High Pressure Days
The Horrors Lyrics

KaBoom

I know a guy that taught in Korea. He was a nice American guy, white guy, and while he never mentioned sexual harassment, the "always watching" thing is true. He was under strict orders to only speak English in order for the students to have complete immersion. So despite knowing the language, he wasn't even able to speak it in his day to day work. One day, he was letting the kids out to be picked up by their parents. And they spoke to him for a bit. When the child said goodbye in Korean, he responded in kind. And that one little slip up was reported to his supervisor and he was severely reprimanded for it. Like, to the point where he was afraid they would revoke his work visa and he'd have to go home that day. For something he did off duty basically. But he said he loved the job and the culture, and has good memories, though he's not teaching there anymore.

ginger

These people are sick!

WeiYinChan

We had a white British English teacher at my primary school in Hong Kong. His lessons were completely in English for immersion, but the moments he spoke Cantonese to us outside of class was some of the most wholesome experiences back then. It built rapports with the students and made his lessons more engaging. Students were more willingly to participate in activities and speak English without fear of not being understood if they make a mistake, because we knew he understands us. Some people are so uptight for no reasons

Julian B

@ginger whats more sick is your comment

luna

​@Julian B oh no obsessed kpop fan spotted 😂😂😂

no peace without justice

Yes..I say this as a Korean American who dipped her foot in the Korean music industry as a teenager. Stop idolizing (idealizing) Koreans. There’s a reason why suicidal rates are so high. The culture is very narcissistic and that means a lot of darkness and deception while looking very shiny on the outside.

Luke Targett

well said

Ellie X.

Same with germany.

Funa

@Ellie X. ?? I‘m german and you‘re being super unreasonable right now.. how does germany compare to korea?? Not even in the slightest.. in germany none of this would last at all. I‘m super thankful to live in germany as a woman.. and workers rights are priority here compared to almost any country i could think of. Get your facts straight.. i think this might be your sad personal experience but we‘re not talking about bad encounters here but social injustice..

khanhnam le

well only the people who know are not ok w it other don't care

Mira

@Ellie X. why do you say germany? I have family there. Im gonna live with them for a while. What problems did you face? Could you explain? Im a brown person.

I back up what the woman in this video describes. NIGHTMARE!

I worked at a private ESL school in Seoul. It was in an area considered the Beverly Hills of South Korea so it was supposed to be upscale. It was a nightmare to work at. When I got hired, the school booked my flight from another part of Asia to Korea. It was an overnight flight so I tried to sleep on the plane but I really couldn't. When I arrived, they drove me directly to the school and said it is time to work. I told them I need to get to my apartment, get a shower and some sleep. They said my contract started that day so they took me to the school, put my luggage in a classroom and told me to sit in the back and observe classes all day. I fell asleep in my chair within minutes. They acted like they owned you and you feel helpless. In a foreign country, they control all aspects of your life, by design.

The school provided a studio apartment and it didn't have heat or hot water (it was the middle of winter). The next day when I told them about the apartment, they sent one of women who worked for the school to inspect the furnace and hot water heater. She kept telling me there was nothing wrong with it (she was an ESL manager, not a HVAC person). They kept jerking me around about it and after I threatened to quit they finally sent an actual HVAC repairman. Sure enough there were big problems with the furnace and electrical and they fixed it. But I froze for that week, could barely sleep because I was shivering so much, and I couldn't take a shower.
They didn't want us going off the property for lunch so they provided what they called lunch. I felt like I was in prison with the slop they passed off as food for the teachers. The staff got much better food.

Then when summer came, they kept the remote controls for the A/C units so we couldn't use the air con. They taped up the A/C control panel on the wall unit so we couldn't turn it on that way. I had to use a razor to cut the tape so they couldn't see it because they checked the tape every night. It was crazy.
The final event for me was when we had a scheduled two week vacation I asked if it was okay if someone covered the last class of mine before the break because the only flight I could get out of Korea meant I had to be at the airport that afternoon. The manager said yes, as long as my class is covered I can leave early. We often covered classes for each other, it was common.

Anyway. I went on vacation and coming back my flight was delayed so I was late coming into work. The owner called me into her office an started yelling at me for leaving early before break. She said I didn't have permission to have someone cover my last class. I explained to her that I did. She said I was told that as long as "I" cover my last class I could leave early (that didn't make sense). I told her the class was covered, the students had their lessons that I gave the teacher who covered for me, and there were no problems. She escalated, continued yelling at me, and she jumped up, pointing her finger at me while she yelled. I told her this conversation is no longer productive and I will come back later when we can speak without her yelling. I stood up to leave and she jumped in front of the door and told me I can't leave. This is how crazy the people at this school were.

After trying to calm her down and failing, I finally told her I am leaving so she better move or I will move her. I knew at this point I was quitting so it didn't matter what happened. I told her I would call the police if I needed to but she wasn't keeping me captive in her office. Then she finally moved.

I was on a one year contract and this was month six. I went to my apartment, packed my things, and followed up on the job interview I had on my vacation. I got the job in this other country in Asia so I booked my flight. I was going to do a "runner" like the girl mentioned in this video. The next day I got a letter from the school terminating my contract. That afternoon I was on a flight out of there.

I left out a lot of the drama but it was an overall horrible experience. Stupid things happened daily. They really didn't want us to teach English, it was more like entertaining than anything else. This was about 20 years ago and I lived in an all Korean neighborhood. I was dating a nice Korean woman but back then interracial dating still wasn't accepted, especially with the older generation. Often when I tried to buy food at the local shops no matter what I ordered, they said it was sold out. They would do this until I gave up and left. People stared at her and I when we were out. Sometimes they would say nasty things to her. I felt really bad for her. I'm sure it's not that bad now. The ironic thing is I made a couple Korean friends and they were awesome people! They helped me out when locals treated me badly and warned me of things to look out for.

Young Siffredi

Would have left the day after

Amber Kim

Even the owners at the hakwons here in the United States are messed up, from the perspective of an ex-hakwon student. I grew up attending various hakwons in Koreatown Los Angeles. I witnessed multiple incidents of extreme verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and intimidation by owners and instructors. One particular incident that I can remember, I saw the owner/instructor at one of the hakwons I attended, lash out at one of the female students for not paying attention. He yanked her out of the classroom and into his private office, and screamed at the top of his lungs for over an hour, while he threw and slammed things, as she sobbed. He called her awful names... a man in his mid-40s and a young woman who was only 16 years of age. His wife sat outside and did nothing. When her parents came to pick her up, they sided with the owner and didn't protect the daughter. These types of incidents are not uncommon.

Jason Harris

As someone who loves foreign cultures and has also been a TESL teacher himself, and as someone who has traveled a great deal, I can definitely say that I have an extreme love/hate relationship with Korean culture. I find it to be on par with a lot of really restrictive and abusive Muslim countries in many ways. As a foreigner you go through an odd experience with culture shock where you assume everything that you don't enjoy or like is only because you're not open minded enough. But that breaks away, and at some point you're able to see if it's valid or not. In truth, there are a LOT of elements of Korean culture that I just outright disdain. The Xenophobia, the hard-working cruelty, the Confucian bootlicking, and the ignorant sexism towards women and especially young girls are revolting.

But I genuinely love Korean food and film. And some of the friends I have made from that country, all of whom are very acutely aware of these ills in their society, are genuinely wonderful people.

All that being said... Latin America and Southeast Asia have FAR more to offer in terms of warmth and general love + respect of human life. Many ills exist in these places, too, and if course my own home country is a huge offender, but you will find the average person in these locales is quick with a smile and just want to be of service to their fellow human being, much more so than, say, the USA or South Korea

pinkcrow

@Jason Harris people from developing countries are generally nicer and more laid back. Probably thats why they are still not 'developed', considering the cost of progress and success is basic humanity and hospitality.

Jason Harris

@pinkcrow i couldn't agree more. Very well said! I also take issue with the whole developed vs undeveloped dichotomy. First and third world sounds insulting as well. Lol. My experience has been these people in less "developed" places tend to be much, much more complete *people*. Apparently convenience isn't always worth the premium.

killing you slowly 🥰

The basic sacrifice for progress of a country is their basic humanity and hospitality. I feel inspired. 🤗😤

Ben Dover

Who's intimidated by Koreans??

Shushu 0109

Im a private school teacher in sk, its not just our employer is our problem but also the students that is backed with rich politician parents, they regularly assault the teachers and no one is able to stop or even report it because everyone is scared of losing their job.

J

That's the case everywhere in Europe. Everywhere. But in Asia, overall, it's more visible because Asia is more hierarchy-oriented than Europe.

Rain 🇮🇩

@J no not Asia, its more Japan and Korea rather than Asia

MasterDoughWhale

@J I've never heard something like that in my Home country Philippines.

Apurva Bachute

@Rain 🇮🇩 yeah such things don't happen in India either.

