...disgruntled 12-year-old student who requested *anonymity said, “I can’t believe my parents are working hard to send me to an English hagwon where a teacher could possibly be a drug user.” Another student said that she wishes the government would do a thorough background check on native English teachers prior to granting employment.
Today a reader has passed along the full text of the article. Direct your complaints to the writer, Yoo Bo-lam at bolamyoo@heraldm.com, or the editor at jherald@heraldm.com.
On May 8, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (서울경찰청) announced that they have *arrested a 38-year-old Nigerian English teacher on charges of supplying illegal drugs to teachers. On top of that, six other native English teachers were charged with *habitual illegal drug consumption.
Of the six teachers, three were Canadians, two were Americans, and one was a New Zealander.
The teachers have been teaching English at elementary schools or famous English hagwons in Seoul.
According to the police, the Nigerian teacher sold *hashish since the end of last year. The six teachers are suspected of having smoked hashish five to nine times at home and bars in Itaewon. Shockingly, some of them took drugs late at night and went to work and taught classes while they were intoxicated.
A *disgruntled 12-year-old student who requested *anonymity said, “I can’t believe my parents are working hard to send me to an English hagwon where a teacher could possibly be a drug user.”
Another student said that she wishes the government would do a thorough background check on native English teachers prior to granting employment.
The police believe that there could be more drug users among native English teachers in Korea. So they will continue to *probe the case.
The words with an asterisk are ones accompanied by a Korean translation.
22 comments:
I ask this as a serious question: Even if every single crime by any English teacher were to be front page news in every Korean paper, in what way does this affect or has this affected you as an individual, besides the drug testing thing?
I'm not asking rhetorically to say there is nothing real coming from it, but I wonder what, if anything, it actually is.
Kushibo - do you really need the answer to this question explaining to you, or are you being facetious? If it is the former, then perhaps you are not quite ready to be out in society - mixing with adults and voting and such - just yet.
It is a serious question, which is why I called it "a serious question." Set aside the personal attacks and answer the question.
Have you been denied employment? Have you been refused service at a restaurant? Has a girl's father prevented you from dating his daughter because you might be a drug user? Are taxis not picking you up?
Judging by your response, you seem to be convinced that this does affect you on a personal level, so I am asking you to articulate in what it has affected you personally. How is your life different than if no drug crimes by English teachers were publicized in the media.
I suspect you are quite well aware of the answer to your own question, Kushibo, but I shall humour you, because I'm so very nice. The result of the tendentious reporting of 'foreigner crimes' may not be so palpable and insipid as simply being refused restaurant service, but is all the more insidious for it. It takes the form of prejudicing general opinion against a highly visible 'other', and therefore means that opportunities for greater social integration (a wider variety of jobs, less restrictive visa conditions, etc) are not offered and then denied but never offered in the first place. If you want the result of prejudice to be spelled out in simple gestures of services denied and romances thwarted, then I'm afraid you'll have to go back to whatever melodrama you assume it is that constitutes reality. as long as the Korean press are permitted to treat foreigners as a target group worthy of a special magnitude and quantity of attention, then integration and equality will remain a long way off.
Stevie Bee wrote:
I suspect you are quite well aware of the answer to your own question, Kushibo, but I shall humour you, because I'm so very nice.
No, I am not aware. I have a sneaking suspicion that paranoid minds are making a mountain out of a molehill. There's a lack of logic to a lot of this stuff and I'm beginning to think someone should call b.s. on it.
So I'm asking if there is something tangible or palpable — on the possibility that my suspicion is wrong — and it appears there isn't any.
So you're afraid of a general reputation equating being a foreign teacher with drug use will cause you not to get work offered to you in the future? That's a fair statement, although I think if someone did an analysis of it, it wouldn't hold up. Long before the E2s-as-druggies meme became "popular," E2s without the educational background to do something other than E2-type work were not getting other than E2-type work. But increasingly, particularly after 1997-98, more opportunities opened up and they continue to open up.
But if you really are concerned about the overall damage of reputation, why oppose drug testing if drug testing will absolve one of such accusations? Why oppose efforts to clean up the anything-goes atmosphere that even other foreigners perceive among the English teachers?
Maybe you're one of the people who supports drug testing, even if it starts only with the E2s, and if so, then we are in agreement.
The result of the tendentious reporting of 'foreigner crimes' may not be so palpable and insipid as simply being refused restaurant service, but is all the more insidious for it.
Hold on a minute. Should the press not report drug arrests? One purpose of punishment is deterrence, particularly through publicity, which, judging by the parade of Canadians and Americans who keep getting arrested, perhaps needs to be stepped up. Should they stop publicizing the fact that you can get arrested and the punishment can be jail time or deportation?
Korean media focuses on two types of extraordinary drug use: celebrities and teachers. Both are seen as violating a public trust, but the E2 brigade seems to see it as xenophobic smears. Geez, it's not like they print every drug arrest (I know first hand that they don't), so what is the complaint?
Your real complaint is with your fellow English teachers who get their drug-addled asses arrested for smoking pot!
