tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post5857075549801587564..comments2024-02-23T23:53:54.842+09:00Comments on Gusts Of Popular Feeling: Some commentary on perceptions of English teachers in Koreamatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-80598367769503149152009-05-24T01:03:27.731+09:002009-05-24T01:03:27.731+09:00KB - you make a good point. the Lady K article is ...KB - you make a good point. the Lady K article is assuredly dated. As for the locals dampened interested, I couldn't really say either way, but I suspect you're right on that one as well. <br /><br />Be that as it may, I never pinned my speculative musings (and that's all they were, just a random post really) on the "truth" of things, but rather the what policy makers "believe to be true" (or perhaps have an interest having having believed to be the truth).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-28686687936844298962009-05-17T22:28:00.000+09:002009-05-17T22:28:00.000+09:00On that note, King Baeksu---and pardon the self-pl...On that note, King Baeksu---and pardon the self-plug---but I was interested to see Wall Street Institute (an adult hagwon) promote themselves this way: <br /><br /><A HREF="http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/02/wsi-is-blunt.html" REL="nofollow">http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/02/wsi-is-blunt.html</A>However, Caucasian native speakers are noticeably absent.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07149708954524602455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-2950147729615516372009-05-17T10:00:00.000+09:002009-05-17T10:00:00.000+09:00Not sure if I agree entirely with Mr. Wagner's poi...Not sure if I agree entirely with Mr. Wagner's point about visa law for native English teachers here being driven by official concern over "after-hours fraternization" with the locals. Pretty sure it was more in reaction to the high-profile John Mark Karr and Christopher Paul Neil cases, among others. Would need to see more hard evidence or statistics to back up such speculation. In fact, I would argue that the Lady Kyunghyang article referenced, which is pre-Karr and pre-Neil, may be somewhat out-of-date at this point. It is my contention and gut instinct that the much increased demonization of native English teachers here in the past few years has probably somewhat dampened the desire of many local women to "fraternize" with their native English teachers at the local hagwon, although it may be hard to quantify such an assertion, of course. However, it does seem to be the trend of the current local zeitgeist, in my opinion.King Baeksuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106210206814275410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-16018029355000554642009-05-16T01:58:00.000+09:002009-05-16T01:58:00.000+09:00Seems like as good a time as any to refer back to ...Seems like as good a time as any to refer back to Ian Buruma's THE MISSIONARY AND THE LIBERTINE, a book all about how East and West and regularly viewed each other in the yin/yang, male/female, strong/weak, moral/immoral dichotomy. From what I can see, it is a constant process, but these days, for many middle-class Koreans, the hagwon is the area they are most likely to encounter a foreigner (or at least a Westerner), so naturally the English teacher has become a focus point for a lot of these issues and concerns. <br /><br />After all, there is plenty of Korean-Korean teacher-student hooking up going on at all sorts of non-language hagwons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com