MPP

Wow😳

Becka Stuff

I also worked at a hagwon. A lot of this was true for my situation as well. Although I did not personally have any problems with the director, I saw many other people did. The kids and Korean teachers are SO over worked. I tried to let my kids have more fun time than I should have and got told to stop. :( Now that I'm teaching in Canada, all the problems at the hagwon have become even more evident.

Becka Stuff

I do remember getting really sick one week, but we were not allowed to call in sick. Instead, my director met me at a nearby clinic where she left me there hooked up to some IV where I have no clue what they gave me. I was expected to return to work after that. I am not one to call in sick for a small cold either, I was sick with like a bad flu or something. Migraine, congestion, the whole bit.

sage3

that’s horrible! </3 so glad u don’t have to face that anymore

Kenneth Chung

just go get a new job

Hugito

First of all, thank you VICE for posting this video. As a Korean, I think this problem is openly known to all Koreans, and it is one of the social problems that is dealt with in Korea so much that there are many dramas and movies related to it. However, I don't think Korean social consciousness has developed enough to solve this problem. Considering the thorough perception of male-dominated women and the very low social status of women, as in most East Asia, I think this is a problem that has been rooted in Korean society. Recently, there has been a movement to guarantee women's social status (#MeToo), and many things have changed, but paradoxically, the perception among young men in Korea is now widespread around the Internet community, with anti-feminism and gender-reverse discrimination at the center. It's similar to the American class called incel. I feel sorry for the whole society, as the new president is not interested in these issues at all, and the atmosphere of society seems to be going to anti-intellectualism and male supremacy, and I hope that these issues will be publicized and my beloved country will be a great and strong country.

Juani Porta

thanks for this data, it´s a pity. here in argentina, right wing boys are increasing in numbers, and really fast in last years

Hugito

@Juani Porta As I said before, the situation in Korea is no different. I'm also a man, but I don't think this extreme social direction is ever right.

S

Same situation in china.

Hugito

@̇ Never could that be a justification for the current situation. The current state of affairs is generation, gender, and region, and the problem is that politicians who use it for their political gain have taken power. I think the fact that the representative of the ruling party in Korea is a believer in the far-right Internet community shows the reality we are in now.

하남자

As a Korean, I can assure you that 99% of teenagers have or had suicidal thoughts. In fact, someone's suicide is not news anymore in here. When I was in middle school, someone living in apartment near my hagwon dived from rooftop. I saw people gathered and police officers. I searched for that case, I couldn't find any line of that case.

pri ve

This makes me so sick 🥺

A S

That's so tragic. Idk it makes me think how narcissistic the culture can be... how can people possibly live like that?

하남자

@A S I think narcissistic culture is a kind of backdraft of tragic social situation. Because of negative feedback in real life, they want more positive feedback on online society, hiding themselves. Even k-idol industries have so much dark sides too. As light becomes brighter, shadow becomes darker.

A S

@하남자 Huh this is interesting. I think I've read a couple of webtoons that address this within the idol industry and social media, particularly Lookism. As I grow older, I'm starting to see that these webtoons have real merit and that the ideas expressed in them are extreme, but must have come from the webtoon artist's real life experiences or stories heard from acquaintances.

jx

I don't know man, just tell your people stop consuming kimchi spaniels for breakfast that means you too~

vatefairefoutre0

this wasn't even the worst out of all the hagwon job stories I've heard about. I've lived and taught at Korea for 5 years. I know of people who have had cameras installed in their apartments and watched by their employers. or money not paid to you and being completely exploited. contracts here also tend to not be treated the same as contracts back in your native English speaking country, and are often used as just "guidelines" but your vacation or sick days can be taken away easily, and let's hope you have the time/energy/money/resources to try and fight it legally... but many don't if they have already fallen prey to shitty Korean academy employers.

Luka Legend

what would they do if you took a sick day and they said you have to come in and you didnt? if theyre as short staffed as she says then I dont think they could afford to fire you

Nicole Deberry

More people need to know this stuff

Mogady

Its why sk is suffering brain drain.

Nicole Deberry

@Mogady i knew it was bad with control but holy hell. Makes me think of them and what they want yo do with the US.

Top Sovs

You heard of a person who choose to accept the facilities and comadation offered... amazing.

K-Pop Rewind 4K 60FPS

I have taught in Korea since 2009, half of that having been in hagwons. Although not all the hagwons are bad, here are the worst experiences I encountered.

1.) A hagwon lowered my salary my first year saying they were having financial problems. Then they proceeded to get a huge renovation on their building.
2.) A student once drew a picture of her shooting me in the head with a gun. My director waved it off as teens being teens.
3.) On more than one occasion, students have stolen items from my desk.
4.) I had an 8 year old student who had a nervous breakdown due to the academic pressure and was admitted to a mental hospital.
5.) A student was repeatedly beaten by her parents for her lack of academic success and ended up having to enter a government shelter for battered children.
6.) The standard salary of a new teacher, about $2,000 to $2,200 when converted to USD, hasn't been raised along with inflation since I started in 2009.
7.) Several times I have had to console crying students who couldn't take the pressure.
8.) I had a student who literally didn't know what "hobby" meant, even when I told him the Korean word for it.
9.) Many of my students thought I was lying when I told them many teens in the US can take part-time jobs because we don't have hagwons.
10.) Hagwon directors will do whatever the parents want. Even if it's the worst idea for the student. They often took their advice over mine, me being someone who has a masters degree in English Education.

Mike Logan

Srry cant take u srsly with ir kpop rewind pfp.🤥

Alia Aysha

Ridiculous

Ohmygarnis

Wow... all the kdramas I've been watching were true

Charles Berkeley

@Mike Logan I lived in Korea for 10 years and I believe the OP. Not sure why you don't.

Hannah Lou

Some of the comments on here are disgusting. Workplace harassment should not be accepted ANYWHERE. It may be the perceived norm in some cultures but it doesn't have to stay that way.

Chipper Jones

It is considered pretty normal in Korea unfortunately. How they treat their own women is the same as how they treat foreign women.

Phil Mitchell Boxing

It's cultural, the woman on the video is clearly lying about most of it.

warrior.jcruse

As a Korean American born in Korea, I will say that the culture is not great in many ways considering like harassment. Also very patriarchal. I love my culture but some parts are very ugly.

Zuri Zoraya

Right. Just becuase its the norm doesn't mean its right. . We should always strive to do better.

cesium419

I literally watched a few videos about folks teaching abroad in Korea and Japan, and they mentioned they weren't given bathroom breaks or an actual lunch hours. They are paid extremely low and it came off to me as another form of slavery. I remember thinking of teaching English abroad, I'm glad I never did.

Sean Roy

I only recommend it to people who love the culture and do enough research to know exactly what they're getting into.

What's better than working for a hagwon would be saving up and going to Korea for a year or two for language school and/or a master's degree program. You might be able to get a non-ESL job in Korea that way, too.

Hagwons tend to destroy whatever passion people have for Korean culture and language which is very sad.

Andreas Habeck

You could teach somewhere else

NTN

You watched a few videos, and now you know everything there is to know about the issue? Just do me one favor and don't pile Japan in together with Korea ok?

eric lknc

Thank you

Sick Ranchez

Lol wtf, teaching in Japan is easy. There's little future in it though unless you're pretty fluent in the language.

It's hardly slavery, done it for 3 years.

friedman181

I’m glad this is getting more attention. I had to flee Korea. I moved to Taiwan, where I have lived for the past 5 years working at a cram school. The experiences I dealt with in Korea caused anxiety and depression, which I am coping with until this day. It’s hard for me to say anything good about the country and carry much resentment until this day. I hope this eventually goes away with time.

milky

woah, do u mind sharing anything?

Alia Aysha

Ohh that’s sad I’m glad you’re at a better place now

Yung Tae 영태

Keep on telling lies and exaggerate on that.

Where's Shina

Bruh i had so much anxiety and depression from the first day i landed in Korea. The environment was too uptight and we worked like robots, with no time to slow down and smell the roses. That's emotionally, mentally and spiritually draining. 3 years later i decided to call it quits in the middle of my contract. I had to make up some story about having an urgent crisis back at home. When i got back home, the space i was in was lovely and fun, spending time with my family but I couldn't enjoy myself to the fullest, I wasn't free spirited anymore, I was uptight, overly sensitive and was having random breathing problems (anxiety attacks). It felt like i had just gotten back from a military war. That's when i realized that Korea had changed me for the worst. The trauma was real. It's been 10 months now since i left and this is the first month where im starting to feel more like myself.

Yung Tae 영태

@Where's Shina you are not built to work like that. You are meant to work in a western style working environment. Like easy going style. Hope you do better with time.

mafe N. B.

there’s this girl from South Korea that came to mexico to teach korean, she was miserable in SK and she got so sick that she couldn’t eat or move. her father bought her a ticket to south america and when she got there she started feeling better. somehow she made it to mexico and she says she never wants to leave. she goes back to South Korea once in a while to visit her parents but she actually gets sick again when she has to face that kind of stress. it is so sad how we glorify that culture not fully knowing how much harm they do to South Korean people and foreigners working there

Lemon Tea

I think I know her, her channel isn't named "Chingu Amiga"??

mafe N. B.

