By In the introduction to Scott Burgeson’s new book, he thinks so:
At this point, the meme of “low-quality native English teachers” has become so pervasive and powerful in the local media that I believe Western English teachers in Korea have become the new “GIs” in the eyes of many South Koreans: Just as GIs have traditionally been seen here as a “necessary evil” who are only tolerated for “the good of the country,” and were widely resented in the past when they were still relatively “rich” by local standards, it seems that many South Koreans today view native English teachers here in much the same harsh light. During WWII, a great many GIs were stationed in Britain as part of the Allied war effort against Nazi Germany, and a popular expression used at the time by Brits to describe them seems to mirror the way many Koreans feel about native English teachers here today: “Overpaid, Oversexed and over Here.” [King Baeksu via Gusts of Popular Feeling]
The demonization of English teachers, 3D workers, and GI’s by the Korean media always seemed to flow in a cycle like process as one group would commit one incident or another to draw unwarranted attention. However, it seems now the criticism of low quality foreign English teachers is something that ever since English Spectrum-gate scandal has caused the Korean media spotlight to be firmly fixed on them.
I can remember the days when GI’s used to try and dress up as Canadian English teachers to avoid curfew and pick up women. I can also remember when English teachers used to complain about GI’s giving them a bad name. How times have changed. If any English teachers need any tips on how to disguise themselves as GI’s I readily offer my advice here.
10:34 pm on May 18th, 2009 1
Funny, I remember a time when the GI's were the English teachers…this was back before a curfew. We wouldn't go out on weekends because all of 2nd ID was in Itaewon giving the rest of the GIs in Yongsan a bad name. The weekday was the only time to go out and have a good time without all the stupidity. Wow 20 yrs have sure flown bye….
2:29 am on May 19th, 2009 2
It does seem the public criticism of ESL instructors has grown much, but the general opinion of them was never good – even back in the early days when there were only a relative few of them in country.
When I arrive in Korea in 1996, the guy that was leaving had been the first foreign ESLer in the city (Wonju) two years before, and we figured there were probably less than a dozen around the time I arrived.
But, the general feeling among my adult students (which was all I was teaching then) was that: ESLers couldn't get a "good job" in their home countries, because that's the only reason they could picture someone wanting to leave the US or Canada to come to Korea.
I guess the difference between now and then is that, besides thinking the ESLers are mostly a bunch of losers in their home country, the Koreans also think they are likely perverts and drug users and general criminal types too — pretty much what they have long thought about GIs….
8:04 am on May 19th, 2009 3
I'm not trying to be rude or suggest anything, but no ESL teacher in Korea would ever try to disguise themselves as a GI.
GIs pretending to be teachers to avoid curfew is one thing, but there's no good reason to pretend to be a GI. As USinKorea said, all groups get shit on here.
10:09 am on May 19th, 2009 4
Hello. I am Jenny. Im new to the forum and just wanted to say i welcome all of you and hope we will have some fun here together
1:27 pm on May 19th, 2009 5
From what I understand a lot of them are running from bill collectors for student loans.
4:31 pm on May 19th, 2009 6
Yeah!!! And that they HAD to marry Korean women because their women didn't like them.
5:19 pm on May 19th, 2009 7
Man, as much as I hear that Korea is a great place I sure hardly ever hear that they really are nice to or are accepting of foreigners..Especially Americans.
Am I wrong about this?
7:31 pm on May 19th, 2009 8
It's actually much better in reality. The media drums up a lot of it and that's what gets repeated on the blogs.
9:36 pm on May 19th, 2009 9
I've been out mostly since 2002 – so take this for what its worth…
But, on a personal level, you meet all kinds of nice Koreans there – especially if you have a habit of getting around on your own.
Like with most prejudices, when it comes to meeting the individual person, they don't really consider that their general impression of "you" as a type is rather bad.
For example, one thing that always amazed me was how I'd often/usually get much better customer service in a shop than Korean customers — especially outside of Seoul. Customer service isn't a Korean strong suit — they tend to ignore customers a fair amount of the time — but being a foreigner would usually grab their attention and they'd want to make sure you had a good impression of Korea through their chance encounter…
…and this is somewhat true even with the evil GI stereotype – because, at least in the late 1990s, when the ESL community was still fairly new and growing —- most Koreans generally assumed I was a soldier when I'd enter their shops…
I used to tell new teachers, if they were planning only to be their a year, which most were, it would be smart to avoid reading the Korean press and just keep your head ducked and enjoy getting around to see the country…
10:41 pm on May 19th, 2009 10
It was a joke.
12:12 am on May 20th, 2009 11
Yeah, I realized that after the fact. Joking aside, I think it's a topic worth discussing.
12:31 am on May 20th, 2009 12
Ok guys, let me tell you what happens here. People in Korea-and in other Asian countries-have been obsessed by the idea of a "Native Speaker" being the perfect language teacher. If you know anything about language teaching, you'll know that this is false. The fact that a language is your L1 doesn't mean you can teach it. If you want to teach languages, you must learn how to do it. Because all they want is a "native speakers," they end up hiring people who are just "native speakers" but have no language teaching qualifications whatsoever. And they want them to be good teachers; let me laugh. Why can't a Costa-Rican speaking English fluently and having a Master's Degree in ESOL teach English to elementary school students in Korea? Because he wasn't born and raised in the US or Canada or Brittain or Australia, etc. Now why can an American who has a BA in agronomy teach English at a Korean college? Because he was born in the US. I am sorry to say that, but this is just absurd.
12:51 am on May 20th, 2009 13
I really don't think there is any need for English teachers to blend in as GI's especially if you don't want to be harassed after curfew.
7:48 am on May 20th, 2009 14
Wow. Thanks for your amazing insight. No one has ever heard this opinion before. I'm going to tell all my friends about this new angle on native teachers.