Gusts Of Popular Feeling: Viewers of 'Realities of unfit foreign instructors' outraged

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Viewers of 'Realities of unfit foreign instructors' outraged

Viewers of 'Realities of unfit foreign instructors' outraged

"I was so infuriated after watching yesterday's program that I couldn't sleep."

After watching the SBS current affairs program 'I want to know that's report on unfit, white foreign instructors working in Korea, viewers' anger exploded.

After the broadcast, comment after comment was left at the 'I Want to Know That' viewers' internet bulletin board saying things like "Why did this broadcast take so long to come out?" and "I'm frightened to send my children to an academy."

The "I Want to Know That" report from the 19th, entitled "Is Korea their Paradise? Report on the Real Conditions of Blond-haired, Blue-eyed Teachers," reported on the problem of white foreign instructors who teach conversation in Korea and habitually commit various illegal acts.

The broadcast that day looked at the problem of white foreign instructors who fraudulently teach English to children and openly call Korea 'a place where it's easy to sleep with the women' or 'a place where it's easy to make money.' It also introduced extreme examples such as raping students or enjoying drugs.

As well, it also pointed out the pathetic social conditions in which our children are put into the care of foreign instructors who haven't had their qualifications properly verified and where the relevant authorities use a double standard in treating foreigners or illegal sojourners depending on their nationality or race.

Viewers who saw the program rushed to leave comments at the program's bulletin board expressing surprise and anger such as, "I'd heard many rumours related to this before, but I didn't know it was this bad." From right after the broadcast finished to right now at 10am on the 20th, over 1,200 comments have already been left.

They were surprised at the remarks of hagwon officials who considered appearance first and ability last when choosing instructors, and reflected on the racism and English first-ism within ourselves. Voices also called for related authorities to strengthen the crackdowns on illegal sojourner foreign instructors and to establish criteria for foreign instructor qualifications.

Meanwhile, they cheered on Peter Park, a Korean American whose story was introduced in which he came to Korea after thinking that he'd like to do something significant in his home country but, despite having qualifications found it difficult to get hired on account of his race and saw unqualified white instructors take the places of decent instructors. On the bulletin board viewers shared information about finding a job and asked for help from him in learning English directly from him.

However, there were also many viewers concerned about the side effects of this broadcast. Already on the viewer's bulletin board were dozens of comments denouncing women as 'Yanggongju,' generating debate. Viewers also worried greatly about the possibility of the fallout affecting hardworking foreign instructors.

Somehow I doubt many were 'worried greatly about the possibility of the fallout affecting hardworking foreign instructors.' Needless to say, the broadcast did its job as a piece of sensationalized propaganda, and even more people would watch the show via SBS's Video On Demand service as the angry response by viewers became known.

5 comments:

King Baeksu said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; March 25, 2014 at 5:39:00 PM GMT+9
King Baeksu said...: "I was so infuriated after watching yesterday's program that I couldn't sleep."

The "reporter" left out part of the comment, which reads in full:

"I was so infuriated after watching yesterday's program that I couldn't sleep, so I went to It'aewon at 2 o'clock in the morning and banged the first foreigner I could find so hard that I won't be able walk straight for the rest of the week. It was awesome!"; March 25, 2014 at 6:14:00 PM GMT+9
King Baeksu said...: PS: Blogger sucks because you can't edit comments!; March 25, 2014 at 6:15:00 PM GMT+9
King Baeksu said...: BTW, I wonder how many Koreans are "outraged" that the current head of the Korea Association of Hagwon, Park Kyung-sil, is a criminal convicted of embezzlement, and is currently under investigation by police for allegedly hiring a hit man to "take someone out," as well as distributing bribe money for the purposes of corrupting police officials:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2014/03/116_154033.html

I did a Google search for "박경실" and a recent article about her in the Chpsun Ilbo gets a whopping two comments:

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2014/03/24/2014032402471.html

Doesn't seem like a "wave of outrage" to me. Meanwhile, yesterday's article on her in Yonhap has been "retweeted" zero times, and has not a single "recommend" on Facebook, either:

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/society/2014/03/26/0703000000AKR20140326167951004.HTML

Not a single comment under the story that ran in the JoongAng Ilbo yesterday:

http://joongang.joins.com/article/619/14267619.html?ctg=1200

The top new story on Google is from Money Today News, which also has zero comments, zero "retweets" and zero Facbook "recommends":

http://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2014032617143512360&type=1&VML

It would seem that the Korean public has a rather selective sense of "outrage" as far as "bad behavior" in the hagwon industry is concerned, doesn't it?; March 27, 2014 at 12:13:00 PM GMT+9
Anonymous said...: King Baeksu,
So what you're saying is that 'Koreabang' won't be covering the story aye?
One website that also hasn't covered Pagoda's Park, Kyung-sil story is 'iamkoream.' I realize that doesn't really count as a Korean website since it's not in Korean language but I find it interesting nonetheless because that site often covers Koreans/Korean American's in trouble. Perhaps it's because Pagoda/Park, Kyung-sil employs many Kyopo/Korean Americans?; March 30, 2014 at 4:36:00 PM GMT+9