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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Opoyg
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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 Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject: A Question About Grooming |
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Hello everybody!
This is a somewhat simple topic, but I haven't really found anything about it on the site. So, I thought I would ask.
I am male. My hair is slightly below shoulder length. When I am working in a professional environment, I usually tie back my hair into a neat tail.
How do mainland South Koreans view long hair on men? Is it something they are indifferent about, or will it cost me positions and opportunity? Do any of you know of any male ESL teachers with long hair?
My mane has been described as dark, almost flowing, and rather stunning. So, it seems like it would be somewhat of a shame to cut. Beyond the compliments, I have other personal reasons for not wanting to cut it.
Anyways, there it is. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:25 pm Post subject: |
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| It all depends on where you'll be working. In a public school it would look quite ridiculous to the other staff and students. At a children's hogwan or kindergarten it should be no problem at all. At a uni it might be OK if you keep it in a neat ponytail - ask Teach_me_English about that; he'd be one to know. An adult academy might not like it. |
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thursdays child
Joined: 21 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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No big deall, and if it is a big deal then the person with the deal is not worth dealing with!
At my public school there are two male Korean teachers with fairly long hair and noone gives a toss. The foreigner down the road in the public middle school is a long haired VERY scruffy young man - happily employed.
Things are changing. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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| thursdays child wrote: |
No big deall, and if it is a big deal then the person with the deal is not worth dealing with!
At my public school there are two male Korean teachers with fairly long hair and noone gives a toss. The foreigner down the road in the public middle school is a long haired VERY scruffy young man - happily employed.
Things are changing. |
Maybe things are changing a bit in urban areas. In my rural school district I've never seen a male teacher with long hair. It would also be interesting to see how the students of the very scruffy young man at the middle school view him. The only public school teachers I've ever seen with long hair have been on TV. |
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thursdays child
Joined: 21 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:05 pm Post subject: |
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| It would also be interesting to see how the students of the very scruffy young man at the middle school view him. |
The students!! The students think he's 'cool', my students always tell me about him (they went to that middle school before my High school), I've never once heard then refer to his appearance in a negative way.
And I'm not urban. |
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Opoyg
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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Well, it's good to see at least one pro-hair post. I was under a very uninformed but strong impression that it would probably be a complete deal breaker.
thursdays child: I've learned that more often than not you end up having to deal with people for whom a lot of things are "big deals" and are generally not worth dealing with. Such is life...
Yu_Bum_suk: I'll send "Teach_me_English" a message. When you say "adult academy" are you still referring to hogwans? Are you still "a bit south of Daegu"?
So, is the sentiment that traditionalists will usually not accept long haired male teachers but that the urban and more modern folks will? If that is the case, it would seem rather ironic. I wonder if it is because of Western influences. It would seem that Korea, among other Asian countries, has a far reaching history and culture of males with long hair. Though that is all supposition on my part... |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| thursdays child wrote: |
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| It would also be interesting to see how the students of the very scruffy young man at the middle school view him. |
The students!! The students think he's 'cool', my students always tell me about him (they went to that middle school before my High school), I've never once heard then refer to his appearance in a negative way.
And I'm not urban. |
Yeah but do they think of him as a teacher or a 'cool guy'? I remember at my school district's singing and dance competition a 'cool guy' from the vocational HS on the other side of town came along with his students. A few of my students were pointing and asking 'who is he'? 'Oh he's the teacher from _______ gyo-dim hakyo I said'. 'He doesn't look like a teacher' one replied. 'No, he doesn't', I had to reply. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Opoyg wrote: |
Well, it's good to see at least one pro-hair post. I was under a very uninformed but strong impression that it would probably be a complete deal breaker.
thursdays child: I've learned that more often than not you end up having to deal with people for whom a lot of things are "big deals" and are generally not worth dealing with. Such is life...
Yu_Bum_suk: I'll send "Teach_me_English" a message. When you say "adult academy" are you still referring to hogwans? Are you still "a bit south of Daegu"?
So, is the sentiment that traditionalists will usually not accept long haired male teachers but that the urban and more modern folks will? If that is the case, it would seem rather ironic. I wonder if it is because of Western influences. It would seem that Korea, among other Asian countries, has a far reaching history and culture of males with long hair. Though that is all supposition on my part... |
Most cultures have seen both short and long hair as respectable and not respectable at some point in time.
By adult academy I mean a hogwan, yes, that caters strictly to adults (such as Pagada Academy or Direct English), a business English school, or a university affiliated language centre that offers supplementary classes that are also open to the general public. If you want to avoid children be careful about uni language schools, however, as some of them are what we in the EFL community now call 'unigwans' - basically a university owned hogwan. |
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thursdays child
Joined: 21 Sep 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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'He doesn't look like a teacher' one replied. 'No, he doesn't', I had to reply.
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I thought we were only talking about long haired males.
I can make a guess as to what a lot of peoples opinion are of what a teacher should look like. And I know I don;t look like that. I used to dress .... well rather ridiculously.... I've calmed down a bit - but there's no 'teacher' around. I've always had good, respectable, lucrative jobs (not just Korea) because people like me and I do a good job. |
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inspector gadget
Joined: 11 Apr 2003
Location: jeollanam-do in the boonies
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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In 2003 I had long curly hair just past my shoulders, I am a male and had no problems with the employer or the students. As a matter af fact most people were jealous of my long curly hair.
