ID :
175538
Fri, 04/15/2011 - 04:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/175538
The shortlink copeid
Racial preference for white English teachers prevalent in Korea
By Lisa Schroeder
Contributing Writer
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- When Korean-Australian Heej Kim moved to South Korea from Sydney in January, he thought that getting an English teaching position in Seoul would be easy.
Kim, who immigrated with his parents to Australia when he was young, holds Australian citizenship and is fluent in both English and Korean. But over the four months he has been in Korea, he says he's applied for close to 100 teaching positions and hasn't yet been hired.
"I think most schools and private institutions are looking for Caucasian, non-Korean-speaking teachers," Kim said.
Look around on popular English teacher job Web sites like Dave's ESL Cafe or Craigslist, and you'll see that many Korean English teaching recruiters and institutes specifically advertise for "native speakers" or for foreign teachers with an E2 or F2 visa status, which are references to teachers who are of non-Korean ethnicity.
Some ads even directly state that their jobs are not for F4 visa holders or "not for gyopos," ethnic Koreans who hold overseas citizenship.
An informal poll on Waygook.org, an online English teacher forum, reveals that around 60 percent of the respondents agree that Korean schools prefer their English teachers to be Caucasian.
This preference for Caucasian teachers means that it's not just overseas ethnic Koreans who face hiring discrimination. Teachers who are black or have dark skin can also have a hard time finding teaching positions here.
But this may not always be the case. Wilkine Brutus, a black Haitian-American from Florida who's been teaching on Jeju Island for a year and blogs about his cross-cultural experiences on his Web site, The Vanguard Element, has used his personality to win over his school and students.
"I think for non-whites, it's a matter of confidence and demonstrating the ability to do your job and being fully aware of the unwarranted pressure behind darker-skinned people," he said.
According to government reports, there are more than 1.25 million expats living in South Korea, around 30,000 of whom are English teachers. The Employment of Foreign Workers Act of 2003 mandates that once a foreigner is hired, it's illegal to discriminate against him or her, but so far there are no laws regarding non-discriminatory hiring practices.
Sometimes discrimination against non-white English teachers on the job still occurs.
Jen, a Korean-American who didn't want her last name used, has been teaching English in Seoul for over half a year. She was surprised when she was singled out recently by a school administrator because of her ethnicity.
Jen was told that she would be switched with a white teacher for teaching her sixth-grade class because the head of her school's English department now wanted the students to learn from a teacher with a "white face" after they had already had experience learning from her "Asian face."
Jen, who's fluent in both English and Korean, also said she was told to never speak Korean to anyone except the principal at the school, even though she would be able to communicate better with the Korean teachers.
But why is there a racial preference for white English teachers when most people who move to Korea from English-speaking countries generally speak English at the same level?
Hwang Yune-kyu, an English teacher recruiter in Seoul, said his agency "doesn't judge by the person's skin color" but does admit that the issue of a teacher's race is complicated.
"I think (for Koreans) when white people speak English, it's more familiar than other foreigners," Hwang said. "Maybe because we are not as familiarized with Korean-Americans and black people speaking English (as a native language)."
For example, according to Hwang, out of 100 schools, he estimated that 30 to 50 prefer a white teacher, 10 to 20 prefer gyopos and only one specifically asked for a black teacher.
But Hwang said there aren't as many black applicants, and even if a school has a racial preference, sometimes it would change its mind when he sent it a qualified person of a different race.
Sometimes the preference for English teachers also comes down to accent. A white, blonde-haired, female teacher from South Africa, who wished to remain anonymous, said she's felt rejected at times because of her non-American accent.
There can also be a difference between public and private schools.
"I know that the hagwons (private teaching institutes) place a lot of importance on appearance. My school had a gyopo teacher, but the parents didn't consider her to be a native speaker as much as they considered me to be one," said Leon Whyte, a white English teacher who has been teaching in Korea since last summer.
Evelyn Choi, vice director of ECY Kids School, a private hagwon in Seoul that teaches kindergarten and elementary students, confirms that the students' parents prefer having their kids taught by Caucasian teachers.
However, Choi said she personally cares more about a teacher's qualifying attributes and attitude rather than ethnicity. She said younger students might be frightened of a non-Korean teacher, so she actually prefers having a Korean-American teach those students.
Heej Kim tries to rationalize this racial hiring preference.
"In areas where non-Koreans are not prominent, you can sense this kind of intrigue and surprise with foreigners," he said. "You see videos of Westerners teaching in areas outside of Seoul, and the children are like, 'Wow.' It's like visiting a foreign island or Third World country, and they're seeing someone of a different color for the first time in their lives. To be honest, I was quite surprised at that kind of reaction."
