Thousands of S Korean teachers rally for protection from abusive parents
The protesting teachers, who have rallied for weeks, say current laws make it difficult to exercise control over their classrooms and leave them at the mercy of overbearing parents, who could easily accuse them of emotionally abusing children.
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For the unaware: There’s something fairly common in Korea, which translates to something along the lines of “Night Run”. People will hear that and go “oh okay, I guess they’re going for a jog?” But it’s actually referring to teachers’ tendencies to ghost overnight. Things are so bad in S. Korea that teachers feel the need to just vanish. It’s one of those Underground Railroad “don’t tell anyone you’re planning it, even your closest friend” type of thing. And yes, it’s so common that they have a specific phrase for it.
Teachers are leaving their entire lives and livelihoods behind, taking only what they can fit into a carry-on duffel bag. They’ll go to extreme lengths to cover their tracks, up to and including buying a plane ticket in cash on the same day that they’re leaving. They won’t even buy a plane ticket in advance, because they’re so afraid someone will find out about it. There are even apocryphal stories that Korean immigration/customs may try to stop fleeing teachers, and will even call the school if they find out you’re a teacher that is attempting to flee. All because the teaching situation in S. Korea has left them feeling so powerless that they believe fleeing is their only solution.
I believe the previous comment was about visa-holding, language teachers, such as a foreign teacher in a Hakwons.
10-15 years ago midnight runs were more prevalent because you could wait out the expiration of your visa and come back to work for for another company.
The handful of people that I knew who did this had their salaries underpaid or paid late. Sometimes they did it because the company refused to give them the correct benefits or working conditions. The treatment of foreign teachers is so bad that even current government contracts will have clauses that break the Korean labor standards.
The article is talking about actual licensed Korean public school teachers. They have a higher retention rate. But, as the article points out, they do suffer from abusive parents (and sometimes students) and a lack of support from their schools and the government for dealing with them.
I've seen The Glory. Certainly doesn't paint schooling in a very positive light
How are they powerless? Are they being physically hurt?
