welfare, McDonald's, labour jobs, etc. They still have other options instead of committing fraud. You can say it doesn't hurt anybody. Well, maybe it does hurt somebody. That's why there are laws against it. To compare this situation to illegal Mexicans is a joke. Maybe if you selected something more comparable, you rant wouldn't come off as so laughable.
I would bet that you are the one trying to push your own self-interests. Besides, who made you the President of Korea, a Minister of Immigration or an Elected Member of the Korean government to start dictating public policy? Just like how you want to say that smoking pot should be legalized, right? Well, if the majority of Canadians felt so strongly about it, don't you think that marijuana would be legal by now? So, just because you don't like the rules of the government, doesn't mean that you can ignore them to serve your own interst. To do that is perpetuating that with which you lecture us. |
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joe_doufu
Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| What are the rumors they are reporting? Could you point those out? It struck me as accurate. |
It struck you as accurate because you've heard all the same rumors before on this board, over and over again. Did they interview a single foreigner who was maltreated by the Korean authorities? No, they interviewed a bunch of people who said "I've heard stories about 70 foreigners put in a room...." and "I'm afraid of being handcuffed" and "They might get you at the airport" and "The Koreans are believed to have an inch-thick dossier...".
Don't feel bad, this board has made me irrationally suspicious of Koreans, too. I should really stop reading it. So far except for a couple of late paydays and one or two obnoxious kids, no Korean has really done anything to bother me. |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:12 am Post subject: |
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"Let me, for one, be the first to welcome our insect overlords."
Last edited by Pyongshin Sangja on Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:17 am; edited 2 times in total |
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