Unfortunately, you must not be black, or African American. The school wants a native English speaker, white, or Korean.
* Update: The ad's been changed and the above-quoted paragraph has been removed.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The school wants a native speaker; so, no blacks.
Here's a hell of a line in a job ad for a weird-ass kindergarten hagwon in Seoul's Daechi-dong.
* Update: The ad's been changed and the above-quoted paragraph has been removed.
* Update: The ad's been changed and the above-quoted paragraph has been removed.
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8 comments:
I hate this kind of crap. I immediately wrote them this letter:
Aloha...
I saw your advertisement at Work N'Play, and I thought I'd drop you a note informing you that your requirement that prospective teachers not be Black or African-American is in violation of Republic of Korea's constitution and laws governing human rights.
You may feel that this is a necessary step to appease parents who want a stereotypical White teacher, or at least an ethnic Korean kyopo, but you are doing them and the country a disservice. This kind of discrimination, so clearly available for people to see all around the world, is one of the very things that creates such a negative image of Korea.
Please change your ad and your hiring policies. Already this ad is the subject of many blogs inside and outside Korea, and no doubt many people will be checking up on this. If it is not changed within the next 48 hours, I will file a direct complaint with Work N'Play, the Sŏcho-gu Ward government, Seoul City Hall, Immigration, and most importantly, the ROK Human Rights Commission.
Mahalo for your time.
Well, I exaggerated the part about being the subject of many blogs. But it will be.
Thats impressive kushibo. Kudos to you.
Thats a very sensible response and action on your part.
Please update us with their response.
Indeed I shall. Here's what I would have liked to have written if I were less concerned about being diplomatic and actually trying to effect some action.
I wonder if this will be a one-screen diatribe or a multi-screen diatribe at Metropolitician's? ;)
How about this one?
http://www.worknplay.co.kr/jobseeker/jobSearchView.php?jobNum=184568&start=&page=6
Well that just makes sense. You already got a female, you don't want them getting mixed up where they don't belong.
It only took twenty-six minutes, but I got a response (and a mostly favorable one):
okay sorry about that, but that's just how koreans are. I will change the advertisement, though.
Of course, I couldn't let the "that's how Koreans are" part stand, so I wrote this in response:
I appreciate your willingness to change the ad. You are doing the right thing, and I know that it is difficult to deal with archaic attitudes that are based on entrenched stereotypes.
But I feel that it is wrong to brush this off with "that's just how Koreans are." For quite some time, I have worked toward doing the same thing — getting companies I do business with to accept kyopo and Black workers, so I know first hand that many Koreans are very accepting of the idea. Those that were not accepting were usually afraid of the problem that others would have if they hired a kyopo or African-American.
Again, thank you for making that change.
You guys are on your own for the other one. Maybe someone should write a stern letter to Work N Play.
Take a look at the list of the 50 short-listed candidates for "The Best Job in the World" and tell me they didn't discriminate against us average blokes and especially against those with darker skin tones.
http://www.islandreefjob.com/en/#/shortlisted-applicants
Yeah, I know it is a promotional gimmick, but they should be on the up and up about it. Too old -- don't apply. Too fat -- don't apply. Not pretty or handsome -- don't apply. Not as white as the sand -- don't apply. I just wonder how many visitors this would keep off their beaches if the same rules applied to those vacationing on these islands.
John from Daejeon
Wow--Koreans don't like blacks.
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