Sunday, February 27, 2011

Low Quality/ High Quality...what exactly do you want?

Korea seems to have a sort of schizophrenia with regard to native English Speaking teachers.  The media clamors all the time about all the "unqualified," "low-quality" English teachers whenever there is a social problem and a scapegoat is required.  Except the thing is, all the English Teachers here (except the illegal ones...but they are not so common) are "qualified" according to the Korean Government.  And, someone in Korea, either in the public sector, or a private company actually hires the person with a degree in basket-weaving and no experience, so whose fault is it really?

And more (scroll down into the comments) and more reports come out about how public school boards no longer have room for the Level 1 teachers (those with experience and educational qualifications in teaching) because they have to pay them too much money.

What exactly do you want Korea?  Maybe you should make up your mind.  It's frustrating to be caught in the middle. 

2 comments:

Xavier said...

The word I hate is "qualified". We are looking to hire qualified English teachers they claim. How "qualified" do you need to be to teach 5th grade English? It's a matter of the grass being greener on the other side. There is always a better teacher out there if we keep looking they think. The standard is just too high. Besides, I agree concerning the higher pay. Thank you, Jackie.

Jackie Bolen said...

Teaching 5th grade English is not that easy! Anyone can do a poor job of it, but to do it well is a whole other ball-game.