"The Independent Registry of Schools in Korea" doesn't survive diminished interest, threat of legal action.

Tagging on to what's been a busy summer for native speaker English teachers, earlier in the month I received a few emails about blacklists in Korea, one of which pointed out that the Independent Registry of Schools in Korea, which had reviews of public schools and their teachers written by native speaker English teachers, was shut down. From their Facebook page on June 23:

The website has been shut down, however information will still be shared here.

On July 11:

For many reasons, but it mainly boils down to the threat of legal action against the founder, threats against those that were reporters and even against people who haven't even yet reported.

And July 14:

I had servers set up in the U.S., however it still contained one major flaw; any person posting negative comments against a hagwon or public school would cast suspicion on any current employees. The owner, (or principal) wouldn't be able to... determine who the reporter was, thus taking it out on current employees.

Additionally, although the IRSK had a lot of support in the beginning, it trailed off, and we were only getting one or two posts a month after the second month. This concept only works if we are getting posts everyday. If we were getting posts everyday, a dedicated staff, paid or committed volunteers would need to be put in place, something that would require great logistical planning and funds.

I had a very small staff of volunteers, however their abilities were limited due to a lack of training and communication. A problem often encountered by organizations such as this. Pan-national, and of people only partially interested in the cause.

I wrote about the site for the first and only time on January 1, 2010, after it received some attention in the Korea Times on the heels of a government plan to create a blacklist of "incompetent" foreign teachers. From the Times:

A group of native English teachers are organizing themselves to come up with a blacklist of schools that they say don't treat teachers fairly.

According to the Web site of the Independent Registry of Schools in Korea (IRSK), the organization was created by Charles Hill and some other foreign teachers working in public schools here to rate schools in Korea.

The Web site says, "If you are considering employment in Korea at a public school, please visit our 'Watch List' page first before accepting any offers, to ensure you won't end up working for a school that has earned a negative reputation for acts done to foreigners previously employed at that school."

I made Charles Hill cranky on his Facebook page when I wrote in my post:

[. . .] I'm pretty sure Hill, or somebody else with the group, simply fed the link to the paper and they ran with in order to make the objections to the evaluations seem more pro-active and aggressive. No disrespect intended, but who is Charles Hill? Not that everybody in the paper has to be vetted by the blogosphere, but I've never heard of him, I couldn't find his site until I did some sleuthing on Facebook, and I wonder why it gets more attention than the very valid objections raised in my last post and especially in the comment section.

My point was, and is, that there's more to the issue of native speaker English teacher evaluations and blacklists of "incompetent" teachers---see here and here---than what amounts to a press release, and that if a reporter was going to cover the NSET perspective I would have appreciated some mention of the issues already being discussed and debated at length.

I was also skeptical of the usefulness of the IRSK, given not only the propensity for strong bias on blacklists and review sites, but the high turnover among teachers and administrators in public schools. From my January post:

I think it would work better for hagwon, because teachers going into public schools often don't know where they'll be placed until they get there. Additionally, co-teachers, coworkers, and principals are rotated in and out often enough to change the culture of the school from year to year, limiting the usefulness of single-school evaluations. It would probably be better to collect evaluations about provincial and city school boards---such as of Jeollanam-do or Suncheon---because the actions of a particular school are usually dictated by that central body.

Knowing how much time a website demands, and how challenging it is to stay afloat with each new generation---new intake---of foreign teachers each semester, I'm not surprised the site didn't maintain its momentum.

Nonetheless I'm intrigued, and disappointed, by the idea that the site and its users were targeted for potential legal action. From a Facebook post on June 11:

Recently a number of hagwon owners have launched a campaign of fear against those that have filed reports with the IRSK. We at the IRSK want you to know ~ your information is safe with us. We never store information on computers in South Korea ~ so everything is outside the jurisdiction of the courts and the greasy hands of hagwon owners!

The possibility of legal action was always there---and, again, mentioned in my January post---given South Korea's libel laws, and provides yet another example of teachers being prevented from expressing their opinion in public. There are several other blacklists out there, with more coming and going all the time, though the anonymity of them and, again the high turnover of personnel at schools and academies really limit their usefulness to potential employees.

Talk of new visa regulations for foreign English teachers.

Same news, different day from lawmaker Choi Young-hee and the Korea Times:

A lawmaker called for stricter visa regulations for native English teachers in a bid to root out sexual violence and harassment of minors.

Rep. Choi Young-hee of the main opposition Democratic Party said that education authorities should better screen E-2 or English teaching visa holders for drug use and past criminal records.

The lawmaker proposed a bill last year that would subject native English teachers to a stricter screening process when they are recruited but the bill is still pending at the National Assembly. She said the bill should be passed as soon as possible.

"With the government's English immersion programs, the demand for native English speakers is increasing, but there is no system to screen out inappropriate teachers and properly manage them," she said.

