I appreciate Brandon's comments and I respect his opinion, but I disagree with most of what he said. It's really nothing more than the "blame the victim" mentality that is so prevelant.

1) Apparently my problems stemmed from being a bad teacher. I obviously disagree, but whether that's true or not doesn't really matter. Fact is; I was not only fired without notice, but locked out of my apartment, assaulted by the boss (and subsequently chased by said boss for 3 blocks), and had all my possessions taken by the boss. How would Brandon possibly justify that behavior? I don't care if someone is the worst teacher in the history of teaching, NO ONE deserves that treatment. I think it's ironic that during my first few months there (when I was more willing to put up with the bs and brown nose a little), I was told that I was a great teacher, and the parents were very happy with me. Now, after the fact, it's being said that I was a bad teacher all along. Your teaching ability is seemingly based on how much the owners like you personally, and nothing else. Whether you're on their good or bad side can change at a moment's notice, too.

2) Brandon failed to mention that the 2 new teachers who arrived the Monday after I left lasted 4 days before they ran away in the night. They obviously saw that this place was bs, they saw the place with their own eyes and made their own decisions. Midnight runs are common enough that they take out 600,000 won (!) as an "unpaid utility deposit" to help protect them from such occurences. I think if the bosses merely treated their employees better, and teachers weren't afraid of the reprecussions from trying to quit with notice, then they would have a better method to prevent them.

3) This is almost entirely false. I will admit to being in a clique, I hung out with the older folks because they were the only seemingly normal ones. The people I had hung out with before had become so petty and gossipy that I couldn't stand it anymore. One of them had become very passive-aggressive to me stemming from an off-hours incident that I won't go into. Another one had gone around the office and told people things that others had supposedly said about them, which were either untrue or taken out of context. When I started withdrawing from them, they took it personal and amped up their cattiness. There are schools with more laid-back and easy going people, why go here and put up with the drama?

4) There were 4 of us who arrived the same day as new teachers. Our first day in the office, no one acknowledged our presence. It was like some aliens had just been teleported to the office. It took about 10 minutes before someone finally introduced themselves to us. Subsequent teachers have had the same experience. Is this normal behavior?

5) This goes back to my original complaint of art and science. I was never told during the interview process that I would teach Art or Science. I wouldn't consider that a big deal at all, except for the fact that I was constantly berated for my students' art not being "perfect." These kids are 6!! (in Korean years) Their art cannot be "perfect" unless you do it for them- and that's exactly what they expect you to do. Brandon wasn't in all the meetings I had where I was scolded for sending home unperfect art. This happened several times, I was told I was too stupid to figure it out. I figured it out just fine, I just didn't feel like being so blatantly dishonest. One particular time, my Korean teacher took about 5 of the 12 art projects and threw them away, she then had another student draw the art for them, because I wouldn't do it (I'm pretty sure it was one student, as all the people in the pictures looked the same). She hung these art projects on the wall for their parents to see. The next day, one of the kids almost started crying, he said "I didn't draw that!" You know what, maybe their art was kinda ugly, but they're just little children, and at least it was THEIRS. The bosses wanted you to do their art for them so they could show off to the parents- "look how great our teachers are at teaching art! Pay us for another semester!" This is exactly what drove me nuts about this place. Yes, it is a business, but I don't think the pursuit of money justifies lying.

Also, he mentions "cleaning up my mess." Let I remind you that I was fired with no notice. I had everything organized my way. If I had been terminated with adequate notice, I could have shown my replacement where things were and how I did it.

6) Actually, the lying I mentioned had more to do with #5.

7) 2.1 million won is actually a mediocre wage, based on what I've seen. They'll also wait until the 10th of the next month to pay you (after the banks have closed, so essentially it's the 11th). This is poor by standards I've seen- new teachers, insist your contract state you be paid by the 5th at the latest. Yes, you only have to come in on 2 Saturdays for PT conferences, but they'll give you super short notice of it. Screw you if you have a non-refundable trip planned on your days off, booked well in advance. They notified us 2 weeks in advance of 2 possible dates for conferences. At that time, I told them about my trip, and asked if I could have mine on the second day they were considering. They lied and said they weren't considering that date after all, and it was too late to do anything about it. I complained that it wasn't adequate notice, the response I got was that some passing comment was made about conferences 4 months earlier (that no one remembers, and may have been before I arrived), and that counted as notice. This wasn't a notice for a particular date either, it was a notice that PT conferences were in June. Apparently, I was supposed to clear my calendar for the entire month of June, based on some mention of something 4 months earlier, and never repeated until 2 weeks prior. Does this sound fair or reasonable to anyone?

I'm glad he mentioned the graduation ceremony. I completely forgot to include it. That's another cluster f$#% you'll have to deal with. A couple of 20 minute skits; complete with choreographed dances, speeches, memorized songs, elaborate sets and costumes, which takes months and months of preparation; and like art, has to be PERFECT... oi... I arrived a week before the graduation ceremony, everyone seemed frazzled, stressed, and ready to kill themselves.. Just another thing to consider...

8) Brandon, if you're upset about the "abuse of LCI," then the fault lies with LCI. If I didn't have a reason to be upset, I wouldn't be posting on these sites. If hagwon owners don't want their name tarnished, then they shouldn't give people a reason to. Let's put responsibility where it belongs. LCI had a bad image around town among foreign teachers, and that was before I ever got there (is that why we were discouraged from socializing with other foreigners? Told they were all weird, and to be avoided?) I really hate the blame the victim mentality: "because this bad thing happened to you, it's obviously your fault.." Again, how are you going to justify the way I was assaulted and locked out of my apartment? By saying I was a bad teacher? In one of my posts, I mention how every time a teacher left, they were villified by the remainers as though they were Hitler. Brandon's response by attacking me and and my skills instead of addressing my points just proves this. I have Korean family, and this wasn't my first time in Korea, so it wasn't a problem with me not being able to deal with the culture. The "cultural sensitivity" thing is just a trick to guilt you into acceping poor treatment and conditions.

If you believe Brandon, and you think that he's right and I'm just bitter and out to "get them," then by all means, accept the job and see for yourself. They're desperate for teachers these days...There are things he can't argue, though: there are plenty other schools that will offer more pay, fewer hours, more vacaton time, better apartments and a better city, less deceiving contracts, and respect. Why don't you do a search and look for yourself? There are thousands of job postings for Korea. In my time travelling Korea, I NEVER met one person who worked a longer work day than I did. They always made the same wage, if not more, than I did. Search for jobs, compare them, and make your own decision.

One more thing: it seems like a lot of the LCI chains are run the same. There are blacklists of LCI schools all over the internet. Here's just one, for example- change the names and the dates, and you have an almost carbon copy of the Gwangju branch:

http://asherblack.com/jung/