@Lemon Tea yes!

James

No such thing as law and order it's all about how rich you are

大石金曜日

She didn't came to Mexico to teach Korean, SHE BEGAN WORKING IN A KOREAN COMPANY IN MEXICO that abused its employees, that's why she left and started teaching Korean

Julian B

@大石金曜日 korea work ethic is NOT for the lazy or weak.

inflatedick

one of my closest friends was from korea and she had to beg her parents to come to school in the west as she hated it in south korea. she was constantly overworked, pressured, stressed, exhausted and even bullied by other classmates. eventually after convincing, she made it to california and she says she doesn't regret it at all. she often travels back home to visit her friends and family for weeks at a time, but even there she complains that she wants to come back to the states. its crazy how schooling in different parts of the world could be very different.

Hyper Smash

It’s the same thing in many asian countries. I’m from Sri Lanka but i moved to Australia. And my friends back there go to private classes from 8am and come back around 10pm or even later with some classes spanning around 4hrs. All this is required cus of the competitiveness in the exams. No matter if you get straight As for your subjects because only a very very small percentage get chosen so the rest have to redo the same exam and go through all that bs again. Because without a degree life will be VERY hard.

BMO na

Dang she’s rich

A S

God...

Chonk The Kitten

​@Hyper SmashAsia is a horrible place to live . Europeans and Americans are very lucky to have such free and good life 😢😢😢 , wish I could live like them

Ali

Yes, can confirm. I worked for a private school in SK. I also did a midnight run and suffered from PTSD (diagnosed) afterward. The thing about CCTV is true, I had parents watch me teach in groups in another room. I've had parents threaten to sue the school for very minuscule reasons. I've seen co-teachers have breakdowns, an ambulance had to come. I've had parents literally take pictures (while hiding) of me while I was outside with the kids. I've had children attack me, claw my face...definitely the worst experience of my life. I had previous experience in Korea for an internship and came back to teach, so I thought things would be fine.

nonochangbinno

i’m so sorry you’ve been through all of that, no one deserves it. you are so strong

Alex Cook

If you want to teach in Korea, go through the government programs and teach at a government school, not a hagwon. The pay is much better, the amount of paid leave is much better and everything is far better regulated in general. Only down side is that the government will decide where you go which could end up being in the middle of nowhere in a tiny town. As long as you end up in a half decent sized city you'll have a great time.

k

I heard that starting next year public school teachers are just getting the minimal 11 days of paid leave per year (15 in your second year). The other days where the students are on vacation you have to deskwarm.

Alex Cook

@k they want to go from 26 days paid leave to 11? I think you've got some misinformation there. There'd be a riot if they tried that.

Mazvita Selemani

Yeah no. I heard enough to know that you shouldn't teach in Korea, PERIOD

Alex Cook

@Mazvita Selemani I've been teaching here for 6 years at an elementary school. It's great.

Alex Cook

@k I asked my brother about this and he says he'd also read those posts on waygook but that somebody who speaks better Korean clarified that it's all a misunderstanding due to a poor translation of a tweak in the labor law and we will still be getting our full 26 days paid leave next year.

KamisKisses CSL

I had a friend who went to South Korea as a part of an ESL program. She barely made it back. She told me of how horrible both teachers and students were treated. Suicide was normalized among the students and the daily workload was 12 to 14 hours or more. The only benefit she got was that she paid off her student loans when she got back.

Chappy Llama

That was scary... I'm gald she made it back

Nene

Recently a youtuber I watch talked about her experience teaching in a hagwon and the similarities are much. She had to deal with racism from parents, the students were violent to her and she couldn't do anything to defend herself, the school gave them more work than what they were supposed to, the school provided food for the teachers( leftovers of what the students ate), one time they made a teacher kneel and apologise to the parents. From her experience it was wild and this wasn't even the entire thing

Seri~

I have also seen that video

Seri~

I guess it was by queentiwa

AUG A3

Kneeling in any case isn't acceptable. Making people kneel for anyone must be considered as crime smh. I wouldn't tolerate that at all

Mandu 666

I seriously doubt she ever interacted with the parents.

SHEESHAW

@Mandu 666 why

Bigdude

Former hagwon teacher here. I have lived in Korea since 2016 and still do. Now I work in a public school and love it. Stories like that are very common. My first hagwon lasted about two months and then it ended up shutting down. None of the staff was paid our salaries and the secretary got us a lawyer to go after the hagwon owner. We were eventually compensated about seven months later.

Also for many hagwons, the teachers have to make progress reports about the students. Nothing wrong with that right? Unfortunately we have to lie on the reports about a students progress. If a student is doing poorly or if we provide suggestions on how they can improve, we would have to rewrite the reports bc its too harsh and the parents would complain. It's very common for the Korean parents, especially the mothers, to complain and threaten to pull their child out of the hagwon. And of course, the directors/business owners would bow to the moms and comply.

David Harrow

How does the public school differ to the private schools.

Matthew Eciima

In Uganda, if you lie and are caught, you can lose your teaching license. Whether it's a public school or private.

Bigdude

@David Harrow Public schools are run by the education office of the province you work at. Public school jobs have not as much horror stories as hagwons, but being a government job it's more stable and you're less likely to get screwed.

Jess

@David Harrow Hagwons are not actually private schools. They are more like an after-school programs where students go to study more.

뇽안97

I was lucky to work at a hagwon that was not as strictly controlled as these places.. but there definitely were some issues.. and the biggest part was the kids were so overwhelmed. They would come from a different hagwon and then go to a different hagwon afterwards and another after that until late at night. Their whole day consisted of waking up to go to school, going to various hagwons, then going home to finish homework and going to bed for school the next day. And these are elementary schoolers. When I was in elementary school, I just remember coming home from school and playing outside for hours then doing homework for like one hour. And I made it through college lol. They need some freedom..

jztouch

There’s a show on Netflix calle the Extraordinary Attorney Woo and one episode deals with this issue. You may be familiar with it. I found it to be very well-written and emotional. It’s hugely popular in Korea and globally so this issue is getting more attention that way I think.

Pheelyp

I echo ​@jztouch's recommendation of the episode in Netflix's Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It was a touching experience.​

eliedabelly

As a former student this reminds me of my SAT and SSAT hagwons in Korea. I was completely overworked during the summer "breaks" from ages 13-17. Expected to memorize 25 vocab words each morning to be tested on, write a short essay everyday, and finish a plethora of math problems. I just remember trying to memorize the vocab in the 30 minute car rides to the hagwon before class and using weird cheats with the alphabets to do so. Weird sexual vibes in the classrooms too but it was coming from the students (eg. one girl bent across to close the windows and all the boys would try to look under and giggle lol, and while she left the classroom they would kinda talk about her in a disrespectful way). I think it was important for the teachers to have some kind of appeal (not sexual per se but just expected to have good looks appearance wise). Funny that I never applied to any American school and went to a Canadian uni instead so I didn't have to do any of that in the first place

My mom was the one who sent me to that hagwon in the summer even when I went to middle and high school in Canada, and when we lived in Korea I was sent to multiple hagwons (math, english, hanja, swimming, ballet, piano, violin, art, even went to lego hagwon for physics LOL) after kindergarten and grade school. I remember crying to my mom telling her that I don't want to do it or at least to make me go to one less hagwon and she wouldn't budge. She'd hit me sometimes if I don't listen to her. I also just remember that a lot of the students would slack off in class except one or two who did REALLY well. They'd sometimes bully the teachers as well. The hagwons make money off of parents' greed for their children imo, and a lot of their ways of thinking is very competitive, like my child has to be better than your child. I really think it ruins them, iuno it ruined me too for a while - definitely made me burnt out and anti social and it took a long time to see that I don't need to be smart to be loved. They also really overvalue meritocracy. It wasn't uncommon for parents to compete with their children, even when the children were friends with each other. It's interesting to hear this from a teacher's persepective and how "discipline" is seen as something that's forced, like in North Korea

Phil Gamer

That sounds so horrible. Hopefully your mind is somewhat healed from that ordeal. It's no wonder Korea has a high suicide rate. I was physically abused when I was younger. It affected my sleep because I would have panic attacks at night and I would wake up screaming. I don't have them anymore but I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

steve5123456789

How's your relationship with your mother? And was the system effective for price paid in blood?

A S

They would compete with their CHILDREN?!! WTMF!!!

Tilgo

gah, ive never gone to a hagwon, but i did go to a school similar to that. i was only able to get 5 hours or less of sleep wvery day, constantly dojng homework and studying to pass my classes. ive had friends who've almost died from the overworking. it's hell on earth

M. Springs

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what I've heard while I lived there. It is possible to find a good hagwon but it's rare. Almost everyone seems to have a horror story.

