Chapter 8: Saving face and the things that really matter

Office politics are a funny thing. It’s a tug of war between your co workers and their sense of right. It’s trying to accomplish your goals and ambitions while satisfying everyone else’s in a peaceful and conflict manner. It’s true synergy and teamwork that creates an effective work environment.

It’s also next to impossible some days.

Teaching is important in Korea. As one of the only reliable and powerful resources that Korea has to offer, its priority and importance takes top billing as students are subjected to various methods of teaching and studying on a daily basis. A high school student has only one job, one goal and that is to study, to obtain a good career and make money for his or her future family. Their lives depend on it. The future of Korea depends on it.

This has led to a floodgate of different methods and opinions for the best approach to effectively teach the students. Teachers spend years honing their craft and young teachers study and are tested ad nauseum until the methods are no longer a taught method, but rather a system engrained in their mind. The number of years spent on studying methods and skills causes a teacher to strongly stand behind their beliefs and methods. They spent a good portion of their adult life learning and practicing these methods.

When different methods and different ideas clash, it can become an ugly battle royale with the student’s lesson at stake. The person who can unfortunately become caught in the middle of the cross fire is not other than the guest english teacher themselves.

A good co teacher will do more than take up space in a classroom. A good co teacher will work with you during lesson planning. A good co teacher is concerned and interested in their growth and ability of their students.  A good co teacher has a strong set of ideas for which is the best way for teaching which as mentioned earlier, will stand by with great fortitude.

It's when those ideas clash is when things get ugly.

I am not a teacher, I have had very brief experience leading a class of students or having enough knowledge to impart on them in order to provide a significant amount of effective and useful knowledge. My knowledge of English is what is valuable, and it's that knowledge that is what defines my job and the reason I stand in front of a classroom everyday. The teaching method is a process in which you steadily become better through practice, experience, observation and copious note taking from other trained professionals.

Naturally being someone who takes notice of all details and wants to become better at any given craft assigned to them, I took special care to pay attention to the other English teachers in my school, listening to their advice, welcoming their input on my lesson planning and trying to let their decisions carry weight in regards to teaching the students. After all, they are the ones who went to a university, studied long hours for a test that has a 95% failure rate and pushed untold amounts of money to furthering their education, right?

In an effort to take to heart what one teacher told me, I have caused a strong disagreement with another English teacher who feels that the methods I have used in the classroom are “wrong” and a “waste of time”.  

“Listening to myself should be the answer,” I was told.

“I think we should all gather around have a discussion,” I said to my co teacher. “Talk it out and fix this problem together.”

“No, that would cause confrontation. Just listen to me, do what you want, politely ignore the other requests and there will be no conflict.”

“I still think there should at least be a little discussion,” I said. “When there are issues such as this in America, we get together and try to fix them,” I said. “Everyone can compromise in the end.”

“That is not how it works in Korea,” my co teacher said flatly. “Take my advice and you will be much better.”

Your relationships with your co workers, especially in a private school setting is an important component in making sure your life is as smooth as possible. When trying new teaching methods and trying new suggestions, having strong relationships is essential to making them see your point of view. Relationships and friendship is very important in Korea and you are constantly adding or subtracting to those relationships by your actions and interactions.

I was used to working alone in my previous jobs, not considering the thoughts and feelings of the others who worked around me. Most of my jobs required little human interaction, I was my own taskmaster, the one who made sure things got finished smoothly.

Now I am in a position that every decisions is a critical one, everyone person I choose to listen to may negatively impact the other person helping me. Most important of all, the students are relying on me to deliver the best lesson and knowledge that I possibly can in a 45 minute period. All of the politics, all of the bickering and all of the worry must take a backseat to the most important element of the job: the students.

It is an interesting dilemma, one that is admittedly stressing me out a little. It is a series of relationships I do not fully comprehend as of yet, with actions I have made which may carry consequences in my school later on. It’s more than a little frustrating and something that causes a great deal of thought on nights when my brain attempts to go quiet.

However as important as it is, it always and will always take a backseat to the major issue at hand: students. They come first, they are the priority and the future. I cannot let them down at the cost of trying to save face.

I must continue to do what is best for them. Korea is a culture of saving face and looking good, but to put that at the cost of helping these students is something I cannot do.

I will continue to figure out relationships and their inner workings as time goes on. For now, my full attention goes to the students. A bad relationship with a co worker will only last as long as you are employed, an effective lesson that has an impact on a student will last for years and be felt by many. 


It’s obvious where my priorities should be.

Chapter 7: The Problem Process

When a problem or conflict erupts in Korea, the process to resolving the situation is done in a much more structured way than I am used to. We are taught in America to go through a chain of command, to take our complaints to the appropriate party and allow them to contact their appropriate party until the problem reaches the right channels. This practice is taken to new levels in Korea and it is a method that at first tried my patience.

I never realized how impatient I can be about certain issues until having to take an extended amount of time dealing with them. One of the most eye opening lessons here so far is that while problems are unavoidable, the process to fix them takes time. Sometimes days and in the case of large problems, weeks.

While this was a major thorn in my side at first, the time it took to deal with the issues actually helped me to appreciate the situation from a new perspective. It gave me time to think about how I looked at my problems and how I looked at the process I used to deal with different issues.

Being patient and going slow was more beneficial than I initially thought. By the time the issue had come to resolve itself, the outcome was well thought of and was something all parties could have agreed on in the end.

One of the biggest changes in Korea is being patient during times of need and times of stress. Getting mad over many issues in Korea seems like a logical and natural choice in times of stress, but when looked at from another view I came to this conclusion.

I am a visitor in their country. Whatever preconceived or familiar notions I had in the way tasks were completed would have to take a backseat to the way tasks were actually completed. This is Korea. This was their country. I am a visitor and in many ways, a guest being entrusted with the education of their children and their future. I need to think differently. I need to play by new rules.

Some people learn Korean while spending their year in Korea. Some experience new foods, travel to new places or meet new people. We fall in love and we fall out of love with places, people and things. We leave with a slew of photographs and memories of a year in a new country.

The people will not be here forever. The pictures can become lost overtime. Even our memories can become distorted and clouded as the years go on. The lessons learned here, the ones that change your perspective and change your views on living your life will always remain. They become a part of you, ingrained in your being. These are matter the most, and will follow you everywhere.

I am lucky to take these lessons and add to them everyday. I live in a country and with a job that requires one to learn from their mistakes and realize the importance of becoming a wiser person.

Even during times of stress and worry. When I am angry and not willing to do a task due to exhaustion or apathy, I stop and think about why I am here, how lucky I am to be in such a giving and dynamic country and wanting to not waste a moment on negativity.

In the end, you tend to remember good times and the lessons that came with them. The bad times tend to fade much easier and become much harder to remember.

So I don’t waste my time on them, I go and live. Learning something new everyday, becoming a little wiser and a little more like the person I aspire to become.