Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SPINOZA]

You know, I'm happy at my school and don't really wish to change, but it sure as heck needs a lick of paint and a thorough cleaning.

My immune system must be top-notch working in such a filth-ridden place.

Here's the thing: we don't have cleaners! Kids are responsible for the cleaning at the close of the day and - obviously - they make a totally half-hearted effort.

My teachers' room is nice, though still imperfect, but the corridors and some of the classrooms are very uneasy on the eye and basically it's a shit-hole, especially after lunch with trash and bits of lunch caked around.

Good points: nice, scenic area and relatively quiet.

Basically, because South Korea has emerged suddenly on the developed world scene (having previously been a dirt-poor agrarian economy not at all long ago) this rough, backward element can still be observed in society and definitely at my PS.

Public school is dreadfully flawed in so many ways, but.....discuss physical conditions at your public school please.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

You'd find it interesting to ask around about how old some of your schools buildings are. Often Korean school buildings that look 30 or 40 years old are less than 10 years old.

It's funny how they think that if you mop the floor twice a day (immediately before people start walking on it with the floor still wet) they are doing an outstanding job of keeping it clean. At least a number of the homeroom teachers at my school are pretty strict about keeping clean, much to the students' displeasure.

[SPINOZA]

Why they can't hire actual cleaners to mop up and lock up after 4.30 I do not know. There are plenty of adjumas and adjoshis out there who wouldn't mind the work I'm sure.

They don't even use freakin detergent in our dump's case! Just water!

My school's 30 years old apparently.

[Hotpants]

I haven't quite sussed the lack of cleaning staff around here, either.

Yesterday evening, I went to a well-known fast food place, and the floor and tables were sooo filthy, I had never seen anything like it in an eating establishment in a developed country. The staff told me to sit down and wait for my order, but I couldn't bring myself to sit down on the dirty furniture, it was that bad.

On the other hand, I'm always quite impressed how clean the subway trains are here. Who is keeping them so clean?

It would seem that there would be a lucrative niche opportunity for someone to set up a cleaning contractor service here. Pity foreigners don't have more scope for setting up new business ventures in Korea!

[JeJuJitsu]

Certainly a head-scratcher. Our school just opened this year, marble floors, nice wood framing, the works. BUT, the place still has drywall dust and sawdust all over the place that just gets shoved into the corners, never really cleaned out...just the student-run half-assed mopping job. Sad, really. They could spend a few won on cleaning ajummas once or twice a year to do a thorough top-to-bottom...but no.

[spliff]

My schools not too bad and judging by the pics in the front lobby it's got to be around 80 years old or more. It's not clean like school back home but it's not too dirty considering all the kids. You can see they've made lots of improvements through the years, we just go a lift installed for the handicapped children. And we have a full sized padded and AstroTurfed soccer field and track in front. All in all I guess it could be worse. My principle has one of the best reputations in Kyeongedo and that probably has something to do w/ it...he seems to never cease working for the schools well-being.

[jennateacher]

It is not only public schools. My private school is the same.

The boys are not interested in cleaning, just doing some motion with a mop or broom then running off to the snack bar. They have no clear direction, no set goals, no understanding of what clean is. Also no soap or detergent of any kind used.

I had a rat come to my class last year. He was quietly poking around in back of the class and ran when he realized it was the native English teacher.

Ah I forgot the bathrooms... They were nasty, what high school boy wants to do that? I cleaned the stall I used in the teachers ladies. But thiers-you could smell them down the halls. Finaly this year we got a lady to clean the bathrooms. Much better, but I still cleaned the one I wanted to use.

[Wrench]

My school is 83 years old. I think big portion was built by the Japanese because they have a lot of old traditions that I think started with Japanese.

[riley]

The floors in the classrooms of some of my rooms are uneven and in very bad shape. What really causes the rooms to look bad are what the students do to the desks. They write on them and when they're really bored, take knives and other sharp objects to them. I'm not really surprised by them, but it's the teachers' attitudes that bother me. They just shrug their shoulders and refuse to do anything while the furniture's being destroyed.

[Smee]

My school is filthy. When I see how the students mop I feel like throwing up. They run the mophead all over the bathroom floor, which is wet in some places because the urinals are clogged or because somebody missed their target. I don't want to know how they get the dried poop out of the squatters. People need to scoot up a little more when using them, otherwise the refuse just lies there.

[wylies99]

Yep- my hogwan usually looks like a dumpster exploded. The director cleans it, himself, and it STILL looks terrible.

The entire BUILDING looks like it is owned by a slumlord- including the rickety elevator.

[Thumbnail Postermonkey]

Man, my school's a nasty place where toilet water is the be-all and cure-all of 110% OF WHATEVER AILS YA! It's enough to make me puke down my suit jacket. The chillen's efforts are half-arsed to be sure. I hate smelling the stink of urine in my room after some well-meaning 8 year old has washed my classroom floor with some dong-water from the head.

Get someone's granny or gramps in on the cleaning down-low and give my innune system some peace, is what I say! MAN!

[chris_J2]

You'd be amazed at the difference a few bribes of chocolate & candy bars make around my school. Sometimes the floor gets swept 4 times, & it really is clean at the end of the kids work shifts, which are either after lessons, before lunch, or after lunch. The ethics of using candy to get cleaning work or even school work done, is probably worth a new post. Some teachers absolutely hate it. But the clean floor does look nice....

[oneofthesarahs]

My hagwon actually hires cleaners. I think they come in three times a week, and things are pretty clean.

Still, nobody EVER thinks of cleaning out the desks except for me, so about once a week I'm fishing candy wrappers and other assorted disgusting things out of the desks.

[Yu_Bum_suk]