Seeker196

I work at a hagwon in Si heung, South Korea.

We are desperately short of English-speaking teachers.

Finally, a guy came in for the interview.

Excellent english, diction etc. Good university education. Experience out the wazoo in the USA teaching immigrant to pass the TOEFL. Older than me.

5 minutes, he was out the door.

Our bosses English isn't good enough to be subtle, so when we asked her why, she said 'Because he wasn't white'.

So, there we were. We were on a chaotic, shouting kid-filled 5 minute break in a hallway on a very busy day. But someone more qualified than I was, and far more experienced, was walking out the door because he wasn't 'White'.

I couldn't meet his eye. 10 seconds later we were all in our next class and our day is too hectic to think much.

But now I wonder, should we have done something? This is Korea. They can be very '1950s' here sometimes. It's THEIR culture, THEIR country. But isn't discrimination always really wrong, no matter where or when? Is this a case of cultural relativism?

The parents, our customers, WANT white teachers. White native english speakers. For the image and because they want their kids to be more like us. Is the customer always right? But it's not fair. My grade 4 soccer field morality is telling me that it's not Good Sportsmanship. But life isn't fair. Tolstoy says we should all try our hardest to make a difference. But my job is not to change Korea, it's to teach English for 2.1 million Won a month plus paid rent.

Question One:
What should I have done?

Question Two:
What could I have done in reality, on Planet Earth in Korea in the year 2003, as a failable and weak human being?

Maybe this belongs in one of the ethics related forums.

PS: He was a native, American born English speaker. It was the uncontrollable fact of his physical appearance that denied him the job.

Linda

Seeker: This is a very interesting subject and quite a moral dilemma. I think I'll transfer it to Moral Foundations and Principles where it will get more responses.

Monkeybot

Doesn't shock me one bit. I had a Vietnamese-Canadian friend in Japan turned down for an English teaching job for much the same reason. (He'd moved to Canada at a young age - his English was totally fine, but obviously, Asians can't possibly speak fluent English )

Incidentally, another Vietnamese guy I knew found a job teaching Vietnamese. You didn't give the race of the rejected candidate in your situation but I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to find a job teaching whatever it "looked" like he should speak. (If he was black - African language. Hispanic - Spanish. Asian - Asian language.) That's how it tended to be in Japan anyway.

Heh, the Vietnamese-Canadian guy I mentioned above loved to play with these stereotypes -- whenever he was out with white friends he'd pretend not to know a word of Japanese and make us translate for him. Oh, we got some funny looks - white people translating for an Asian?!

I doubt there's much you could've done.

As for the "it's their culture" comment: Pointing out racism does not equal ethnocentrism. Pointing out problems in various parts of the world does not mean ethnocentrism. Would it be ethnocentric of me to say that women were treated horribly under the Taliban? Or to criticise the old White Australia policy? Or for a non-American to criticise the prevalence of guns in the US? Many Japanese I knew were very critical of the US gun problem, but nobody was screaming ethnocentric bastards at them (not for that reason, anyway ). Of course, I also found that notions of Japanese superiority were sometimes, depending on the person, mixed in with otherwise legitimate criticism of the US; so I guess you should be careful about the value judgments you make about entire cultures.

(Incidentally, the "it's their culture" factor didn't seem to apply in this thread, where you criticise the "violence of American culture." It's your prerogative to think whatever you want about the United States, but why does the culture argument work for one and not the other? Something to think about...)

I don't know. A lot of that depends on what you could have done, which is probably not much. I suppose you could have taken a stand, made a protest, whatever, but the possibility is strong that you would've lost your job and/or made yourself look bad -- which wouldn't help your case very much at all.

Again, probably not much. You are working against not only your superior but societal attitudes as well.

PS - How long have you been in Korea? I was lucky enough to be in Japan this summer during the World Cup. That was an awesome experience. How are you liking it?

Seeker196

I've been here 6 months and 1 week today.

In the other thread, I feel that I am effectively a 'cultural insider' in regards to the US, because I have lived there so often.

However, even if I had been born here a non-ethnic Korean can never truely be accepted as a Korean.

Check out my long post in the Korea thread in politics. It lists our merry band of madmen's exploits.

I would not give up the experiences I've had here for anything.

I've walked the fortified beach on the North Korean coast with a propagandist and seen Pyongyang, still forbidden to Americans.

I went to a remote Buddhist mountain-fortress-monastery thingy with a high wall, climbed the peak to 'Buddha's Throne' rock, and saw the monks grove where the old trees have sugarwater IVs.

I climbed Oido to find a tiny house with a mudang performing.

I went shopping in Namdaemun market, the South Gate of old Seoul. I saw the cadillac of Korea's last king.

I watched NK dig their trenches through telescopes at Panmunjeon 'cold war land'.

I've been to Lotte World and Everland.

I've been invited to traditional Korean weddings and private homes.

I've known the joy of coming home from a long day to turn up my ondul to full blast.

I've taught classes with enthusiastic, disciplined learners who really care about learning. In Korea, the bottom of the classroom ladder is the 'babo', it is like a reverse of the jock nerd dichotomy.

I've met a pretty girl named Ruby and we must 'hide' because she is Korean and can't be seen in public alone with me by her family.

I saved $10 000 in 6 months, it's still in my bank account, and I think that's pretty good for the son of unemployed dope growers from the BC boonies. And I eat out every night.

I sang the perfect 'Bohemian Rhapsody' with a group of total strangers at Noraebang ('singing room' like Karaoke). We got '100%!'