I too was in a rural area, I agree with one poster above when he says that times are changing. I believe they are although at a slow pace.
I will be interested in deeing the reaction next week after I shave all of my curly hair off. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 11:59 pm Post subject: |
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| thursdays child wrote: |
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'He doesn't look like a teacher' one replied. 'No, he doesn't', I had to reply.
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I thought we were only talking about long haired males.
I can make a guess as to what a lot of peoples opinion are of what a teacher should look like. And I know I don;t look like that. I used to dress .... well rather ridiculously.... I've calmed down a bit - but there's no 'teacher' around. I've always had good, respectable, lucrative jobs (not just Korea) because people like me and I do a good job. |
I thought we were only talking about long-haired males, too. 
Of course doing a good job is far more important, and in Canada I'd think that a young male teacher in a suit and tie was trying to compensate for a lack of something else by dressing up like that, but this is Korea and most staff at one's school will only see you in the staff room and dressing smart makes a very good impression. There's a new male teacher at my school who's worn the same suit every school day so far this year. Now I think that's pretty ridiculous and if I only had one suit I'd at least wear a nice sweater sometimes for variety. However, to the staff and students it probably creates a better impression. Stupid, but true. |
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Opoyg
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:09 am Post subject: |
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| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Most cultures have seen both short and long hair as respectable and not respectable at some point in time.
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Yes, this is technically a true statement, or at least a statement that I would agree to for the sake of conversation. However, my unsupported implication and impression is that Asian countries appear to have a more significant history of respectability tied to long hair. Once again, I can't cite anything for you. It's just an impression I seem to have at the moment. Sort of like the feeling I have that their equating short hair to professionalism at this current time is due to western influences.
Do you feel that the most recent general shift to short hair male professionals in Asian countries is merely coincidental even with the relatively long standing establishment of short haired males in many Western cultures?
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
By adult academy I mean a hogwan, yes, that caters strictly to adults (such as Pagada Academy or Direct English), a business English school, or a university affiliated language centre that offers supplementary classes that are also open to the general public. If you want to avoid children be careful about uni language schools, however, as some of them are what we in the EFL community now call 'unigwans' - basically a university owned hogwan. |
I've heard about the shift. Thanks for the warning. Although I love children, I'm not sure I want to babysit. |
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Yu_Bum_suk
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:42 am Post subject: |
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| Opoyg wrote: |
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
Most cultures have seen both short and long hair as respectable and not respectable at some point in time.
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Yes, this is technically a true statement, or at least a statement that I would agree to for the sake of conversation. However, my unsupported implication and impression is that Asian countries appear to have a more significant history of respectability tied to long hair. Once again, I can't cite anything for you. It's just an impression I seem to have at the moment. Sort of like the feeling I have that their equating short hair to professionalism at this current time is due to western influences.
Do you feel that the most recent general shift to short hair male professionals in Asian countries is merely coincidental even with the relatively long standing establishment of short haired males in many Western cultures?
| Yu_Bum_suk wrote: |
By adult academy I mean a hogwan, yes, that caters strictly to adults (such as Pagada Academy or Direct English), a business English school, or a university affiliated language centre that offers supplementary classes that are also open to the general public. If you want to avoid children be careful about uni language schools, however, as some of them are what we in the EFL community now call 'unigwans' - basically a university owned hogwan. |
I've heard about the shift. Thanks for the warning. Although I love children, I'm not sure I want to babysit. |
Yes, it does seem to be a trend in Asia over recent history. Oddly enough I suspect it's a trend that Japan started and today most Asian countries are more anal about it than their former Japanese colonisers are. You may not be aware of it but most Korean middle and high schools have hair restrictions for the students, and at some the teachers will cut the students' hair for them if it's not to their liking - my middle school girls are only allowed 15cm, for instance, and perming or colouring is out of the question. I have naturally curly hair and my girls are always asking me where I get my hair permed. If you teach boys whose teachers will take out the clippers if it gets more than a few inches long what are they going to think of you?
As for the babysitting, not all hogwans are like that and if you love children you may be able to find one that's more orderly; Yale Academy in Daegu is, from what I've heard from several sources, a very good place to work though you have to work a half-day on Saturday. I know of friends who had M-F jobs at good hogwans, too, though unfortunately such hogwans are the minority. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:44 am Post subject: |
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Until a hundred years ago, all Korean males (except monks) had long hair. Hair was a 'gift' from your parents and could not be cut. Then it all changed. Under the military dictatorships of 30 years ago, guys were being stopped on the street and given haircuts if their hair was too long. Until very recently, high school kids had regulation hair lengths, enforced by teachers. This has changed in the last 5 (?) years.
There is a growing trend now for more self-expression with hair, clothes, pierced ears. Things are changing. As foreigners, we are outside the rules anyway and can get away with a lot more.
We are tolerated if we deviate from the social norms, but they do like it if we conform: "You look younger!" "You look like a scholar!" You look handsome!"
I don't think the OP will have any problem with his hair length. I do think he would get even more approval here if he cut his hair. |
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robot
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:04 am Post subject: |
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i have long, shaggy, rock and roll hair.
before coming i had heard that i should cut my hair to get more respect in korea. i considered chopping it, but in the end i simply didn't want to.
still, i've had no problem at my work (older students, SAT academy) because i dress smart and deliver superlative lessons.
so no worries, OP. keep it long!
ROBT. |
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