Jon's Note: Here are two testimonies from two different Americans who
worked at Suwon University:
It has been my experience that Westerners who live in Korea
teaching ESL have a pretty high rate of weirdness.
(updated)
There is response at the end. Let the people decide who is
more credible
I want to thank you for your information and personal comments. I have worked at Suwon University and I could add several things to verify that that ESL Department was very poorly run both ethically and professionally. The person who sent you the long letter might have been one whom I worked with. One particular man tried to assume the position of chairperson and spokesperson for the rest of us, but we quickly learned that he was one who loved to backstab his colleagues for his own personal gain with the bosses. The internal disunity of our department complimented the daily verbal threats and memory lapses of the woman who violated our working agreements, privacy, and professionalism. There have been so many violations by this university, and the man who hired many of us is dishonest, immature, and adept at being a puppet for his superiors. My own students warned me about the poor reputation of the school. Korean teachers were told not to talk to us, eat lunch with us, or help us. I could go on, but the list of horrors from Suwon University is extensive.
Jon, I read some of your posting when I was in Korea and agreed with your observations. Feel free to put my posting on your webpage. I want to give fair warning to anyone considering teaching at Suwon. There's no will on the part of the Koreans there to improve a program that was started badly.
I'll begin by saying that this is one man's experience. I don't know how typical it is. Maybe others who subscribe to this list can confirm or deny the validity of my opinions. Just what do Korean administrators think makes a qualified EFL teacher? At Suwon University, where I taught, the ESL program opened in 1995. The recruiter was a Korean teaching chemistry at an American university. Five of the eight he recruited left Korea after only a few months there. The second recruiter, who hired me, taught engineering at Suwon University. Of the approximately 19 he hired, two left with no notice. One was fired and onesà contract wasn't renewed. Eight left after completing a year. This recruiting record is due to the fact that Koreans believe any native speaker of English can teach it. Of the 27 hired by both recruiters, only four had degrees in TEFL or Applied Linguistics. The attitude of anyone -will- do is also evident in the general populace. There is genuine surprise when it is discovered that a foreigner had taught English in his native country before going to Korea.
The lack of concern for qualified teachers is clear in the hiring practices in Korea. Although there is an effort to appear professional, it is soon obvious that all you have to be is a native English speaker in order to find work teaching in Korea. Job advertisements state that for universities you need to have an M.A. in TEFL or a related field (anything is related) and a minimum of one year of experience teaching. One of the foreign employees at Suwon University, a South African man in his late forties, placed an ad on the Internet site called Dave's ESL Cafe stating those requirements, but he himself didn't meet them. Not only was he unqualified to teach but he actually had a criminal record in two states for trafficking in cocaine. A 33 year-old man from Nova Scotia who had spent ten years teaching mental patients how to make beds was deemed qualified for Suwon University. Of two others from the same area, one ha d a B.A. and had been a part-time volunteer teacher , while her husband had worked as a part-time library assistant. Imagine the classroom behavior of these people, but outside of that, the former mental hospital worker and by coincidence another Canadian man (from Montreal) both used drugs and had sex with their students.
The salary and benefits given to foreign employees by Korean administrators further reflects their unconcern for qualifications. All foreigners with B.A.'s are paid the same and all with M.A.'s are paid the same regardless of type of degree or work experience. This leads to situations in which, for example, a man with an M.A. in TEFL and ten years teaching experience is paid the same salary as someone with an M.A. in some other field and no teaching experience. At contract renewal time, all teachers are rehired and given an equal pay raise.
We also have a share in the blame for the Koreans' Ãattitude, by virtue of our lack of professional preparation. In Joan Morley's TESOL Matters interview, she warned about the danger to our field of the many working in it who lack any professional training at all. A one-month long program from which one gets a certificate is not adequate professional training. It is not equivalent to an M.A. program or the RSA certificate. It shows a lack of commitment to the teaching profession. When 90% of those teaching at Suwon University were not trained teachers it confirmed Koreans prejudicial belief that only the losers, who couldn't make it in their native countries, end up teaching overseas.
Koreans contentment to simply get a foreign body in a classroom can make Korea a professionally unrewarding place to teach. Yes, there are a number of qualified teachers. I attended the KOTESOL Conference. Nevertheless, I think I'm on safe ground in stating that the mindset about qualifications permeates Korea. As for Suwon University, if you are a professional teacher, my advice is to stay away. It's strictly for backpackers.
Dear Mr Berman
I thank you for your interesting page on the Web. I am a teacher at Suwon University and as you say about Andong, there are two sides to every story. Here is the other side, and I would appreciate you placing it alongside the criticisms of Suwon U, so that readers may judge for themselves.
I am the South African of whom Richard Peters speaks in his vitriolic diatribe against Suwon University, and I take exception to the lies he tells. Firstly, I am not in my late forties but am 44. Secondly, I taught ESL to Korean and Latin American students in South Africa for an entire year before coming to Korea, so I do have exactly the qualifications which our recruitment advertisement seeks. Thirdly, I do not have a criminal record in two states for "trafficking in cocaine." I once bought a gram of cocaine in Florida, almost a decade ago, and got bust for it. Big deal. You can buy cocaine over the counter in Holland and Switzerland. Buying a gram is hardly ‘trafficking’ and it certainly is not in two states.
Furthermore, contrary to Peters’ allegations, the university DOES make a distinction between people with different degrees. People with MAs earn almost $2,500 more than people with BA degrees. Salary increases are also based on merit and not not give 'across the board'. So it is clear that much of what Peters says is a figment of his imagination. Such twisting of the truth says more about him than it says about the University of Suwon. I find what he says all the more remarkable as there was never a harsh word exchanged between us.
A striking irony about the two letters you have posted is that it is the same Richard Peters, who authored the one notice, of whom the other American writer speaks when he says that a "particular man tried to assume the position of chairperson and spokesperson for the rest of us, but we quickly learned that he was one who loved to backstab for his own personal gain with the bosses."
Therefore, I submit that when a person loves to backstab for his own personal gain, how much credit should be given to his ruminations, sour-grapes, and Korea-bashing? There is definitely ‘a pretty high rate of weirdness’ among Westerners who teach ESL in Korea and this needs to be kept in mind when reading much of what gets posted on the Net.
The other writer also speaks of the ‘woman who violated our working agreements’ etc. While this is true, it is also very old news. I have worked at Suwon University for fourteen months and the woman in question had left the department before I arrived there. So it is hardly necessary to throw ancient history up on the Web as though it is a current warning still in effect. As it happens, the ESL department at Suwon University has got way past its shaky beginnings. It now employs 26 teachers and we are looking to grow still further. The vast majority of us are career teachers with all the right qualifications and experience. Most of the teachers find the job more than tolerable and many express their interest in resigning. Some teachers I know are planning to sign for a third year, and one already has, which would indicate exactly the opposite picture from the one painted on your web-page; and the general atmosphere is one of peaceful coexistence, now that the rotten apples in the barrel have been tossed out.
I invite you to post this letter so that readers may really have some ‘updated’ news and not be fed garbage that is fifteen months out of date. Quite honestly, the University does not qualify to be under your ‘warnings’ column any longer. On the contrary, it comes highly recommended by many. You might do better to have a warning page about some of the weirdos who masquerade ESL teachers in the East.
Yours sincerely,
Anthony Tainton.