i spent 2 and a half years in korea at three different schools. based on this experience i can agree and disagrree with much that has gone before on this thread.

the truth is that korean hogwans are a short-sighted, disorganised, unprofessional, bigoted, racist and homophobic mess. teachers are white-faced babysitters and nothing more - anyone who claims different is simply wrong (or has very large rose tinted spectacles!)the schools are in it for the money and nothing more....finish the 6 month textbook in two, if they don't know it....who cares? as long as the parents can tell their mates their kids are on the next book and they've paid for it! fact!

i had the pleasure of working with a korean american director at my last school who was trying to run a genuine tefl language school....with compulsory homework, 6 month timetables and no corporal punishment etc etc.....by the end it was all about the money and the kids got beaten! you could see him turn more and more korean as the months went by!

i respect korea as a country for what it has achieved and built in the last 20-30 years....but i have absolutely no idea how it happened....maybe they need a military dictator to keep them in line? they are litte children with a very limited concentration span, and no concept of planning.

ON THE OTHER HAND the foreign teachers working in korea are in general the scum of the earth. i can count on one hand the number of "normal" foreigners i met there (and these i keep in touch with)....the losers, deviants, sickos and just plain weird people i met are uncountable. they can work nowhere else and they flock to korea for the money, the beer (or soju) and the women....how many ugly western blokes can you see with a korean ornament on their arm thinking they're god's gift? (all those loved up foreigners may make it onto my other hand....this is MY EXPERIENCE - so spare me the love stories!)

korea makes no effort to standardise hogwans, to vet foreign teachers or impose standards of any kind.....maybe they get what they deserve?

teaching in korea is not teaching, the vast majority of the teachers can't teach, the vast majority of the schools are money ventures first and foremost.....so maybe everyone should get a grip

1) mary was bang on
2) sakana was totally correct
3) alan was correct (racsism is rife)(tho he did go on a bit!)
4) michael was so full of it...he should go back to dave's where he belongs!!

and yes.....although first time i went to teach, after that it was all about the money. c'est la vie!