To share a few experiences, me and my friends (Korean and foreign) experienced/witnessed: teachers who behaved like predators towards students ignored because they had the right look or were older, owners knowingly exposing kids to COVID just to make a buck, suicidal or abused students asking for help getting ignored by teachers, teachers having timed bathroom visits and needing to ask for permission, hagwon owners breaking into apartments, placing teachers in unsafe housing or suddenly/illegally removing them (making them homeless), firing teachers after temporary medical issues or assault, leaving small children in unsafe conditions or feeding them spoiled food , coteachers told to spy on foreignerd, Fats told to report activity during COVID while KTs didn't follow regulations themselves, kids being abused or talked about inappropriately (i.e- sexually), refusing proper or fair treatment because the children were poor, racism towards mixed race kids, teachers showing up drunk, favoritism that led to verbal and physical abuse of other teachers, teachers not receiving lunch or overtime/holiday, owners not releasing teachers from jobs so that they could work elsewhere, suddenly illegally removing housing of foreigners (causing them to be homeless), items thrown at teachers openly, public shaming and isolation of teachers, rejecting qualified teachers based on race or hiring them and treating them like crap because they resent having to hire them, making poorer or lower students take the blame for fights and bullying to not lose a student the deem as more important, etc. I could go on.

Korea has a lot of great aspects but hagwons seem to really highlight and thrive in the darker, less productive parts of society. I think it most takes a toll on people who really care about the children. Many people see it as a necessary evil t compré in society so I don't see hagwons changing much in the immediate future.

Bigdude

Its like mobile gacha games type a rare to find a good hagwon

이민자들 Immingrants

I am so sorry that you had to experience this in Korea. I am so ashamed of my country listening stories like yours. Thank you for speaking up. I hope that this issue gets more attention and somehow things get better in the near future. It's long way to go I know, but I want to stay hopeful seeing the progress the country made in the last few decades. Things like this are NOT OKAY to any human beings.

TheMadameKarnak

Thank you for this post

V. Hansen

In Korea I dated 3 Korean girls and all of them told me how they had been physically abused by teachers their whole lives. We think we have problems in the West, these kids experience unimaginable trauma, many end their lives. It really made me depressed just listening to these stories. Nobody deserves this kind of life

V. Hansen

asdf True, it was banned in 2012 but it started for the kids as early as elementary school.
Maybe it was more common to punish boys, but it definitely happened among girls too, with no holding back. The girls I knew were no trouble makers, they were just normal, gentle people.

Some of the things you could be punished for:
- not paying attention
- answering a question wrong
- having a decrease in grades
- drawing some kind of cartoon that might not be deemed appropriate
- forgetting something at home
- leaving the school area for 5 minutes because you forgot something

It's not just the pain, but also the fact that you have to go in front of the class and go into humiliating positions. This is to lower self-esteem and increase obedience.

Also the teachers didn't follow the rules. You are only supposed to hit them 5 or 10 times but many times the teacher would hit them more than that. They would also sometimes not use the stick but some other more painful devices like edged rulers.

The things that I've heard were sometimes pretty messed up, I think some of the teachers were perverts who got excited when hitting girls. although Koreans often laugh about it, I think because they thought at the time it was a pretty normal thing.

kim wang

Fun fact: those of us who've been through corporal punishment didn't know we didn't deserve it at the time. I went to a Christian boarding school and the worst I can remember is:
A teacher had us kneel from 6:30 pm all the way to 10pm on cold Kenyan floors. Worst part is we had to leave the classrooms on our knees through a murram road which was connecting the dorms to classes. Crazy times✌️. We were 400 girls aged 9-14 years.
Also one time the matron actually poisoned the food🤦‍♀️ and some girls had to be rushed to hospital with violent diarrhoea and vomiting. If anyone from my school ever finds this comment, let's reminisce of our times in that school 🥺🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭😭

V. Hansen

@kim wang Yea that's right, if children receive this physical punishment from a young age, at some point they start to believe that this is normal and they deserve it.

Some of the stuff I have heard is unspeakable from a European perspective.

fauhwn

my parents both grew up in korea. my mother would always talk about how every student spent entire days studying and how she would go home at the dead of night like it was normal. being raised in the u.s. this was abnormal for me, but i didn't think much of it. however, now suicide and stress levels in korean students are extremely high and i'm glad this is being addressed

MrWadewynn

midnight runs are pretty damn funny. I have been a coworker of several midnight runners, and the aftermath is pretty hilarious watching the owners scramble to figure out why it happened... again lol. Sure I had to pick up a little bit more work, but the level of anger and hatred on the owners faces was priceless. I kept in contact with the runners to let them know the 411. Owners basically try to call them or email them overseas demanding a cancellation fee, obviously didn't work. They then decided to press the recruiter for cancellation fees, lol also a fail. I knew the recruiters so we laughed our asses off about it. It's just great fun. I have always finished my contracts and I have been given renewals, so I generally don't have a problem. But I know how shitty hagwon owners can be, so its one of my great joys living here.

E J

I love how you are like just watch it burn 😂

MrWadewynn

@E J tell the truth, you think it’s pretty damn funny too

Nabi

Everything she said was spot on. I worked at two separate hagwons over the course of a year and a half. Though the second one was slightly less hellish than the first both were truly awful experiences.
At my first hagwon a lot of the teenage students were suicidal and openly told me how depressed everyone was. My Korean co-workers were overworked- one of them only got one day off a week and worked until 11PM on Saturdays. I also had little kids fall asleep in class.
I dealt with students grabbing me and touching me inappropriately- when I'd bring this up to my director nothing was done. I was told my clothing was inappropriate (I was wearing a floral elbow length shirt that was just below my neck with black pants) and told I should dress more "feminine". Was compared to my co-worker that comes into work wearing heels and dresses.
Sometimes students would forget their workbooks and I'd had to photocopy the pages for them to work on. I got yelled at whenever I did this even though it was policy to do so. I got annoyed so I started photocopying the pages I knew we were doing before class just in case a student forgot their book (which was usually guaranteed). I got yelled at for this too.
They never ordered workbooks on time and my students would constantly re-cover subjects they were confident on.
The last straw for me (and for them I suppose since I got fired) was I was teaching a class and saw the husband of my director constantly checking in my class. I asked if everything was ok and was given the green light to keep going. I taught the class this way for two weeks. After the two weeks the director called me into her office and said I was teaching the class wrong from the first lesson.
My second hagwon wasn't as bad... they weren't late with pay and the director was more helpful with apartment, doctors, bills, government paperwork etc.
But a lot of the same problems persisted including a new one- I saw the director hitting the kids. A LOT.
They too were going to fire me cause I often voiced my dislike for corporal punishment. But I had to stay on an extra few months as my replacement couldn't make it due to COVID.
My advice? If you want to teach in Korea go to a public school- every person I've met that's worked in one have had it WAY better.

A S

"They too were going to fire me cause I often voiced my dislike for corporal punishment." Wtf...

Eleanor Slim

This is affecting millions and millions of Korean and Japanese students... I'm glad someone spoke about it... I remember my girlfriend couldn't sleep at nights.. because she always thought she was back in Korea... studying for her exams... and her teacher was calling her stupid... she would get up screaming perspiring... but you know what... people can't do anything... absolutely anything about it... I wish someone could take a stand against them against them and bring them down. And BTW the successful kids are treated like shining beacons of examples... they treat them like celebrities when then return...

spicy mango

Yep, I worked in a hagwon, and I did the midnight run a couple years ago. I taught at a public school in another province before then, but that particular school cut several corners in the English department. I wasn't treated as badly as I was at the hagwon, but the principle called me--among other things--stupid in front of the other teachers when we were all out to dinner. Sucks because it seemed like a career dream come true, but it certainly was sobering/humbling to be treated like poop every day!!

Solo Girls Travel Guide

I taught at two hagwons in South Korea. The first Hagwon was intense. CCTV in every room and overworked students. The second hagwon was a lovely experience for me, my co-teachers and the kids. We had such freedom. As these hagwon's are privately owned businessess, like any business, the way its run depends on the owner. If you're interested in teaching in South Korea, you can look up "Green List" schools that teachers love and "Black List" schools that teachers hate.

Artemis

It's pretty similar to my experience as well. Teaching was my first job ever. And the way I was overworked for almost no salary is so horrendous. Teachers were like the punching bag for everybody, from the students to the management to the parents. My advice, NEVER EVER become a teacher and only do so as the absolute last resort.

TishaTheBrave

After watching a Korean Drama called "Sky Castle" I was horrfied to see just how much pressure the students are under to do well in school, lots of pressure by their parents and hearing this I knew the teachers must of been really overworked. A lot of the times we as a society are so concerned about reputation that we put it above our mental health and well being and that is so fucking sad. I feel so sorry for this person especially concerning the sexual harrasment, no one should have to deal with that. I really hope that the generation moving forward will break the stupidity of conforming and being hush hush about these things.

