Korean Job Discussion Forums

[coolsage]

Two Canadian instructors at a university in this city were sacked this week. Their crime? In a recent survey of students, they were rated #1 and #2, respectively, in terms of their effectiveness and their ability to teach English, to deliver the goods. The chairMan of the department, and his long-time lapdog, came in dead last. The reaction? Fire the guys who make the neo-Confucians look bad. So they'll hire a couple of newbies next semester, people fresh off the boat, so that the old order is maintained, face is saved, and they'll look good again, for a while, until the newbies get good at what they do, and then they'll be gone as well. If you still harbor the illusion that Korean Universities are for the students, this is an in-your-face lesson about the real purpose of your participation in this farce. Conclusion? If you like what you do at the uni, and if you're having success with your endeavors, try to look incompetent. It just might save your job. Apologies for the poorly-constructed paragraph, but I'm still steamed about this. One of these guys is a good friend, with five years worth of roots in this community. Draw your own conclusions. If you want more specific info, I can do that. If you're willing to pass yourself off as an incompetent fool, there are a couple of positions available next semester. Good pay, good hours, good accommodation; just don't be good at what you do.

[canuckistan]

That sounds about right. Which is why if you come here to work and want to make the most of it, try to abscond with as much of the GDP as possible. Then when you're firmly planted on a Thai beach with 20 grand in your bank account, you'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel about Korea.

[TECO]

Canuckistan:

Well put.
Keep things in perspective and this sort of sh*t won't bother you.

[Skarp]

If that's what's happened it's obviously unfair...

Same kind of thing happens the world over, in most professions.

I've come to the same conclusion even in the UK. New entrants are more enthusiastic, better trained and closer in age to the students than many of the old relics who got their jobs in the 80s when it was easier. They do a better job and are certainly more popular.

It's only natural that those in power will choose to employ people who make their jobs easier and not harder. Best interest of the students is the last thing on their minds.

Factor in native speakers who have total command of their subject...

There is also the issue of money. Experience implies higher wages.

Skarp

[Real Reality]

I hope the two instructors can find a decent place to teach very soon.

Please remember foreign instructors and foreign professors are treated like this post states.

Foreign professors do most of the heavy lifting in terms of course loads, devoting themselves almost exclusively to teaching. Nevertheless, they tend to be treated as hired hands, without academic standing, and lacking the possibility of career advancement or tenure. They must submit to yearly contracts (compensated at a rate only 60 percent of their Korean peers) while walled off from the permanent Korean faculty who benefit from travel, research funding, sabbaticals, etc. Moreover, when hundreds of Korean scholars enjoy such perks at American and other foreign universities, something is obviously amiss.

According to the Samsung Group's chairman, Lee Kun-hee, to succeed globally, Korea must forgo the thought that Korea and being Korean is superior, and foreign specialists must be treated with respect. If Korean companies follow this standard, Korea's institutions of higher learning cannot afford to do less.
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200206/14/200206142349223599900090109011.html

[Pusanpoe]

The problem with scoring number one in popularity is that it might-but then it might not again-indicate high stadards of teaching. Yes it was a student assessment but not popularity contest you say. But the two can become one in the same but I do not necessarily say that this is the case for the earlier posting.

It is clear that any instructor can get stale and restless after being at one institution after a number of years without sabbaticals and special research projects. Unfortunately. universities do not extend out the possibility of leave to refreshen staff who are native speakers on contracts

You who complain are still workng in Korea but what you need to do is displace the lesser qualified in better paying places with better conditions. But then you decided not to take that job in Saudi and Japan is a bit too expensive. My view is that once the economy recovers here in Korea and as the student are progressively demanding qualified native speakers, Korean universities will have to get more real if they want to provide the support to the government's idea of a hub which is predicated on a much greater improvement of colege graduates English skills. Those realities will in the relatively near term become brutally evident. Then you may see a house cleaning and pay rises at the same time. I can not wait. But yes probably too much to ask for and too much to pay foreigners in the present context of today's Korea. The Government should thoroughly review the status of foreigners at universities and lay down the law regarding paying non-discriminatory levels. If they fo not I predict that qualified instructors will find all sorts of ways to lower their performance and get out of Korea. That will be no good for anyone.

[matthews_world]

Also note that there could have been other circumstances involved with these teachers.

Were they doing there work? Were they jacking off? Where they telling everyone that they were the big man on campus so to speak.

I could see where popularity accounts for high survey scores. Perhaps they weren't the best teachers.

[lonestar]

Why don't you post the name of the university so any potential replacement teachers can have a "heads up"?

[The Man known as The Man]

[canuckistan]

Mais non, I'm a woman posing as a man

[Skarp]

Pusanpoe wrote

[Len8]

Sometimes if you are good at your job in the face of students complaining about their Korean equivalents, a lot of diplomacy goes a long way. If the Korean English teachers are OK guys, but short on English teaching skills, you have to maybe find a way to make them look good. The students at our place openly complain about their Korean Profesors inability to speak English. We weaguks just say OH, and leave it at that, and try not to rock the boat.

[BTM]

[steroidmaximus]

I foresaw this kind of problem, being too popular, so I don't try to be #1. By this I mean I give out more homework, force the students to attend classes during days the other profs let em go (i.e. if there is some 'special guest lecturer' on campus that day etc.), I consistently give the lowest grades in my department, and I give out the most F's. Getting an A+ requires sweat or a big fat envelope (that's a joke). The more serious students and profs take / observe my classes. The head hates my guts because of my grading (I give out more A's than are deserved I think, and I give too many F's) and maybe my contract won't be renewed next year (if you add in that I married one of my students). But professionally, I can feel good about myself, even if I am only a lowly English teacher sucking on the teet of the Korean economy. If I get canned, I can find another job easy enough, and enough people will know it's because of politics, not because of my teaching.

Being the most popular ain't everything it's cut out to be, because I know what it takes to be the most popular. It usually has very little to do with your teaching ability, and more to do with how much you compromise academic standards to make the students 'happy'. How much you go out and swill with em, let em out early, etc.

[VanIslander]

Assuming for the moment that the best teachers were fired out of jealousy or embarrassment, the tragedy of the loss of the teachers would be short lived because good teachers would soon have other students to help.

I want to teach in the universities someday, but I don't worry about these sorts of stories. You could get fired for being too good, for being too old, for being too close to tenure, for being from country x,y or z. for not doing extra, for doing extra, and for Gord knows what else. The situation just goes to show that teachers should do their best and not worry about how they may or may not appease the powers that be.

And while a general Korean culture of face-saving might explain the firing, what does Confucius have to do with it? That's like saying they were Islamic bombers. Confucius believed in education and in respecting even children as our great teachers. I chalk it up more to orthodox mediocrity borne of Korean competitive desire to keep up with the average Jung, even if a few Jungs have to be knocked down a rung or two.

I wonder, though, Could the university be the one just put on Dave's Korean job listing? ("We are posting this ad again as there were some errors in our last advertizement dated Aug.24.")