Now that my the few remaining students I've taught at Daewon Foreign Language High School are getting safely into the end of the American college admissions cycle, and most of them are actually in college, I'll just say, for the sake of the public record and in the interest of those in society who want fairness in admissions testing (한국어), the following:
When I was forced (I didn't want to participate, but all foreign teachers in the international program were required to help in the admissions process) to read essays that were part of the admissions test to get into the international program within the school, I had to sit down, with another reader, in a room with a stack of essays and give them a numeric rating.
The funny thing is that we were given a special rule, which I inquired about but was just told to follow, and that it was just "the rule": I was to give the normal numeric rating, but in cases where we gave a perfect rating, the essay had to handed over to a Korean counselor who would collect just those exams and take them away.
It struck me as very strange, since the examinations were done without names on the essays, and such admissions processes are very, very sensitive. When I had to participate in the making of a similar admissions exam at the Hanguk Academy of Foreign Studies (HAFS) at Yongin after quitting my job in the middle of my contract at Daewon, the teachers making the exam had to go to a rented house in the country, surrender their cellphones, the Internet was disconnected, and we not allowed to leave until the exam began the next morning.
It's THAT serious.
And other schools are supposed to follow these practices very closely so that incidents just like the one at Kimpo (a teacher with knowledge of the questions giving them out to students before the exam) can't happen.
But at the Daewon entrance examination, we had any perfect score essays being collected separately and given to a Korean counselor, who physically took them out of the room, separate from the other essays in the pile.
Although I won't speculate beyond that, I wonder if THAT was standard procedure.
And since I am limited by potential problems with libel law, let me just pose the rhetorical question of why I would quit, during the middle of my second year, a school that was paying me 105,000 won an hour to teach a subject that I love (American History) 15 hours per week (do the math, people) to students whom I cared for very deeply, and were some of the best pupils I had ever had the honor to teach?
I wonder what that reason could have been? It certainly wasn't for the lack of money, or for a dislike of the teaching. And I quit that job and went to work for their rival school (HAFS) that was far outside of Seoul (3.5-hour commute, 3 days a week). I didn't want to go to the rival school, of all places, but how many places are employing American History teachers in Korea?
All that trouble...must have been some good reasons, ya think?
Hmmmmmmmmmm...
If any special prosecutor wants to contact me, I'm game. I've got a LOT to say. As do other foreigners who do the bulk of the teaching in the international programs of these FLHS's. Too bad our testimony don't mean jack here.
