April 10, 2000
Dear Mr. Berman;
I would like to offer a response to the letter you have posted on your
website about Seoul Women's University. I have been teaching here, in
the Swell program, since September 1997 and I have never experienced any
of the things the letter claims happens. Now I am not saying that these
things didn't happen, some of them definitely did. What I am saying is
that things have changed dramatically here and it is now a rewarding
place to work. I would like to take each point the writer makes and
discuss how things now work here.
1. I have always been promptly paid the salary stated on my contract,
and always been paid the overtime hours that I have taught. I have never
been misled as to what I would be paid either verbally or in writing.
2. Although in the past, some teachers may have worked here illegally,
that no longer happens. Visas are processed as quickly as possible.
3. Medical coverage is optional for those teachers who want it. I have
always had medical coverage, and was given a complete and detailed
photocopy of what the program covers and doesn't cover, written in
English.
4. I have always been contracted to teach 20 hours, there is no place in
the contract that states I may have to work up to 60 hours a week, and I
have always received overtime payments as I stated above.
5. Teachers who must leave early are not penalized, but have to forfeit
their severance pay, which is a standard employment practice.
6. While severance pay was not being paid when I first started working
here, that has since been rectified and severance has been paid to every
teacher since February 1999. I have received severance pay for each of
the two contracts I have fulfilled and so has every other teacher working
here. In fact, some teachers who had already left a year earlier, were
paid their severance pay as well.
7. I have never attended a 3 hour faculty meeting on a Friday evening,
nor at any other time. Our faculty meetings are brief, and and have been
chaired by teachers for the past 2 1/2 years.
8. I have always found our director to be supportive of the faculty and
in no way the dictator he is portrayed to be in the letter. While he may
not be the best or most organized boss in the world, he has tried, and is
trying very hard to make positive changes to the program and to his
management style, as can be seen by the dramatic change in teacher
retention and the number of returning students we have.
9. As to raises, housing and other facilities, in January 1999, despite
the lingering effects of the Korean economic crisis, we received a
200,000 won/month raise. Furthermore, a bonus system was instituted,
especially for the summer and winter intensive terms, that is an attempt
to recognize the hard work and dedication of our teaching faculty.
10. At this time, 11 of our 12 foreign faculty members are living in
housing on campus. The twelfth faculty member lives off campus by choice
and is paid a housing stipend of 200,000 won.
I have never had to endure a lecture on how to dress or how to spend my
private time, of which I have plenty. My contract states I am guaranteed
a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation, but the reality is that I have never
had less than 10 weeks per year of paid vacation.
When I think about it, my only real complaint is lack of office space, we
have enough, just barely, but we are feeling somewhat cramped.
However, don't just take my word for it. I have included below the names
and email addresses of several of our faculty members who have been here
for more than one year. Please feel free to email some of them and see
what they have to say. SWELL is an entirely different place to work than
when the letter writer worked here. In fact, this has probably been the
best and most rewarding job I have ever had, both in Korea and in my home
country, Canada.
Sincerely
Sandra Winfield
sandydw@hotmail.com
Other faculty members to contact:
Bill Attwood wattwood@hotmail.com
Clif Emery clifhorea@hotmail.com
Erwin Ens erntz@yahoo.com
Phil Haydon prhaydon@hotmail.com
Harold Kim harold_kim@hotmail.com
Steve Amrol samaral@bora.dacom.co.kr
Ryan Smyth slave_8@hotmail.com
The following is the original posting:
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Mr. Berman,
If it is lies, discrimination, illegal contracts, falsified documents,
hypocricy, mutiny, 3-hour meetings, 60 hour weeks and poor hygiene
you're seeking, I direct you to the "Gates of SWELL ... Seoul Women's
English Language License program.
Settled in a remote area of Seoul, the Seoul Women's University campus
is known for its quaint grounds and clean air (a scarcity in Seoul).
Founded on strong Christian principles, SWU also enjoys a reputation for
having high ethical standards for its faculty and students.
A seemingly unlikely place for "HELL ON EARTH", but I direct you to
the third floor of the graduate building on any given Friday evening (the
later the better). There you will find program director John (last name
deleted) , an ample-sized man with a Don King do and black clown shoes
yelling at a menagerie of English teachers ... some on the verge of sleep
... some on the verge of tears ... others on the verge of murder. In
confusion you might ask, what is this? I would reply, our weekly, socially
inconveniently-timed "emergency teacher's meeting".
It's really difficult to know where to begin my complaints. From a
standpoint of legal transgressions:
(1) Salary listed on the contract was different from
the number verbally given by John (last name deleted).
(2) Although their visa documents were submitted on
time, through manufactured delays in paper work,
new teachers were manipulated into working illegally
for one semester.
(3) Minimal health insurance was "supposedly" provided,
yet teachers were given no info. (verbal or written)
on the nature of the coverage via the excuse that
"everything's in Korean".
(4) By the contract, teachers were to be paid for
additional hours worked beyond the required 20,
but this was not always the case. Also, if one
looks at the contract carefully, it states that
teachers are required to work up to 60 hours a
WEEK if necessary.
(5) Teachers who ended their contracts early were
illegally required by the school to pay a penalty
of 1.6 million won .
(6) Severance pay has not been paid to any teacher
upon successful completion of their one-year
contract. (You'd think that since those who actually
make it through one year at SWELL are so rare, Kough
would just pay it to get it over with---NOT!)
You might look at these legal transgressions and think that for Korea,
they're not too bad, however, compounded by countless moral and social
improprieties, the conditions at SWELL were unbearable. In his
desperation to maintain a semblance of professionality, John (name deleted)
resorted to such inane tactics as instructing teachers to strategically
lounge around campus posed with a book and to refrain from eating
ice-cream on campus because it compromised our professionality.
HELLO?!?
Teachers were promised benefits, facilities and raises that never came
and I doubt will ever come. We were told daily that our poor teaching
ability was the sole reason for severe drops in student enrolment. We
were ridiculed, insulted, accused of crimes, yelled at (privately and in
the presence of students and peers), assigned grueling projects that
were never used upon their completion and deprived of our private lives.
To be fair, the students of SWELL were great, but were they worth
the conditions SWELL instructors were subjected to? NOT!!!!! As a former
SWELL instructor, I can say I am FREE! Free from lectures on strict dress
codes by a man wearing worn out, size 50 jeans. Free from lectures on how to
spend my private time and who to spend it with. Free from detailed accounts
of John's medical problems, which he insisted at times to accompany with
visual aids---skin rash--uugh! Free from useless 3 hour meetings which ended
with teachers in either suicidal or murderous states. Free to eat an
"ice-cakey" or two or three.
Well, Mr. Berman, I've shared with you my experiences with the English
Language program at Seoul Women's University. I hope my letter will
offer some helpful insight into the SWELL program for potential English
instructors seeking positions in Korea.
Sincerely,
Helen Jeong