I Worked In Korea And Had Some Eye Opening Experiences Myself But Have Moved On To Greener Pastures And I Thought That A "Mother Of All Graylists" Could Be Of Use To Those Still "Slugging It Out" So To Speak In Korea.
Heres Something I Have To Mention About Some Troubles People Have. Please Be Aware That Minor Problems Are Very Common And No School Is Perfect. If We Listed Every School With Some Minor Non Contractual Complaint Nearly Every School In Korea Would Be Gray Listed. We Are Mainly Interested In Making Known Serious Complaints Over Things Like Unpaid Salary. Work In Korea Is Not A Walk In The Park And Will Usually Be Harder Than A Job Back Home And Many People Havn't Even Worked Full Time In Their Home Country Being Fresh Out Of College. Often People Go Over To Korea Quite Uninformed, Untravelled And With Completely Unrealistic Expectations. Life In Korea Can Be Very Challenging Especially If Its Your First Time Living Abroad. The Sort Of Complaints Of One Sort Or Another That Are Pretty Normal Include (a) Housing Thats Not Up To The Standards Of Back Home, Cockcroaches, Not Much Furniture Etc (Koreas Not A First World Country) (b) Minor lies (c) Refusing To Give Release Letters Without A Bribe (d) "Difficult" Management (Language Barriers Can Be Tricky And Different Cultural Expectations Pronunced). These Are Normal Complaints That Could Be Applied To Almost All Schools In Korea. If This Is What You Have Experienced You Shouldn't Think Anything Has Gone "Wrong". This Is TYPICAL! If This Was Enough To Graylist A School The Majority Of Schools In Korea Would Be Listed. We Are just Here To List The WORST Offenders. If The Above Mentioned Problems Are Too Much For You Then DON"T Go To Korea. It Would Be Very Easy To Just Blacklist The Whole Country Which Is What I will Probably Do When I Get Sick Of Maintaining This List. Just A Warning! I Actually Had A Great Time There But The Majority Of The Teachers I Observed Were Decidedly Unhappy. Anyway If You Feel Like Complaining Despite This Warning Feel Free To Send Your Letter In And We Will Do Our Best To Try And Decide If Its Worth Blacklisting Or If Its Just Your Typical Hagwan. Other Minor Complaints That People Have Made That We Don't Consider Serious Include (a) Possibly No Lift (Oh Poor Baby!) (b) Having To Do Work Outside Their 30 Hours Teaching Time Like Preparing For Classes, Marking Tests, Grading New Students (Like REAL Teachers Do In Canada Or Anywhere Else) (c) Office Walls Made Of Glass So People Can See You (Can You Say "Neurotic"?) (d) No Pillow (Haha! Why Not Just Buy One? Its So Pathetic Its Funny). This Is Just A Reality Check. You Have Been Warned!!!
This Database Tries To Deal Predominantly With The Facts, ie Of Lying and Cheating Regarding Breaches Of Contract. However, On The Principle That Where Theres Smoke There's Usually Fire, When There Are Ongoing Complaints About For Example, Interpersonal Relationship Difficulties With The Management They Will Be Noted In The School Summaries. This List Focuses Mainly On Those Reports Up To A Year Old Since Management Can Change And Schools Can Change Their Name.
As A Word Of Caution Regarding Complaints About The Various Schools, Be Aware That There Is A Very Understandable And Human Tendency To Exaggerate Out Of Anger, A Desire For Revenge, Or Just To Warn People Off So They Won't Have To Go Through The Same Negative Experience. In Other Words It Would Be Wise To Take The Letters Posted With A Grain Of Salt. In The Interests Of Being Fair We Tend To Try And Give A Restrained And Balanced Assessment In The School Summaries. The Actual Letters That Are Sent In However Are Posted In Full, Unedited.
Also Note That Just Because A School Isn't On The List Doesn't Mean That It Shouldn't Be!! It May Be Hard To Believe For Those Who Haven't Been Here Yet But Virtually All Schools Are Involved In Less Than Honorable Practices Even If Its Something As Minor As Charging You Slightly More (Most Charge 7%) Than The Governments Actual Tax Rate. I've Seen Rates As High As 15% (At Pagoda) And Low As 3%. However! If Overcharging On Tax Is All The School Is Reported To Do Dishonestly On This "Graylist" Then You Would Be Wise To Actually Regard That Prospective School Highly, At Least In The Matter Of Contractual Integrity. Of Course You Will Have To Check Out Other Important Factors Like Location And Salary. But The Point Is That, In The Spectrum Of Worst To Best, In That Hypothetical Schools Case They Would Be As Close To Honest As You're Likely To Find Over Here. In Other Words It Is Equivalent To An Actual White Listing. I Don't Believe Having An Actual Overt Whitelist Can Work Because Its Far Too Easy For A Director To Actually Whitelist Their Own School. I Get Letters All The Time From Schools And "Concerned" Teachers Trying To Give A More "Accurate" Or "Truthful" Picture Of Their School. Almost Every School With 3 Or More Teachers Has One Brown Noser Whose Job It Is To Give Positive Testimonials About The School To Prospective Teachers etc. They May Get Higher Pay, A Better Schedule And So on As Compensation For Their Part. In My Opinion These Sell Outs Are Worse Than The Hagwan Owners. Something To Bear In Mind Is That A Directer Is Unlikely To Want To Admit Even To Minor Lies So A Post Admiting Such Is More Likely To Be Authentic. I Hope This Doesn't Sound Too Complicated. This Is Korea! Good Luck In Your Job Hunt!!!
Please note that I can't and don't accept any responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained in this graylist. Take any opinions or experiences posted with caution since none of them have been confirmed or verified in any way. If you agree to all these conditions please proceed to the list by clicking on
koreagraylist@yahoo.com I post the letters to update the site about once a month.