Rene K

U should watch jungle fish 2 too. Also highlight how bad the school culture is

TishaTheBrave

@Rene K oo thanks for the reccomendation

Rene K

@TishaTheBrave you're welcome 😊

pervontoast

I worked for Japan Foundation in UK, would say that the worst bullying I've ever experienced was from my female boss. It was a shock to me, and I had lived in Japan before. She wasnt the only one at the office, but certainly the worst.

Jess

Thank you so much for this interview!! Would it be possible to try to do more of these? There are SO many teachers with horror stories but how english teachers get treated in korea isn't well known unless you're a teacher yourself. We don't really have a voice here in korea so there's not much that can be done without outside help

Marga Esperanza

My dear Korean friend "fled" to the Philippines in the middle of her junior year. We became close and at the time I really wanted to know why she moved here. It wasn't until we got into college that she told me her sad story, how brutal her life was as a student back home. It's been more than ten years, and she married a local and had a child. She told me she will never let her son study in South Korea.

Kenzaa14

Even a public school ?

Kelah Cash

"This is not rare."
That was definitely a punch to your heart.

And what's devastating is- this only creates cycles. That type of dehumanizing, minimalizing abuse only creates numb human beings that keep their heads down to survive or ones who run so that there's a revolving door of new unsuspecting victims who choose the same two options or even end their lives 😞

It's so heart breaking, disgusting & enraging.
Lord, help them smh. What a devastating mess.

Strega 0

I teach ESL online and when I hear what some of my students go through when they talk about their hagwon is just simply heartbreaking. Thanks for shedding a light on this situation.

foxygrandpa

I'm an ESL teacher and I've thought about teaching in Korea but wowww after seeing this I'm so saddened. Honestly, once you spend a couple years in the education field you realize how fck up a lot of things are.

Daniel Demicco

Teach in a public school. It's an easy job with regulated teaching hours and working conditions.

softerseas

Not all hagwons are like this. A lot of them are awesome and a joy to work at. Just gotta understand the landscape and be discerning.

C Jo

Only apply in EPIK!

kakuella

Like what others'said, seek position in public school. You may not placed in "fun" major cities but it's running by government so you won't have to worry about these types of issues mentioned in the video. It's mostly about private owner business. Aka. they will try to milk you as much as possible.

The Dao Dude

Go to Korea, but only if you can make it into a government-backed public school program (ex: "EPIK" - English Program in Korea).

Salaries are decent, and there are more safeguards in place for Guest English Teachers (i.e. a chain of command that the school reports to).

As a general rule, do NOT go to a private "Hagwon."

Sae-Mi Kim

I’m Korean and I’ve mostly taught English in hakwons in Korea both in Seoul and Jeju. I’ve had a few ups and downs with my boss but nothing like this. I had no idea this is what the foreign teachers were getting treated (I have only worked one international student, rest all Koreans). I don’t know which hakwons you worked at but this story needs to get out more. I hope there’s an internal investigation into this because this is no way anyone should be treated. I am so appalled.

wantto watchtv

Really sorry and sad that you had to go through that :( glad you made it out safely. Also I think the whole "work till you drop" culture is considered "normal" in most places in Asia and Southeast Asia, I experienced it too and I too got very depressed

StrongMinds Education

What a terrible experience. So sad to hear this. Appreciate the bravery of sharing this. Hopefully shared stories like this one will help to bring about change.

Yoongi'ssoundeffects

I thought Korean movies were exaggerating. I was like sure there's some bullying but it absolutely cannot be this bad. Because how can human beings and even kids possibly be so mean and toxic? Turns out it's even worse in real life. And it's a really good explanation for why their fandoms are usually so toxic, because there environment in general is really toxic. What's even more crazy is their beauty standards.

Alfred F. Jones

I am glad someone is talking about it I wish I could talk about my experience because foreigners are not seen as human. I was stalked by my boss, endured workplace harassment, and was blamed when students misbehaved. Foreigners are no more than pets to some of them.

Faith. Love. Hope.

Thank you for sharing these stories and helping me know the world better and see different experiences and perspectives. It's horrific what happens in these places and how people treat other people.

Vicky 비키

Thank you for this, @Vice!! I had a very similar experience, though mine was worse because I had to quarantine as soon as I arrived, and was left in a filthy apartment (I don’t mean dirty, I mean mold and insects and bedding what was stained and unwashed) with no food, and no way to leave to get anything. My school was “too busy” to help me. Luckily I had a friend in-country who did help me. I had many of the same issues with my school that this teacher did, and some others that is too much to get into here. But for people comment, and say we are pampered westerners, or we should have done our research, or well I had a great experience there, let me say these things. We are not idiots, we are well-educated professionals looking to do something different in our lives and learn a new culture. Some people don’t make an effort, but they are the exception. I learned some of the language before I left, but we are all told we don’t need it (lie). I did my research, looked online, talked to friends, etc. Korea has very strict anti-defamation laws which will land you in court if you speak out against abusive hagwon owners and “damage their business.” Probably why she had to wear a mask, why the Blacklist is out dated and incomplete, why there is very little online. I also went through a recruiter, who had been recommended to me through some contacts, and who ended up sending me somewhere he knew was bad and couldn’t keep teachers, along with my 2 other ESL coworkers (who quit right after I did, both of them). Even if you do everything right, you can — and many many do — end up at a horrible school. It’s just the nature of the beast there.
We had no breaks, no lunch. This isn’t being soft, especially as a woman, we have to be able to use the restroom freely, I don’t care where you are from. The Korean teachers had it worse than we did. Why they ever choose that career I’ll never know. Payday was fluid, and we never got paystubs, even though we asked and asked. I have no idea if they were even paying my pension and healthcare like they should have (which would have been blamed on me by the govt if they hadn’t). And yes, these things are illegal and they know it. But opening a case with MOEL takes months, and you have to be in-country, so if you do a midnight run for your health and sanity, good luck winning that case. You can also hire a lawyer, but that takes money most ESL teachers don’t have. And this story didn’t even get into the famous “11th month firing” that Korea is famous for, where they find a reason to fire you before you can collect your 1 year bonus.
I could go on but I won’t. If you had a great experience there teaching, I’m happy for you, you should feel lucky. If you’ve never taught there, then please don’t comment on what you think we should have done or what it’s like, etc. because frankly you have no clue what you are talking about.

bantangsiregi

I attend a Korean International school, and I've never attended a hagwon in my life. But this happening near my classmates everyday and them not knowing is what makes this shocking.

It's a me

There's this Korean movie called Silenced and it's based on a real story about a new teacher at a school of hearing impaired CHILDREN and he finds out about all the horrible things that happen inside the school.

The movie really made me feel disgusted to even be human, I couldn't believe such a thing even happened in real life.

Ren

What a world we live in

AletheAce

I lived in Busan for nearly 7 years, between 2008-2014. While I lived the expat international school life, I did have exposure to the insane competitiveness that Koreans are exposed to. They're literally expected to study from 7am until 10pm, always get perfect grades, and somehow also excel at an instrument and sport. In my international school, we had many Koreans from middle class families who paid stupid amounts just so their children can grow up in an environment that's not a pressure cooking shark tank.

Lodria

crazy doesn’t sound much different from my experiences working for a korean company in america at 19; heard a manager openly say to someone, you can have the day off, if you go out with me(the girl in question was under 20 he was middle aged).
sexual harassment, verbal and some physical abuse, racism, overworked and underpaid personel, dishonest business practices.

thatguy ™

Same, I worked a well-known banquet hall in my state. Some of the stuff i saw traumatized me :(.

siren

My husband is Korean and grew up in their school system until he was 13. His teacher once slapped him so hard his glasses flew across the room. That same teacher also looked at porn in class. Hopefully the corporal punishment has simmered down since the 2000s

Zigzag Lychee

All of these stories are really common if you just listen to people on YouTube talking about their experiences in hagwons. No bathroom or lunch breaks, sometimes not being provided food and having to eat scraps, being forced to teach subjects you're not legally allowed to teach or aren't qualified to teach, sexual harassment, harsh penalties for breaking contract and inadequate housing are all very common stories. The sexual harassment story doesn't surprise me either sadly. Korea has just had a very misogynistic election and there's a massive brothel/porn culture.

Olivia Gambrel

I worked at a hagwon as well last year. I got 0 breaks with a 10 minute lunch break, if you could call it that. I wasn't allowed to leave during eating and had to watch and help the kids eat as well. The director would interrupt me while eating too and give me work to do. One of my coworker's lost a lot of weight due to this and had digestive/stomach issues. I lost a lot of weight working there too. Also because they would allows expect us, more-so demand, that we work 1-2 hours later every day unpaid. I would be exhausted by the time I got home and wouldn't feel like cooking dinner. It was horrible and I ended up leaving because I started getting very sick. I got horrible dark circles around my eyes that were red and I thought to myself... "when have I ever looked like this?" I only looked like that after a major surgery and my body was under a lot of stress, so it was very alarming that being overworked had me resembling a previous post surgery pic. Also, they do control the coworkers speaking to each other. The coworkers, before I joined, had signed a contract that they would not interact outside of work. Such a toxic environment. They threatened to sue after I left with a 30 day notice...

silver spoon

this the first time i heard about this matter and it’s so messed up. i feel bad for every teacher that went through such things.

i was quite shocked when i watched and read the comments as in my country, private schools known to have better facilities than public schools. people paid for private schools while public schools mostly free because they are covered by government. so the fact that private schools are like this in korea shocked me.

i believe it’s also because the whole education environment is different from my country.

