Is 'Unqualified' the wrong word? (Eng/Kor)

Posted: 2002/04/16  By: unqualified (Views:4156)

To those who have made a point at pointing the finger. HEAR this.

I am a TESL certified non-degree owning teacher, teaching in Korea, with 3 years of
University experience, who took a year off to pursue the adventure and excitement of living in
 foreign country, and I am fraudulent?

I will have those who challenge the teachers without the degrees that the idea of a degree
itself in North America has lost a lot of ground. The cost and inflation of education is almost
as bad as the intel pentium chip that gets replaced every 4 weeks with something faster. The
content is ok but has become empty and devoid of it's usefullness. The qualification to have a
degree to teach or get a job anywhere is really a very discriminatory requirement to an
application process. Many people I know cannot afford a post-secondary education anymore. The
choice many of them face is go into debt about $50,000 dollars or so, or say the hell with it,
and not go to Univesity or College at all. To add to this dilemma, many, many people with a
degree did it with their eyes closed or boozed their way through.

A DEGREE DOES NOT EQUATE GENIOUS, NOR DOES IT EQUATE PROFESSIONALISM, NOR DOES IT MEAN THE
HOLDER IS SOMEONE YOU MAY TRUST WITHOUT THEM EARNING IT, NOR DOES IT MEAN THEY ARE QUALIFIED TO
TEACH ENGLISH.

I know more people without degrees who would do a better job, care more, and offer more than
many people with degrees. So why is it a requirement? Because the Korean government had to set
a standard for foreign teachers to teach in Korea, unfortunately that standard has lost much
ground in North America, I guess Koreans have not caught up with that yet?? Just for the
record, In North America, tutors tutoring privately can do so without any qualification.
Hok-wons are privately run institutions and a mere native english speaker without a degree
still has more to offer, just because they speak english well, than anyone else.

Degrees are not a bad idea, they can be extremely useful, but are they really that necessary
to teach 5 year old children how to write the letter A?? Or read them a story book? I will tell
you something that I didn't need a degree to know, the current system of ROTE learning, (ROTE:
you say and kids repeat you) is the real problem with the way children in Korea are learning
their ABC's. It is not learning, it is repeating, and therefore their is no retention level,
the kids do not remember that way, and they do not know how to identify words and say them for
themselves. They mimick. Have I proven yet that I am worthy to teach in Korea, shall I go on?

I must admit that there are a few people I have met already who are fake by the very
definition of the word, except that most of these people are the ones with the degrees. Sure,
some of these people have fake degrees from Bangkok, they never had a degree to begin with,
they have no care or  concern for the welfare of the children or adults they may be teaching.
Sure, "fake" fits them to a "tee". But even so, they still have something to offer, and they
are not going in without a clue, most schools and Hok-wons have some sort of curriculum they
want you to follow anyway.

My experience here has been nothing but positive, and I wish that the people who feel they
are being taken advantage of, the people who feel that foreigners are operating illegally, the
people who obviously consider themselves "just" and "right", real heroes of their society, to
drop the stereotype, take a step back, and look at the future prospects of illegal or even
lawful foreign english teachers.

I am sad to say that English as a language is fast becoming the common medium with which most
countries' economies operate. Not to mention that not only has the profficiency of native
Korean (newly become)-English speakers improved in the last 5 years, but so has the economy in
Korea, exports are soaring, trade is very, very high, and Koreans are speaking Engish all over
the world to conduct this business.

Now all of this is not entirely due to the foreign teachers that come to Korea to teach with
a degree, it has a lot to do with those "fake" teachers too.