Korea Teaching = Prison

Working in Korea as a teacher is like being in a prison:

Unspoken rules. There are house rules (contract) and then there are fellow prisoner (Korean co-teacher) rules which seem to trump house rules (because they’ll find a way to shank you if you don’t follow their word).

Cuisine. Food is virtually the same gruel (few choices) you’ve had the whole year. Rice, kimchi, watery soup, and 2 mystery side dishes; it’s not that much better on the outside either.

Sick? Who cares, you’re in prison don’t expect anyone to care or allow you to self diagnose yourself some rest away from work, here you’re a kid again and any unexcused absenses without a doctors note will bring wrath upon you.

Age is power. Teaching is okay in Korea if you’re male and over 40 years old, because the Koreans then aren’t allowed to say/do anything negative towards you. It’s also not what you know but who you know. It’s just like being named Bubba and having a connection to a drug lord in prison.

Mind games. Korean co-teachers love these. That’s why contracts are still purposefully ambiguous even after them making them for 15+ years. They love to pull the I’m high and mighty better-than-thou speech when they know virtually nothing about how to teach English after a university degree in teaching, 5-20 years of hand’s on experience, and seeing native teachers do all the work.

Cliques. Nothing says an integrated workplace than totally ignoring the existences of the native English teacher.

Unexpected events. You won’t be warned of the courtyard brawl (numerous last minute schedule changes) you just have to be ever vigilant. Teacher dinners will come out of nowhere and you’ll be told the afternoon of the same day it’s going to occur.

Corrupt gaurds/wardens. The VP is a hard case that thinks giving the native English teacher a hard time is just part of the prison (Korean) experience. Some Korean teachers are absolutely horrendous at teaching yet keep their jobs.

Frowns. In prison (Korea) there just ain’t that much to smile about.

Oppression. Feel like you’re being mistreated? Too bad, all roads lead to “shut the fuck up and take it.”

Just to reiterate my point, here are some autocompletion suggestions from Google:

Fyi, the teachers hitting students is still fairly common. Not as bad as it used to be, as I understand, but still a common site in Korea. So common in fact, the atypical Korean teacher still walks to class with a forearm-long beating stick made of various materials. I've seen students hit with the stick, rapped with teachers knuckles, pinched, poked, hit with rulers, etc. Sometimes when students were acting especially misbehaved, I saw them being whacked forcefully and repeatedly with the stick in the teachers room. There's nothing like strong-arm tactics and fear of physical violence to strike compliance into your students. A lot of the students are desensitized to it as well. Allowing the physical violence to continue unhindered has also led to abuse of such power, as with most procedures in Korea.

This stick is used to hit students on the head, hands, butt, thighs,... you name it. It is also very common for the teachers to use it as a mallet as well; since Korean teachers believe countering noise with more noise is highly effective.