Chudori Dori

This is more like cram school instead private school.

Es City

Agree

Njarasoa Rumpf

I heard so many similar stories I cant believe this is still happening.
This is horrendous for everyone, students, teachers

Lueenim

I studied middle school to highschool in south Korea. We lived in anyang buy went to school in seoul. We (me & 3 siblings) went to hagwons the 1st few years coz we werent good with korean and we needed to catch up with their curriculum. Since we were one of the few foreign kids in that hagwon we became friends with some of the foreign teachers. I knew something was iffy with those hagwons when (some) those korean teachers would cut in my convos with my foreign teacher and "lean" too close to her. Sometimes they would "greet" me and try to talk to me but leaning too close for my comfort. And even a handful of my teacher friends would tell me not to go close to certaim teachers or stay away from them. I couldnt imagine the horrors that these hagwon teachers face multiple times.

BHavya Datta

I'm sorry that many people like yourself have gone through something so horrible. I hope there are some laws that can help in situations like this to sue those bastards.

Rashed Usman

It's always good to have a plan B, because things are not always what they seem. Such places wouldn't exist if they couldn't find people willing to be humiliated. The same aplies to almost every job, because in a lot of cases the management consists of psychopathic personalities.

thatguy ™

Yes, that's true. I've met one.

Annie Imbrie

I worked at hagwons from 2014-2016, and I cannot tell you how many times I heard stories like this. It is extremely prevalent within the industry

Bro Dude

At this point you have to assume it has to do with Korean culture.

Hibiscus 🌺

That is such a toxic environment for students and teachers. It’s sad to hear people being treated like that.

Joe

I worked in korea for 1 year and I can confirm that the struggle is real. The stress can really push you to new mental limits you didn't know you were capable of.

Sakshi Shukla

Hi VICE
I have just discovered your channel and was amazed at the depth of your content. I am a teacher in India. And I am sure that if you were to ask Indian students their experience of coaching classes (Indian equivalent of hagwon), their stories would be just as horrifying if not more.
There is a another request I would like to make. In this video many teachers came forward and shared their stories as well. I too have been through severe mental abuse as a teacher in the the four short years I have worked in CBSE school. The last of which disturbed me so deeply that I left my job on the spot and have been in depression ever since. If you ever decide to make a similar video, I would like to submit my story as well

Yumi

It's not only hagwons. I've lived in Korea for 10 years, and working for Korean companies was just pure nightmare. Your boss basically expect you to be a psychic. They tell you to do something and then on the next day they suddenly and entirely change their plans, and even accuse you for not following the instructions that were only in their heads. My husband worked for two different high schools in Korea and I've heard so many horrible things that those spoiled kids /lazy teachers did as well. We knew life there was suffocating, but didn't realise how stressed we were until we left Korea. Never going back.

Unicornbooty9

I worked at two hagwons (and one Christian private high school- my hagwon rented me out one year lol) during my years in Korea and oh the stories I could tell..we all have them! Though there was a select few hagwons that were actually not bad to work at - those were very few and far between.

Dazarabia

I was a teacher for 7 years working in Hagwons and a university and while I had some weird and bad experiences there I managed to minimize and manage them. With every bad experience I had many more positive ones, and overall I loved my students and my (Korean) coworkers, and have a deep respect for Koreans overall and their culture. Most of the expats I worked with had issues, many of them had mental ones, including alcoholism. Some expat male coworkers made it their mission to sleep with vunerable young Korean girls which they made no secret of, which disgusted me. Its a two way street. Just here to provide balance.

Phat Phil

My employer made us turn in our gas, electricity, and water bills. She said she'd deduct the amount out of our paychecks and use that money to pay the bills. She did deduct it from our pay, but she wouldn't use the money to pay the bills. All of the foreign teachers ended up with no water, no electricity, and no gas in our apartments. My mother lived in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, so I tried to tough it out for as long as I could since what I experienced was no worse than what she experienced. But as the foreign staff quit, I had to start teaching their former classes in addition to mine. The Korean staff kept talking about how bad foreign people were for quitting, and that was the last straw for me. I pulled a midnight runner too. There's a lot of racism in Korean society too. I was banned from Bundang Jesaeng Hospital for being foreign, Zonskin Korean dermatology clinic in Bundang for being foreign, one restaurant, and one bus (route 1151).

ภ๏ย

I'm sorry that you had to go through that... It's awful, did all of this happen recently?

Whi Bahar

“Being banned for being foreign”. 😔 What an isolating, awful experience. I’m sorry this happened to you. No one deserves that.

Luke Targett

What do you mean she made you? YOU gave her your personal bills.
You had a choice.
People bowing down and letting this happen are part of the problem.
So it affects others in the future.

Bianca Oliveira

@Whi Bahar Believe me This is NOT an isolated experience lol Awful? Yes. But not isolated.

V

@Luke Targett You are wrong. You don't understand what it is like. The school pay your rent, you loose everything if you soeak out.

Laura

i agree that her situation isn’t rare and it’s horrible!! for the kids and teachers. however there are plenty of great hagwons. you have to look for red flags and ask the right questions during the interview process! i’ve worked at my school for 3 years and i love it here!!

Nick Harris KPOP

As many others have said, it's really a case by case situation. My first year teaching in Korea was similar to this woman's- absolutely terrible experience. After that I found a terrific hagwon and really enjoy it. This will be my fourth year working at the new academy, so not every place is terrible!

Alice Goodenough

I also broke my contract and ran from the Hagwon I was working in. It was one of the worst experiences, and it was the worst job I've ever had, by far.

Fergal Cussen

Same here. Was there 14 years ago and still have a grudge about how I was treated.

ClaraBell3452

The worst things I encountered was having to work no matter how sick we were. Once a teacher was throwing up in a bin behind their podium and still lecturing at the same time.
Another was reporting child abuse and then being told to shut up and keep it a secret because then they'd loose the parents patronage. They never gave me my pension. They made me come in early and stay late for no additional pay. One time, my boss made me stay late so that she could criticize everything about me. She made me stand in front of her and the supervisor and rattled off a bunch of things like, "you're too short, you're voice is too soft, you look too Korean (I'm 100 percent white), you don't stand straight enough, your hair is ugly..." Etc. Then proceeded to make me mock teach her while she criticized everything I did. This went on for like 2 hours. I think she was trying to break me.

Samira Bello

Wow and u stood for 2hours another grown up telling you trash I might have been deported that night cause blows will definitely follow or am gonna ridicule her looks since they are so keen about looks she will never forget my face...

ClaraBell3452

@Samira Bello the saddest thing is that by that point I was already so beaten down that I couldn't even defend myself.

A S

"You look too Korean" LMFAOOO WTF EVENN

A S

This stuff is straight out of nightmares. Korea is my motherland through mother's side, but hearing these kind of nightmare stories honestly makes me want to cut off all ties with that country... every one...

attacko

I spent a year in Korea and my translator definitely made it feel like the value of human life and respect for human feelings is different, I think we forget it took a long time to get where we are and we still even struggle with this in the United States☹️

I think the scariest thing is lack of solid ground underneath legal paperwork, completely different from US

Abimaellopez maylord 27 Lopez

My Korean friend felt better when she went to american schools and she didn’t want to go back to korea

ctnative203

No excuses for being a a bad person ! No one forgot anything people are just giving thier personal experience .

LovelyHavoc

I actully have something to say abt this.

i lived in Korea until i was 7 years old/i finished first grade in primary, then i moved to Germany.

I used to go to a Kindergarden that became my Hagwon(it isn't Hakwon, it is Hagwon) after i went into the first grade.

now, school was pretty easy back then, especially as a first grader with nothing much to do.
the real problem started at the Hagwons.
Im gonna list them to make them more easy to visualize:
1.) Hagwons usually took longer than normal school.

2.)the difficulty in the hagwon was drastically different to normal schools.
we were learning 3rd/4th grade stuff in first grade. But the best part is, that it was an english-based hagwon. the teachers were(6~7/10 times) not from Korea, which made the work environment a lot 'easier'.

3.)Even then, my Hagwon ended at almost 9pm each day and the teachers would often give us homework that required at least 2+ hours at the time.
add homework from regular school to the equasion and you are going to bed at 11 to 12pm as a first grader :)

4.)when i was in Germany, my cousin, who i really admired and loved, died to cardiac arrest after not being accepted by the Universities he applied to. he was 19.
Now i know he had eating disorders and whatnot, but i don't think he died of cardiac arrest. Suicide seems much more realistic to me, since i have been suicidal(on and off, not anymore thankfully) for the last few years now and know how it feels.