Stop turning this into a poor-persecuted-we thing. You know what it reminds me of? My classmates back in Compton. For the purposes of this discussion, they fall into two categories: the ones who wanted to get ahead and the ones who blamed all their failures on The Man. The Man always trying to keep a n----- down.
Never mind that some of them dropped out of school, engaged in illegal activities, couldn't put together an articulate sentence to save their life, read only the sports section of the paper, and/or quit whatever job when it got too tough, it was always The Man keepin' 'em down.
The ones I know who got out of Compton were the ones who were just the opposite: stayed in school, kept their nose clean and to the grindstone, listened to NPR, read the front page every frickin' day, and learned how to talk like the educated people they were.
Sure, both groups would get stopped for driving while Black, but the latter didn't let some peckerwood cop commuting in from Ventura County define their existence.
All this whining puts you in category A. Get over yourself. Drug arrests of pot-smoking English teachers are only one thing in the paper on any given day. There's a whole hell of a lot else that's probably more important.
Almost no Korean is following these stories as closely as anyone in the K-blogs.
It takes the form of prejudicing general opinion against a highly visible 'other', and therefore means that opportunities for greater social integration (a wider variety of jobs, less restrictive visa conditions, etc)
In the time I've lived in Korea off and on since I was a teenager, I've seen visa regulations get waaaaaaay less restrictive. And you know what, I see abuse of process. Prior to the six-month tourist visa for Canadians, English teaching was a very different place. It is now a slacker magnet, and if you're serious about teaching, you would want those stricter regulations. If you peeing into a cup gets you in the door but prevents some stonehenge from getting a visa, you should thank your lucky stars that that's how it's going down.
as long as the Korean press are permitted to treat foreigners as a target group worthy of a special magnitude and quantity of attention,
What b.s.! You have catapulted into a position that (until recently) has been revered in Korean society for centuries, all because you speak your native tongue and have a bachelor's degree. Your efforts to try be a better teacher or to get a better job are being thwarted by your own countrymen who toke up while in the ROK.
But let's take a look at your contention that excessive or undue negative attention is being put on you and your cohorts.
For shits and giggles, I did a Naver News search for "한국 + 외국인 + 마약" and compared it to a search of just "한국 + 외국인." The 1084 articles in the first group today is less than four-tenths of one percent of the 288,573 articles listed today in the second group (i.e., minus the 마약).
For every single article mentioning foreigners and drugs and Korea, there are 250 mentioning foreigners and Korea. Some of those, no doubt, are about some other negative issue, but the drug connection is not the overwhelming impression the press is giving.
then integration and equality will remain a long way off.
You are a guest worker. That in and of itself implies an unequal position. If you want equality, wait a few years and get Korean citizenship.
Who's complaining? You asked, you got. I'm not really prepared to get into an extended debate with you about it because from your lengthy response above it's clear that a) you already have a highly developed and antagonistic agenda based on a range of prejudices and reactionary opinions, and b) you're a bit of prick. Maybe someone else can pick up my slack and you can duke it out with them instead.
Oh, and I'm not an English teacher, by the way, and nor am I drug-addled, though I concede that the chance would indeed be a fine thing.
Just as I thought. There's really no there there. But please, everyone, go on complaining about how The Man is keeping you down.
it's clear that a) you already have a highly developed and antagonistic agenda based on a range of prejudices and reactionary opinions, and b) you're a bit of prick.
Here's a taste of my "prejudices."
In fact, I have great respect for hard-working English teachers, and I have done a lot of work to help out such people, thank you very much. And the primary reason I rail at this bogus victim mentality is that I think this collective persecution complex is highly detrimental to the community.
As for being a prick, I'm a first-class prick. But that doesn't make the oh-we're-being-picked-on-in-the-media complaints any less whiney or any more cogent.
I think its either guilt or paranoia. If you are not a drug user, and you think you are doing well as a teacher, then you can probably just ignore things/stories like this. Whats the point of playing defense? Perceived xenophobia (as well as social discrimination) exists almost everywhere,exaggerated by foreigners themselves in some cases.
I think generally Koreans care more about Dokdo, baseball, soccer, local politics, their insecurities against Japan etc than the negative publicities about NSETs.
So just relax and enjoy your stay
So if you don't want to be treated like a criminal, it must be because you're doing something wrong? Is that a fair summation of the first part of your comment?
What's wrong with teaching after smoking pot the night before? Are you going to grow horns and tear the children's heads off? Are you going to incorrectly conjugate a verb? Stop propagating these lies about weed. It doesn't make you a threat to children, it doesn't interfere with your ability to teach English and it isn't dangerous. Korea should lighten up. You reactionaries love being in Korea, because the Koreans are just as uptight as you are. It's a match made in hell: Koreans with enormous craniums believing everything they read and American geeks filing their heads up with lies.
Wow. Mr. Kushibo went from reasonably entertaining blogger to complete internet troll in just a few weeks.
@SB
"So if you don't want to be treated like a criminal, it must be because you're doing something wrong?"