Contributing Writer
SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) -- When Korean-Australian Heej Kim moved to South Korea from Sydney in January, he thought that getting an English teaching position in Seoul would be easy.
Kim, who immigrated with his parents to Australia when he was young, holds Australian citizenship and is fluent in both English and Korean. But over the four months he has been in Korea, he says he's applied for close to 100 teaching positions and hasn't yet been hired.
"I think most schools and private institutions are looking for Caucasian, non-Korean-speaking teachers," Kim said.
Look around on popular English teacher job Web sites like Dave's ESL Cafe or Craigslist, and you'll see that many Korean English teaching recruiters and institutes specifically advertise for "native speakers" or for foreign teachers with an E2 or F2 visa status, which are references to teachers who are of non-Korean ethnicity.
Some ads even directly state that their jobs are not for F4 visa holders or "not for gyopos," ethnic Koreans who hold overseas citizenship.
An informal poll on Waygook.org, an online English teacher forum, reveals that around 60 percent of the respondents agree that Korean schools prefer their English teachers to be Caucasian.
This preference for Caucasian teachers means that it's not just overseas ethnic Koreans who face hiring discrimination. Teachers who are black or have dark skin can also have a hard time finding teaching positions here.
But this may not always be the case. Wilkine Brutus, a black Haitian-American from Florida who's been teaching on Jeju Island for a year and blogs about his cross-cultural experiences on his Web site, The Vanguard Element, has used his personality to win over his school and students.
"I think for non-whites, it's a matter of confidence and demonstrating the ability to do your job and being fully aware of the unwarranted pressure behind darker-skinned people," he said.
According to government reports, there are more than 1.25 million expats living in South Korea, around 30,000 of whom are English teachers. The Employment of Foreign Workers Act of 2003 mandates that once a foreigner is hired, it's illegal to discriminate against him or her, but so far there are no laws regarding non-discriminatory hiring practices.
Sometimes discrimination against non-white English teachers on the job still occurs.
Jen, a Korean-American who didn't want her last name used, has been teaching English in Seoul for over half a year. She was surprised when she was singled out recently by a school administrator because of her ethnicity.
Jen was told that she would be switched with a white teacher for teaching her sixth-grade class because the head of her school's English department now wanted the students to learn from a teacher with a "white face" after they had already had experience learning from her "Asian face."
Jen, who's fluent in both English and Korean, also said she was told to never speak Korean to anyone except the principal at the school, even though she would be able to communicate better with the Korean teachers.
But why is there a racial preference for white English teachers when most people who move to Korea from English-speaking countries generally speak English at the same level?
Hwang Yune-kyu, an English teacher recruiter in Seoul, said his agency "doesn't judge by the person's skin color" but does admit that the issue of a teacher's race is complicated.
"I think (for Koreans) when white people speak English, it's more familiar than other foreigners," Hwang said. "Maybe because we are not as familiarized with Korean-Americans and black people speaking English (as a native language)."
For example, according to Hwang, out of 100 schools, he estimated that 30 to 50 prefer a white teacher, 10 to 20 prefer gyopos and only one specifically asked for a black teacher.
But Hwang said there aren't as many black applicants, and even if a school has a racial preference, sometimes it would change its mind when he sent it a qualified person of a different race.
Sometimes the preference for English teachers also comes down to accent. A white, blonde-haired, female teacher from South Africa, who wished to remain anonymous, said she's felt rejected at times because of her non-American accent.
There can also be a difference between public and private schools.
"I know that the hagwons (private teaching institutes) place a lot of importance on appearance. My school had a gyopo teacher, but the parents didn't consider her to be a native speaker as much as they considered me to be one," said Leon Whyte, a white English teacher who has been teaching in Korea since last summer.
Evelyn Choi, vice director of ECY Kids School, a private hagwon in Seoul that teaches kindergarten and elementary students, confirms that the students' parents prefer having their kids taught by Caucasian teachers.
However, Choi said she personally cares more about a teacher's qualifying attributes and attitude rather than ethnicity. She said younger students might be frightened of a non-Korean teacher, so she actually prefers having a Korean-American teach those students.
Heej Kim tries to rationalize this racial hiring preference.
"In areas where non-Koreans are not prominent, you can sense this kind of intrigue and surprise with foreigners," he said. "You see videos of Westerners teaching in areas outside of Seoul, and the children are like, 'Wow.' It's like visiting a foreign island or Third World country, and they're seeing someone of a different color for the first time in their lives. To be honest, I was quite surprised at that kind of reaction."