Korea is a great country. don't get me wrong. I love my culture, language(as far as possible) and so much more. I don't like the fact that i have to serve in the military, however i think that serving in the military might come in handy later in life.
What i hate about Korea is the constant competition of who will be 1st place in an exam. this 'competition' chases you until you retire. that is a problem. you can't put a 20 year old Volkswagen with a f1 car and expect the Volkswagen to win.
some will crack under the pressure.

with that being said, i truely hope that these Hagwons chill tf out.

ginger

"Korea is a great country"? What's great about this?

LovelyHavoc

@ginger i don't know, the people, the fact that we have achieved democracy on our own(look it up, korea has a history of military uprising), the fact that we have... what, 5~6000 year long culture, the fact that a lot of that is documented, the fact that we are ranked at 6th place at military power even though we are a small country(well, 6th place might not be very accurate, but top 10 for sure), my list goes on and on.

why would you ask a korean such a question?

LovelyHavoc

@ginger why won't you research for yourself?

Kīrīakū

This is pretty upsetting. I watched a video of someone talking about a movie that covered all the abuses and corruption that happens in Korean schools for special needs kids and troubled kids. The uploader said that at the time, the movie sparked so much outrage and controversy from all the things it exposed that reforms were forced to happen. But I can see here that there’s still much that needs to be done about the Korean school systems.

Juliuse Marc Samaniego

What movie and what video? I'm interested

PREETHIKA E

@Juliuse Marc Samaniego silenced

Lance Millward

I taught English in Japan for 3 years. Some foreign teachers had bad experiences some only lasted a few weeks. Others like my wife and I loved our schools and the teachers we worked with.

lllllllllll

why are u bringing japan in here? different country dude

Lance Millward

@lllllllllll teaching English in a different country is often about culture shock the teacher experiences. I know people who taught in Korea and elsewhere. They had mixed experiences. One persons bad experience does not mean all schools are like that.

Mark Carat

Wow this is horrible. Seems like these kind of workplaces feed off isolating both teachers and students. I hope this can change one day :(

me

After watching this, I feel so relieved that i m not born in Korea and dont have to face this. That being said Korea is not what it projects itself to be. People need to understand that what we see in dramas is all just a illustration that they are painting. I m so tired of hearing people say great things about Korea, without having even been to Korea, just based on what they see and hear. Nobody talks(expect yt channels like Vice) about what is actually happening underneath all the fancy illusions.

xGIJewx

This experience is almost the norm, and I’ve heard far, far worse. The place I worked was a shitshow that would have been shutdown in any other developed country, but I had it relatively sweet compared to most hagwon teachers.

Rick James

Man, I feel horrible that this happens. It really pisses me off. The government in South Korea needs to fix this.

Nate Harris

I knew an American English teacher at a Hagwan who also hated it. She hated her experience so much, we have exact opposite opinion of S. Korea, which is so sad to me. I had an amazing time in S. Korea and she absolutely despised being there, she said she’d rather go back to China.

Matthew Kim

Attended a hagwon (in the states) one summer that clearly prided itself on its draconian approach to discipline and authority. First day we were unexpectedly told we had to memorize 300 words or we couldn’t leave, they just told our parents we were receiving free education and they were 100% for it. 300 words (SAT) was too much for us to memorize in a few hours with no warning, so my brother and I just prepared to sleep there, they slapped our desks to keep us up (they let us go at like 2am). Again, seemed obvious to me that they took pride in “being hard, but fair” while not actually being fair, that’s just how they liked to see themselves.

It was miserable, they separated us and I spent countless hours trapped every week, 16+ hours a day. Until I found out my brother was literally just leaving, like they don’t have security or anything, he’s bigger than most of them, and it’s probably be illegal to detain us anyway. Finally realized they’re kinda pushovers and even our parents were split on who was at fault when they reported us.

Worst part is we both did really well on our SATs, I was acing the test but very begrudgingly.

Matthew Kim

Another thing they were doing blatantly, having students come back after taking a standardized test and passing along as many questions they could remember to students taking the test later that day. This wasn’t students being bad, this was the hagwon organizing the exchange.

I was able to answer a few SAT II calculus and physics questions instantly because I’d seen them before.

V B

not just in Korea, even in India, the quality of education or the long study hours is very common in private schools.
Frankly I didn't break down, but there is a very good possibility.
My Vice Prinicpal, used to take Natzi references for motivation and made us study for more than 13-14 hours a day at school.
and frankly, only a fraction of people were happy with it.

Wheel Scene

I worked in a hagwon run by a family and Ilsan for a year and had a great time. Everyone was really friendly and supportive. All my friends who worked in hagwons in the same city had the same experience. We were taken out for lunch and treated really well. I hope incidents like the one mentioned in this video are not common, but my year in Korea was one of the most positive I have had in my life. Returning to the UK after was actually quite intimidating.

TheeNiqabi Official

Ur lieing.

Kami

@TheeNiqabi Official are you sure? I'm just curious

s lee

​@TheeNiqabi Official nice spelling genius

Nata K.

Hahaha .. I’d believe if you’d say “I personally had good experience” .. but “everyone that I know in that city had good experience with hagwons” ..
What are you, Ilsan hagwon owner？Good English for the owner though

Pabi Phofa

This video was really triggering for me. My hagwon director abused me in so many ways to the point where he'd come to my apartment unannounced and actually knew my password to get in. He fired me multiple of times until I finally did a midnight run. I went to the labor department and eventually had 2 court cases against him but AGAIN as a foreign woman, nothing came of my case due to lack of evidence yet i had pictures, 15 audio recordings and 10 statements from previous foreign female teachers who were abused by the same man. This needs to be exposed because its ruining our lives. Thanks vice for the video.

limoncello

I'm sad this happened to you😢 Korean law is unfavorable towards women and even more so for foreigners.

Because the law can't protect us, the next best thing is to let the media know.

Personally, I would just reveal the hagwon name and the director on twitter if I were a foreigner back in my country.

Pabi Phofa

@limoncello I agree. I did want to go to the media with everything I have but defamation laws in Korea are hectic as well.

Sakshi Shukla

When it comes to India, the focus is always on the plight of students but the truth is that teachers are not having a picnic either. In the recent years, working as a teacher has become hellish rather than a privilege. I could talk about my experiences all day but I will relate a few-
No chair: In several schools, no chair for the teachers are provided in the classroom. They are supposed to stand continuously for eight hours a day. If you are seen sitting somewhere even for five minutes, you get a call from the Principal's office.
No staffroom: Even though CBSE mandates the provision of some amenities, the schools are very clever. They have a spacious and fully functional staffroom, they lock it. Benches are arranged along the corridors for the teachers. They are supposed to sit there for their ONE free period and do their work; irrespective of the weather. Whether it is blazing hot or frigid cold you cannot sit in the staffroom.
Abuse from parents and students: Yes that's right. Newspapers often cover stories of students who were bullied by teachers but that has become extremely uncommon now. The truth is that if you are a teacher in a private school, the management tells you from day one that this is a business and the students are our customers. Whatever they say or their parents say, you should listen to it quietly and accept it. Everyday, I dealt with rude and brash children who even refused to take out their books. Forget about physical punishment, if anyone as much as rebuked the student for something legitimate, you will find a furious parent and even more furious principal waiting for you after a few hours. The parents come and verbally abuse us and the management lets it happen because they need money from them. You cannot scold them if they haven't, you cannot scold them when they are not writing, it's okay if they are not studying. BUT you are responsible for their result AND their fees. You cannot call the parents and ask them to pay the fees because that is cruel but if the collection from any class falls short, it will be deducted from your salary.
I wrote more than I intended to and this is only the tip of the ice-berg.

Namjoon’s White-Striped Crab

A teacher just recently committed suicide at school and while a spotlight is being shone, I’m afraid there will be no real changes.
Im so sorry this happened to you and so many like you ❤

Sevda Mustafazadə

Never been to Korea but i know how it feels to be hopless ın a hostile work environment. My heart goes out to everyone who strugless at work.

Evisceration Contemplation

While I didn't have the worst run of it in Korea, I did get out of a terrible job and environment after just over a month upon realising it wasn't going to improve.

So, firstly I was hired illegally - I wasn't appropriately qualified at the time and usually just took filler positions while hagwons were waiting for their legitimate hires (my husband was permanently hired at a more reputable institution, hence my being there while studying for my qualification through an institute from our home base). The place in question was willing to overlook the obvious since I already held a diploma and was working toward a degree in English. I didn't get any benefits, however.

