Who Is That English Teacher in the Window? (OHMYNEWS)

[Analysis] Discrimination encountered by foreign language educators in Korea

They zipper their overstuffed suitcases, kiss their loved ones goodbye, and take off on a plane for what may very well be the journey of a lifetime: teaching English in Korea.

If only it were that simple.

The complications that come with teaching English in a foreign country are numerous. From arranging one's housing, to overcoming language barriers, to adapting to a new environment and cuisine, to learning how to navigate a fresh cityscape, the challenges can seem daunting from the get go. But in Korea, two other problems complicate the smooth integration of foreign educators in Korean society: discrimination in the hiring of English teachers and new E-2 visa restrictions. The two topics are often treated separately through online forums or newspaper editorials, but in reality both are inextricably intertwined.

Take for instance my friend who came to Korea to teach English with his significant other. Both were hired through a recruiter, which meant that the entire hiring process was handled by a middleman. On multiple occasions during job interviews with schools in Seoul and with their recruiter, all parties involved wanted to make sure that the two men were 'just friends.' Essentially, they were put in a position where they had to lie about the nature of their relationship in order to secure jobs. The discriminatory sentiments have continued in the workplace, and although no one overtly asks about the nature of their relationship, these men feel they have no legal protections if they were to be "outed" and consequently fired.

Another friend of mine was fired from her first teaching job after she complained to her boss about her 13-hour workday. As a "tall, white, female," she was easily able to find a job with another school that offered more reasonable hours. She observed that many schools tend to prefer white, female teachers to men, who many school officials now associate with perversity and highly-publicized media scandals. She has also heard of foreign teachers being turned away by hiring officials at Incheon Airport if they appeared to be "too big" or overweight for the recruiters or school officials.

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NVDL: Having taught in Korea for 4 years, I can certainly attest to the discrimination going on there. I felt discriminated against, not in terms of getting work, just a lot of unpleasant attention and name-calling in Korea, in public, because I was bald. Sometimes quite funny, sometimes quite hurtful. More to the point, the Koreans as a general rule prefer not to hire black people to teach English (with a few exceptions). They also avoid employing overweight people, or people who look (to their eyes) 'too old'.

In some ways this is understandable. It's understandable because Korea is an intensely homogeneous society. All their people look virtually identical, so to some, westerners can appear quite frightening at first glance. Some small children burst into tears when they encounter us western monsters for the first time. This is changing, but slowly.

I encountered discrimination all the time for simply being South African. They could not believe we speak English in South Africa, or have any education to begin with. This is not as odd a concept as it may appear. Remember, Korea has grown phenomenally to become the 11th biggest economy in the world (with a population the size of South Africa, but 1/1oth SA's landmass, and none of our mineral resources). This being the case, why would they want to educate their people from an apparently 'backwoods' country? The answer is, of course, many South Africans are highly proficient at English, and in many cases, the average middle class person in South Africa has a better command and can spell, and read and write better than the average middle class American.

Another odd thing: white women in Korea are generally stereotyped as Russian prostitutes, and white men, as American teachers. It is a whimsical, but sometimes infuriating country.

Study claims children make you miserable

The patter of tiny feet has long been thought of as the key to happiness.

But according to a study, having children makes men less satisfied with their life, while women only enjoy motherhood once their offspring are old enough to be packed off to school.

Between the ages of three and five, children were found to make mothers less satisfied with life, while being the father of a child under five "significantly reduces" life satisfaction.

Women with children aged five to 15, though, were happier than those who did not have children.

However, even children of school age brought no increase or decrease in happiness for men.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Social & Economic Research in Colchester, surveyed nearly 4,000 cohabiting or married couples between 1996 and 2003.

It examined people's job satisfaction, work status, lifestyle situation and work-life balance.

A further key finding was that women with children were significantly happier with life if they had a job, regardless of the hours involved, whereas partnered men were happiest when they worked full-time without overtime.

But mothers who worked longer hours rated their "job satisfaction" to be lower than those who worked fewer hours.

The team's findings also showed that the life satisfaction of women without children was unaffected by their working hours.

Professor blues Alison Booth of Essex University, co-author of the study, said she believed the findings reflected the balancing act that many parents had to play between work and family.

She added that the financial drain of having children could be an extra burden.

She said: "My guess is that it is a struggle for them actually to balance all the things that they have to do."

"It will be very interesting in a few years' time when the new policies on pre-school child care have filtered through to see how these households' life satisfaction is affected."

By GWYNETH REES from The Daily Mail

NVDL: Ummm...teaching kids, especially in South Africa is a goddamn nightmare. Overseas, in Korea it was more fun; more about the actual idea - imparting knowledge, learning from your students and hopefully giving them something. Some of it I enjoyed. But after all that, I had very strong sense that due to the schlepp and the sheer amounts of headaches you get from the worst brats, you might as well save yourself for yourown kids, and do your best - give your best - to them. You're gonna need all your resources for them, so why use them up on someone elses kids?

That said, I have an idea I'm going to enjoy being a dad. Except, there's a bit of worry in my eye. I think I'll give it a few more months. Make it years...;-)