We first read about Choi's proposed laws last fall, via Gusts of Popular Feeling. They're back in the news now after a teacher suspected of molesting students fled to Japan.

I'm not defending that teacher, and I'm not suggesting---like some have---that looking critically at regulations means I consider the reputation of foreign male English teachers more important than the safety of Korean children. However, as we have come to expect from Choi and reporter Kang Shin-who, there is conflation at work:

Choi pointed out that teachers committing sex crimes have been subject to rather lighter punishment and some of them were able to obtain teaching positions again at other schools or private language institutes, which are called hagwon in Korea.

"The bill is aimed at closing loopholes in current regulations involving E-2 visa holders," she said. "By obliging them to present criminal and drug test results that were issued less than one month from when they apply for teaching positions, schools and hagwon will be able to exclude native English speakers who were caught for taking drugs or sexually harassing children."

Teachers committing sex crimes have indeed been subject to lighter punishment, though these teachers have been Korean. This story from last April comes quickly to mind:

A temporary teacher at a middle school in North Chungcheong Province was arrested for raping and molesting female teenagers, police said Wednesday. He had previously been convicted on seven counts of sexual assault and other crimes.

Police said the contract-based teacher, identified as Min, sexually assaulted an unidentified middle school student in February at a motel in the province. Police said the student was a runaway at the time and the 31-year-old approached her, saying he would rent a motel room to be used as a temporary ``shelter.''

He is also accused of molesting another teenage girl at a karaoke bar the following month, police said.
Police are widening their investigation to find out whether he committed other crimes.

Currently, criminal records of those sentenced to less than three years in prison are removed after five years. As such, schools can't always ascertain the criminal record of would-be teachers.

But more to the point, this from the Korea Times in October:

Teachers committing sexual crimes have been let off with just light punishments, Rep. Choi Young-hee of the Democratic Party said Thursday.

A total of 124 sexual crimes involving elementary and secondary school teachers were reported to the education authorities between 2006 and 2009. Among them, 47 involved prostitution, 43 were sexual harassment and five were rape cases.

However, only eight teachers (6 percent) were given prison sentences, while 31 were not indicted and 28 received suspended sentences.

``It seems that teachers were exempt from punishment through out-of-court settlements with the parents of the victims,'' Rep Choi said.

``Moreover, each city and provincial education offices, which were supposed to strictly punish those teachers, gave only verbal warnings. Only 21 teachers were fired for sexual violence.''

According to data collected by the lawmaker, nearly 60 percent of the assailants were merely warned or reprimanded.

And here's some more conflation of foreign English teachers and sex crimes, with some local papers taking the opportunity to use "brutal sex crimes" and foreigners in the same paragraph.

Choi's proposals are actually talking about increased checks for Korean teachers as well, though you wouldn't know it from an article looking only at foreign ones. One has to wonder what the specific "loopholes in current regulations involving E-2 visa holders" are, considering teachers already submit criminal background checks and are subject to degree verifications, and have been doing so for years. We've read about "loopholes" several times in the past two years, pertaining to ethnic Koreans or English teachers on other visas not subject to the same background checks, though I'm not sure of any specifically relating to E-2 visa holders and sex crimes.

Talk on Dave's ESL Cafe indicates there are some changes to the E-2 visa process on the way, specifically regarding federal background checks from the United States, though there is no consensus yet on what those changes are or when they will take effect. And in the Korea Times today is news of more drug tests aimed at prospective teachers:

The Korean government's move to add new drug tests for an English teaching or E-2 visa is drawing protests from foreign teachers.

From this Thursday, those who want to obtain the visa should receive an additional "cannabinoids" drug tests, which detects marijuana, on top of a "TBPE," the Ministry of Justice said.

Haeundae motels (해운대모텔).

Where to stay in Busan comes up from time to time on the forums, and I've answered a few emails about places to stay near Haeundae beach. For the benefit of other readers, and of Google, here are some options.

You may already know, from the posts in my "motels and hotels" category, that I'm a big fan of love motels and what might be called boutique hotels if they didn't rent rooms in two-hour blocks. There are plenty of hotel options along the beach---Westin Chosun, Novotel, 등---and you've probably learned that an English-language search will bring them up.

You probably also know, from experience or from reading here, that motels often don't turn up in English-language searches and that a nice motel room will cost half or one-third what a hotel room will, and that your motel room will often have nicer stuff. There are times when you want to pay for the view---rooms are between 420,000 and 8,000,000 won per night at the Westin, and between 300,000 and 4,000,000 at the Novotel---but there are other times when one of the dozens of motels between the beach and the eponymous subway station will be just fine.

