Why No Change?

Why hasn’t it been fixed? Why do the horror stories continue?

The current system benefits the Korean English teacher. They get held in high regard for ‘helping’ to provide the English education to Korea’s children that it desperately wants. They don’t want anyone to see the dark underbelly, what happens behind closed doors. Native teachers don’t ask for unfair advantage, they ask for transparency. Even just saying things upfront without withholding issues until the last minute would be a step in the right direction. Native teachers want what they were promised.

The schools retain ‘power’ over the native English teachers under the grossly false assumption that they will use their leeway for the greater good. The native teachers remain ‘powerless’ against the machine that whispers, “this is how it’s done at all the schools, this is how it will always be done.” We, the native English teachers either submit to their gross negligence or become an unwitting foe to their machinations.

Where do you turn to when you want to change any part of it? What is your lifeline when you want to speak out about the oppression? The Ministry of Education (MOE)? GEPIK / EPIC / SMOE? The school? Your Korean co-teachers? All of the above? They don’t want to change, they fear change. Right now, they’re cozy; they might actually have to do what they’re supposed to for the first time ever. They’ll try to shut you up, cover up anything that makes them seem dysfunctional. They don’t want to look bad or appear to not be able to handle their subordinates in front of their superiors. They want to pretend that everything is fine and dandy.

After each semester, I was asked to submit the lesson plans/worksheets/etc that I had used to teach. I refused – I lost them spontaneously. It wasn’t in the contract that I had to submit ‘my’ ideas/lesson plans to some unknown source (possibly the MOE) for them to do who knows what with it. I wouldn’t just hand over my stuff to Korean co-teacher for them to hoard and later pretend was their own creation. I wouldn’t roll over and play dumb to their flawed system in which corruption was a way of life.

I’m pretty sure the Korean co-teachers submitted something because they had to, which had nothing to do with what I actually taught. But, that’s how it goes here, if things aren’t right, make it seem right on the surface. It’s a common motif in Korea to pretend the problems don’t exist. Korean people are happy in the illusion that their kids are getting the ‘best’ education. The public knows virtually nothing about what actually occurs in the classroom. Even if they did see a demonstration, it has almost no real bearing on what actually occurs from day to day.

No one wants to admit they aren’t capable of doing their job correctly. With billions of USD spent and almost 20 years of trying, Korea had better have results. The education system mirrors the human stem cell research disaster that occurred in 2005.

Results are wanted so badly, at any cost, in Korea that the head of the stem cell research in Korea thought it prudent to fake stem cell research results favorably so that he could bring fame and large funding his way. Even before this horrendous situation was brought to light, the Korean government’s stance as said by the 16th President of Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, "it is not possible nor desirable to prohibit research, just because there are concerns that it may lead to a direction that is deemed unethical." This still mantra holds true in every facet of Korean society.

There is no reason to stop, or fix, the English education program even if it is unethical.