Anger Is More Productive Than Depression.
Eschewing detail for brevity feels unnatural.
I humbly present the court with the following pieces of evidence indicating that none of my superiors at school have bothered reading my contract:
1) When I arrived at my homestay, my host family had no idea whatsoever what was required by Fulbright to be provided for the ETA nor what was prohibited. I shared a room with my host brother and was asked to tutor their children.
2) When I arrived at my school, I was told that I would be teaching two days a week at a boys' high school across the street. When I informed them that this was a violation of my contract, they told me, "The previous ETA also did this. We have an arrangement with Fulbright." This arrangement did not exist. Fulbright had no knowledge that my school had violated their contract in the past and sent them a harsh reprisal and a threat to reassign me to a different school via email.
3) Two days ago my co-teacher asked me to work in a hagweon (private English school) two nights a week after classes. This means that two days a week my work day would begin at 9am and end at 8:30pm. When I declined, he brought me to the principal's office where the owner of the hagweon was sitting, and had me tell her myself that I couldn't teach at her school.
4) Today, I had a meeting with my co-teacher and principal for the first time to discuss my two week winter session class in January. Some context is required here. Fulbright gives all ETAs a winter vacation lasting from December 22nd to February 28th. We are not allowed to teach during this period, with the exception of a two week maximum winter session in January to be scheduled by the school.
My school's schedule for me is as follows:
- I am expected to teach until December 30th at the earliest.
- 10 days will be alotted for me to travel home. I must return by January 10th to teach my winter session.
- My winter session will be 3 weeks long, from January 10th to January 30th.
- I must return in mid-February to teach for a week.
Classic lines from this conversation:
"What about Christmas?"
"Oh... is that important?"
"I'm planning on going home for 14 days."
"That is too long to travel. You should come back and teach."
"But look how many days you get! 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10! Wow! That is a really long holiday!"
"I need to look at my contract and think about this."
"I order you to teach these days."
So, there's that. I become more jaded with the Korean school system, bureaucracy, and culture every day. Office relations are all facades. The "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality does not work when you have a culture based on the juxtaposition of bullying and abuse of authority with persistently trying to save face. What you get out of that is minimal favors done in exchange for unreasonable demands. Welcome to my life.
I humbly present the court with the following pieces of evidence indicating that none of my superiors at school have bothered reading my contract:
1) When I arrived at my homestay, my host family had no idea whatsoever what was required by Fulbright to be provided for the ETA nor what was prohibited. I shared a room with my host brother and was asked to tutor their children.
2) When I arrived at my school, I was told that I would be teaching two days a week at a boys' high school across the street. When I informed them that this was a violation of my contract, they told me, "The previous ETA also did this. We have an arrangement with Fulbright." This arrangement did not exist. Fulbright had no knowledge that my school had violated their contract in the past and sent them a harsh reprisal and a threat to reassign me to a different school via email.
3) Two days ago my co-teacher asked me to work in a hagweon (private English school) two nights a week after classes. This means that two days a week my work day would begin at 9am and end at 8:30pm. When I declined, he brought me to the principal's office where the owner of the hagweon was sitting, and had me tell her myself that I couldn't teach at her school.
4) Today, I had a meeting with my co-teacher and principal for the first time to discuss my two week winter session class in January. Some context is required here. Fulbright gives all ETAs a winter vacation lasting from December 22nd to February 28th. We are not allowed to teach during this period, with the exception of a two week maximum winter session in January to be scheduled by the school.
My school's schedule for me is as follows:
- I am expected to teach until December 30th at the earliest.
- 10 days will be alotted for me to travel home. I must return by January 10th to teach my winter session.
- My winter session will be 3 weeks long, from January 10th to January 30th.
- I must return in mid-February to teach for a week.
Classic lines from this conversation:
"What about Christmas?"
"Oh... is that important?"
"I'm planning on going home for 14 days."
"That is too long to travel. You should come back and teach."
"But look how many days you get! 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8.. 9.. 10! Wow! That is a really long holiday!"
"I need to look at my contract and think about this."
"I order you to teach these days."
So, there's that. I become more jaded with the Korean school system, bureaucracy, and culture every day. Office relations are all facades. The "scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality does not work when you have a culture based on the juxtaposition of bullying and abuse of authority with persistently trying to save face. What you get out of that is minimal favors done in exchange for unreasonable demands. Welcome to my life.
posted by Uzura at 7:15 AM
3 Comments:
oh jon that doesn't sound fun. especially saving face while abusing authority. do take care of yourself and eat sleep and hydrate lots k? good luck wiht all that. i hope you were able to find some break time tho it really sounds like they are attempting to exploit you and not give you such a break :( ...
i know i've been depressed and you've told me to hang in there as things will turn up, it just takes time and patience ...
well i hope you can find some calm and peace in your days ... if you need inspiration let me know ... you know how i love to inspire.
much love jon,
mary rose
hey jon,
sounds incredibly frustrating. now it's easier to understand why some koreans are so desperate to emigrate out of there.
but way to stand up for your rights! teachers have to have breaks too.
hope you have some goods to balance out the lows.
oh, that was me by the way, lisa p.
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