For people who want to preview rooms before walking out of Exit 5 of Haeundae Station, a Naver search turns up 159 motels in Haeundae-gu, many of which are between the beach and the subway station. Before we take a quick look at a few online, I will mention that when you do come out of Haeundae Station and start scouting motel options, a lot of the newer ones will have pictures at the entrance and will hang a banner, in Korean, describing the rooms' features: large TV, big bed, jacuzzi, PlayStation, internet, 등. Beneath the fold are a few of what look to be the better ones.

Family of English teacher killed by bus driver to be compensated based on projected income in US.

An interesting ruling after the death of an English teacher in 2007:

If an American English teacher died in a traffic accident here, would the compensation be based on his or her future income here or in their home country? The nation's high court ruled Tuesday that it is in the United States.

The Seoul High Court ordered Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance to pay 869 million won in damages to the teacher's family, saying the payment should be calculated based on his projected earnings as a school teacher in the U.S., even though he was working here at the time of the death.

. . .

The English teacher, who had a masters degree in education, was riding a motorcycle in December 2007 when he was hit by a bus that crossed a three-way intersection, running a red light, in southern Seoul. His teaching contract expired in July the following year.

Korea exporting English test to China.

A Korean-made English test will be used in China from November, writes the Korea Times. After some deliberation I've decided the joke to use will be "how are Chinese students expected to take an English test entirely in Korean?" Because English tests in Korea are often entirely in Korean, and because jokes are funnier when they're explained.

Here's the test's website, a Kang Shin-who article about early implementation, and a post from last fall about Korea's attempts to replace foreign English tests with domestic ones and to have them recognized by international schools.

On native speaker English teacher evaluations.

When I become middle-aged and washed-up I think I'll put out a collection of B-sides as a way to make money. Those would be all the half-finished posts I didn't publish, articles I never saw through, and links I never got around to sharing.

One of those B-sides is a column I was working on for the Korea Herald last winter about native speaker English teacher evaluations. It was my busiest couple months in Korea, and between classes, immigration issues, repatriation, and visa paperwork, I ended up leaving Korea before I came close to finishing the piece.

JoongAng Daily talks with Dr. John Linton.

The JoongAng Daily talked with Dr. John Linton, director of the International Health Care Center at Severance Hospital and descendant of some of the first Americans to live in Suncheon and Jeollanam-do.

John Linton was born and raised in Suncheon. In his office at Severance Hospital, hangs a picture of him and his friends, looking mischievous with dirt on their faces. “These are my friends. I still keep in touch with them. They give me comfort,” said Linton. He talks in the southwestern regional dialect to people back home. That is how comfortable he feels with them. He claims that his hometown Suncheon is the center of the universe.

Linton is a fourth generation descendent of Eugene Bell (1868-1925), the first U.S. missionary who came to southwest Korea in 1895. Linton’s grandfather was William Linton, who founded Hannam University in Daejeon, and became a son-in-law of Bell. The Bell and Linton families since then have worked closely together in Korea in various fields, including education, missionary work and medical services. The families established the Eugene Bell Foundation to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bell’s missionary work in 1995. Linton and his brother have followed in the family’s footsteps by providing medical services to North Korea to eradicate diseases such as tuberculosis.

Gwangju Homestay, and staying in Gwangju.

A recent post on KoreaMaria reminded me of the Gwangju Homestay program through the Gwangju International Center, and that I intended to mention it on my blog when I heard about it this winter. It could be an intriguing option for people looking to spend a couple days in Gwangju and Jeollanam-do, and I'd be interested to hear reviews of it or other homestay programs in Korea.

In her post KoreaMaria also brings up good points regarding the lack of quality accommodation in Gwangju and what that means for its aspirations to be a "Hub City of Asian Culture":

What conventioneer (for example, someone invited to present or come to the September Asia Culture Forum - another brain child of Gwangju city - have it during the week - what a great idea! doh!) will spend the time (Gwangju is NOT a hub, it is a backwater, it takes forever to get here) and money when there is probably a better opportunity to share or educate themselves in some place like London, Tokyo or even - heinous for me to say it, Seoul which has several price ranges for accommodations, better transportation systems, and wider array and quality of things to do.

I love Gwangju, but it has little to offer if it wants to be included in a Zagat guide or as the "Hub of Asia". I am all for a better economy and a reverse of the brain drain that occurs in marginalized communities like Gwangju. But I do have my feet on the ground. Why can't Gwangju just be Gwangju - freedom fighters, artists, and foodies all?

Last year I received an email from an Australian man looking for "budget accommodation" for his family attending the 2010 World Paralympic Table Tennis Championships, to be held in Gwangju from October 25th through November 3rd. While I've always championed love motels over more expensive tourist hotels, it occurred to me then that about the only place in this city of over one million people, and with even bigger ambitions, that could conceivably meet his expectations as a foreign visitor and a traveller with special needs would be the Ramada, where rooms start at 171,000 won per night.