It's a good thing the backpackers are a dime a dozen. A typical hogwan will go through about a dozen in a year. Yes, this is because the backpackers don't care, sure. But it's also because of the students. Students I've taught so far, from grade school to college, are spoiled brats who couldn't care less about learning English. Who wants to teach these kinds of students? No one with a decent teaching DEGREE does, or the 'wans wouldn't have to rely on the 'packer crowd to begin with. Thank goodness for the TESOL mills (or the makers of fake certificates), in other words.

Yes, there will always be a demand for the tourist/teacher you speak of. Who else is gonna teach TESOL? Holders of Harvard masters degrees in education who want 4000-dollar-a-week jobs? Yeah, right.

If schools like Korean hogwans want better teachers, they can start by giving those teachers better students who want to learn. Much better pay would help, too.