Korean Job Discussion Forums

[artyom]

Hey, does anyone have any links to a good up-to-date blacklist of bad schools and hagwons in korea?

Thanks

[purple_buddha]

The few blacklists that are out there are incomplete, out of date, or both.

http://blacklist.tokyojon.com/ is more current but lacks a search function. One needs to scroll down all the entries to find a particular school. It does, however, provide rebuttals, which allows for more objectivity.

http://www.geocities.com/hagwonblacklist/ hasn't been updated since March 2005.

The bottom line is there isn't (and probably never will be) a comprehensive hagwon blacklist for Korea for several reasons.
1. Volume - There are way too many English academies to keep track of. Any major city in Korea has hundreds if not thousands offering some sort of English instruction.
2. Volatile market - new schools pop up all the time; some academies fold. Previously estabished institutes may change owners/directors. The business name may also change, or the school may change location.
3. Considering the source - just because one unknown disgruntled teacher has a bad experience and is vocal about it doesn't necessarily make the school in question a horrible place to work. Likewise, the circumstances surrounding individual discontent may be unique and not an accurate predictor of future behavior by the owner.
4. Failure to report - many teachers who are treated unfairly or even totally screwed over never record their situations. Perhaps they leave Korea or choose not to make an issue out of a negative experience.

Once you're interested in working at a school, you should post the name and location on this or a similar board. If you have a copy of the contract, post that as well. http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=59265
Talk to current and past teachers. (Ask for private email addresses or phone numbers.) You'll get a lot more relevant feedback on a particular hagwon in this manner rather than sifting through search engines trying to find out if it's a decent place to teach or not.

[wylies99]

A big problem is that many teachers are cheated and only a few bother to fight for their money or blacklist the crapwons. Many teachers simply flee and leave no warning for others.

[some waygug-in]

You can check out these as well,


www.englishschoolwatch.com

Usually a bit out of date, but the good part is that you can see if there are multiple complaints about a certain school or chain.


and

hagwan checklist (I don't know the exact web address....so use Google)

Has both positive and negative comments and a rating system.

I hope these help.

[Geckoman]

Hagwon Checklist:

http://www.hagwonchecklist.com

[Saxiif]

Just bitching about a school on Dave's can be effective. Having your bitchings show up whenever people search for that school on these forums will probably hurt them more than being included on some random blacklist website.

[chinook]

Consider Heritage Institute of Language Arts run by Mr. Joo in Deungcheon-dong, Kangseo-ku, Seoul blacklisted. PM me for further details.