Starting a new school year meant we had a whole new intake of about 100 kids each over about 3 days. I was present for two of those days. We had literal babies screaming from angst as they was divided up into their new groups out of a single class. The kids barely had a week to get to know us before we had to do a "performance proof" class of 10 minutes to showcase what the kids were learning. You cannot imagine the pressure placed on little ones who had already completed a full day of schooling before entering our doors. Classes lasted about 50 minutes a piece, and two classes ran consecutively with a 10 minute toilet and snack break in between. Teachers would swap classes, basically covering the same material with both groups.

Now, anyone who knows a kid knows that their attention span is short. Making kids sit in a classroom for the whole day is downright abusive. I felt my heart break on the first day I started with my kiddies, and it was shattered by the time I decided to get out. The pressure for one little dude that I will never forget was insane. He would smash his head into the desk over and over again, trying to knock himself out. He would say, "Teacher, bang! Sleep!" each time. Another little girl used to hammer fist my hand if it ever reached the desk, trying to calm her resulted in screaming and tears more often than not. She left the school after her third week there. Two from my early group also left - I believe they were taken out of the hagwon system completely at that time.

The pressure of the 10 minute proof class was unreal. The kids didn't want to be perfect, because they are kids, and my videos were rejected each time I submitted. Once because it was 5 seconds too short. On the final day of recording, I had the director, the normal ego maniacal type, storm into the class and shout at me before grabbing my phone to go through it to find my recordings. Wrong move, sister! I took it back abruptly and told her that as director, she best behave with the same kind of respect she expects from teachers and students. Anyway, my video was rejected again and I resolved that evening to quit.

Since a mate of mine working at the school had gotten me the job, I did my due diligence and met with her first, explaining my decision and that I would do what I could to prevent any blow back on her. Oh, sweet child of summer! Did I have the wrong end of the stick there? She was under surveillance camera permanently after I quit - she lived in the building and was subjected to questioning on Mondays if she went out on weekends. Like, what?

Anyway, so after speaking with said human, I typed up my resignation, printed it at the shop near my apartment and skedaddled off to work for one last time. Now, I had a power play here since they parent meeting was set to happen that very week and they would have to explain what happened to their illegally hired waygook. I asked to speak with her privately at the end of the day and we meet in the biggest, emptiest room (which I am still grateful for).

I handed her my letter and she quietly read it, made as though to tear it, and then resolved to tear into me instead. Her screaming attracted other teachers to the area and I remember making eye contact with a Korean colleague (the sweetest human I met at that place) who gave me a look of something between "thanks" and "good luck". I saw her a while later and she said that she had also managed to leave and had gotten a part-time retail job. By the end of this loud ordeal, the silly woman followed me out and then tried to accuse me of stealing my own indoor slippers. She then followed me out of the property and caused a bit of a scene. The shopkeeper nearby just shook his head; I had learnt from him earlier that he disliked her immensely.

I learnt later that the hagwon had had several night runners, mostly Saffas like myself. They had been blacklisted by the school on a forum, but nothing really ever came of it. The school tried to blacklist me, but due to the illegal hire, faced the backlash themselves.

The place closed or changed management, but it remains the sole reason that I will never re-enter the hagwon system of South Korea nor teach at a Japanese cram school.

About a week before I left, the place had also lost a decade's worth of data through a ransomware scam and tried to make the foreign teaching staff carry the bill. I spoke up and said that they, the hagwon were responsible for the data breach since they had never installed any virus protection nor had updated their systems. I realised that this place was running fear into their employees, while forgetting the ironclad nature of their contractual obligations. There would be no legal grounds for them to carry that cost - but young and fresh out college people don't always realise such facts and hagwons depend on that.

A S

"Wrong move, sister! I took it back abruptly and told her that as director, she best behave with the same kind of respect she expects from teachers and students." Nice job. Good move on your part.

Fergal Cussen

Worked as an English teacher in South Korea for 6 months as well. Wasn't sexually harassed but also had a terrible experience. I was a midnight runner.

ソンスンヒョン

As a korean who has lived in korea for the majority of her life in an area famous for having a bunch of hagwons, it’s sad that I’m not even fazed by any of this. This is how normalized it’s become in Korea. Nobody bats an eye at kids being stuck in school classrooms and after-school classes sometimes to even more than 12 hours a day. Don’t forget that there are places called “study cafes,” which are basically places open for studying 24 hours a day. It was normal from where I came from to go to these study cafes after having a 3-4 hour class at a hagwon and study until 2,3 in the morning (sometimes even 4) only to have school again the very same day.
Growing up in such an area where the harsh competitive environment left my peers with no choice but to basically be forced into such activities, I grew accustomed to it and lived with it for a few years. Thankfully, my parents weren’t all that strict when it came to academics and I am now at a college overseas, so I didn’t have to partake in the KSATs (korean version of SATs) and all the soul-sucking prep that goes with it, but it’s still sad to see that those who are stuck in korea have no choice but to overstudy their asses. Of course, this isn’t the norm for every single place in korea, especially in places where parents can’t afford to splurge thousands of dollars a month for their kids’ education. I just happen to have lived in a place where it’s considered normal and almost expected.

Oh, and some kids go to 3 hagwons a day when it’s summer/winter break. So yeah, breaks in Korea aren’t really a time for resting and chilling with your friends.

Mandu 666

Breaks are for resting with your friends? Yeah, if you have rich parents like you. We should all be so lucky. I would have traded anything in the world to grow up somewhere where I could have studied art and music, not been around guns and drugs, and only had to study hard instead of getting a job at 15 years old to pay for my college. The biggest problem is Koreans don't study productively. I'll still take that over the typical small town American education.

Anton Pulvirenti

I was an English hogwon teacher about 20 years ago-it wasn’t that bad. It was hard at times. But I enjoyed the Korean culture and people. Naturally there were some things I didn’t like. However, I must have been at a good school because I was never threatened or anything like that. I did hear some horror stories about other schools though. Maybe the industry has gone downhill.

Carmen G

“It wasn’t my experience so it MUST not be true”

Anton Pulvirenti

@Carmen G I’d be very careful before going over there. You could find yourself in a really bad situation. Don’t worry, I believe the bad stories told here. I was just lucky.

s lee

​@Carmen G so woke..sjw

Carlee Walsh

I really feel for those teachers and students. That is so disgusting.

Ashu Jani34

I can't say anything regarding teacher's experience but as a student at one of these.. I think it's true for both teachers and students. These type of "private or prestigious schools" is quite a trend in Asia for rich people. Like I was a student till grade 10th at this school and it was hell.we had special 'prep classes' for students from 7:00am till 8:00 pm with only 3 half hr break. There was quite some distance b/w every student and we were tasked to learn within that specific time and then they will test us then we'll move to next one and on and on... I had to learn English, Arabic and calligraphy within these hrs along with national competitions prep too cuz they all were "Extracurricular activities" (forced)

zelinair

To me it feels like the title is misleading, but maybe it is because I am not a native English speaker. When I read the title I thought this video would be about the shitty things students go through at private schools in Korea, but it was about how private academies treat their ESL teachers. 학원 refers to the academies students go to after school, so I was really confused at first. Also, not surprised, I have heard even worse experiences from other people. I just hope she is safe now and doesn't get exposed to this kind of behavior ever again.

Bee

And I was bitter that at a point of my childhood I had to take extra classes until 5pm to skip a grade. I even promised myself not to put unnecessary pressure on my future children.

These revelations are totally a shocker.

arfer

I worked 5 years in Korean hagwons.......not the best work conditions, but they vary wildly. Some are actually run very well. I had an overall good experience, but I did work with other non-Koreans who seemed to be miserable about putting up with the same things I had to. Some people were just wound up too tight for Korea. Also, the foreign teachers need to learn that work culture is very different in Korea. Korean workers tend to just suck it up and endure long hours, micro-management, etc. Also, if you're doing a good job in the classroom and keeping the kids and their parents happy, you'll notice the boss taking care of you a lot more!

superp25

Yeah...NO. Flaunting your willingness to tolerate obvious mistreatment and defending poor working conditions just shows your lack of self esteem. Folks who think like you are part of the problem. NONE of this is OK. Please get some help.

TheGuy

@superp25 Well said. If you're willing to put up with abuse, you're just enabling your employers to continue with their toxic practices, attitudes and mindsets. Anyone who lets themselves go through that kind of abuse has zero self respect.

Glückkkkk

I think it also adds up that their culture is heavily based on seniority, you have to always obey your seniors even if what they are doing is wrong, and if you go on different track you will be treated as outcast.

yomuthabyotch

i'm american; was a hagwon teacher for a decade in korea near seoul. this is one person's experience. don't think this as representative of all hagwons. it wasn't the best job i've ever had, but it wasn't the worst.

Yessica

I follow 2 youtubers who taught in hagwons and though they sort of did loke like experience, they both had horror stories to share. one was even made to work in fields! the kids bullied them, their employers bullied them. one who set up boundaries recalls that her employers took pics of her without consent to use as promo. you got helicopter parents all over. if anything happened, the poor korean teachers had to report every little detail.