- Not exactly. Im referring to guilt in general (maybe because you know others are doing it, or it does exist and not just smear campaign against foreigners) and personal guilt (maybe because you are doing it). Then paranoia follows (maybe because of twisted, biased, subjective assessment of the world around you). The idea is, if the news is not in any way true/accurate as far as your knowledge of yourself is concerned, so just relax, do your job and enjoy thereafter.
Actually i dont understand why some NSETs are claiming that they are being treated as criminals (isn't that word too exaggerated or an over reaction?) because of negative publicities about them in general? Thinking that news articles like this will add to the notion that all NSETs are potheads?
Isn't it that many of the expats here (also) have a twisted biased perception as to how Koreans or other Nationalities perhaps act in general too (ive seen more than a dozen of blogs, hundreds of comments that says so.)?
So its an eye for an eye scenario. Paranoia is almost always associated with guilt.
@arvinsign
That's rather a stupid thing to say. Reacting against the negative, prejudicial or patronising portrayal of a group within the larger community is neither a sign of guilt nor paranoia. It is more a sign of a willingness to take some degree of community responsibility. I am also opposed to the countless humiliating and self-serving They-Don't-Half-Love-Our-Kimchi, Let's-Laugh-At-Whitey-In-a-Hanbok pieces too. Does that make me guilty of secretly liking kimchi?
Please take a quiet five minutes on your own to think about your previous comment and then come back here an retract it. Thanks.
@SB
"That's rather a stupid thing to say. Reacting against the negative, prejudicial or patronising portrayal of a group within the larger community is neither a sign of guilt nor paranoia"
- Thats your opinion. Should i bite on it? No. I have my own, if you think mine or expressing it here is stupid, then the feeling is mutual.
"Please take a quiet five minutes on your own to think about your previous comment and then come back here an retract it. Thanks"
- Well sorry but i will not. provide some factual basis, statistics, references and then probably I'll consider. I dont submit myself (easily)to personal opinions of others.
kushibo, I'll get to your question later (maybe this evening). It requires a long answer.
Regarding the other comments, I will say that we should of course be upset with the teachers who decide to buy and sell drugs in Korea in the first place. I'm not going to rehash (sorry) the first debate we had on using marijuana, but will just say that these people should know better, and whether or not they care, they do give all of us a bad reputation because it plays into a stereotype many Koreans hold. Here's a generalization: Many Koreans believe some foreigner teachers do drugs . . . does that make sense?
The Koreans smoked marijuana since time eternal, until the Americans pressured them to make it illegal to probp up alcohol as the intoxicant of choice. Worked gangbusters judging by the smell of the subway every night after 7 pm.
The whole things is silly from its very foundation. To even class marijuana as a drug to be feared like cocaine, heroin, or eminently more destructive, alcohol, just shows that we are still a primitive mass, willing to take a bite of whatever PR is fed to us.
@ Brian
Thats nice. And yeah, it does make sense.
There are so many nice foreigners (NSETs and others) all around Korea. There are those spending time at the orphanage, doing some charity and volunteer work (making themselves useful to the community) etc.
But my big question is what is the best way to address the problem of negatively stereotyping the whole against the work of so few (e.g. drugs) ? Is it by defense? or are there other ways? I really dont think we can convince the hard headed Koreans by simply refuting all these bad reports or sending complaints to anyone who writes anything about it. Thats my point.
And a fair point it is. There really is little the foreign community can do to change perception. That can only be done by the Koreans i.e. the media and the leadership.
Vilifying "others" is still the game of choice among leaders worldwide --be it American republicans with immigrants or Roh Moo-hyun riding into office on rabid anti-Americanism.
I suppose we could put out some more photos of us foreigners smiling and looking joyous while we make Kim Chi, dressed in Hanboks and speaking Korean, but aside of that, the weed of the few, will outweigh the pleads of the many.
@arvinsign
"- Well sorry but i will not. provide some factual basis, statistics, references and then probably I'll consider. I dont submit myself (easily)to personal opinions of others."
As it was you that originally made the assertion that objecting to the negative portrayal of foreigners is the result of either guilt or paranoia, I believe the onus is upon YOU to back it up with 'some factual basis'.
@kushibo
I apologize for my earlier post in which I referred to you as "as bit of prick". This was inaccurate of me and I hope you will excuse my error. Obviously, what I meant was that I think that you are "a bit of a prick". My sincerest apologies for any confusion that my hasteful typo may have caused.
@SB
"As it was you that originally made the assertion that objecting to the negative portrayal of foreigners is the result of either guilt or paranoia, I believe the onus is upon YOU to back it up with 'some factual basis'."
-- I dont know what is your actual grasp of my comment. I expressed my opinion on the matter, and there it was.
-- Unlike you, i didn't asked that your opinion or expressing it here is stupid.
-- I didn't asked you to change your views and accept mine. Or did I?
-- So why do i need to support my statement with references or any factual basis? Am i too assertive? Or you just felt i am for whatever reason.
I will say that we should of course be upset with the teachers who decide to buy and sell drugs in Korea in the first place
Why? You are not a police officer. Live and let live.
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