I just checked out their website again.

Did the president of ATEK post a nice picture of himself in a dark suit and tie with a fresh shave and combed hair?

Nooooo…

Same picture… morning hair and undershirt.

Embarrassing.

…but not as embarrassing as their published observation about many of the English "teachers" in Korea.

"With loans to pay back but no substantial prospects for employment their future looks rather bleak."

Uh… guys… as an association supposedly trying to raise the status of English teachers in Korea, I don't think I'd say anything that might leave the impression that people who can get jobs stay in their own countries and those with bleak futures who cannot get jobs come to Korea.

Eskimos don't buy a lot of ice from you guys, do they?

I am a korean guy and gay. i live near dongducheon.

I want to meet any friends to speak english.

please send me a mail.

re0302@hotmail.com

Who are they seeking to represent here? The woman part I understand, but what constitutes a minortiy? Are not all foreigners in Korea a minorty? Would that exclude kyopos? or are they referring to minorites in their home nation, which means that Kyopos would be in the minorty and thus would recive this extra status?

Or are they tallking about gays as minorities? If ATEK is trying to promote the gay lifestyle into schools under the guise of minority represntation, then this is a very bad things. The English teaching community overseas doesn't need anymore Paul Neils.

Teabagger, you support the gay lifestyle, forcing drugs on to children, and ATEK, can you clear things up?

"Tony Hellmann, the association was unable to help him renew his contract at Kyungnam University. Hellmann was accused of having sexual relations with minors when he was in the United States and faced an investigation by the Korean police."

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2009…

Teabagger is an avid drug use promoter. This is the kind of agenda ATEK is supporting.

I am totally shocked by ATEK. ATEK=FAIL

I had no real opinion on ATEK until I saw the shabby picture of the communications director posted here.

Contrary to your idea, I wasn't "insulting a perfect stranger". I was making an accurate observation about a public figure in an increasingly vocal organization which can potentially be mistaken to represent me.

My posted opinions were based on this picture and public actions which are naive and counterproductive.

Rumpled foreigners publicly fighting a Korean politician over trivial requirements (the general population is inclined to agree with) is a losing strategy by an organization which appears to be looking for self-serving publicity through manufactured conflict.

Ignoring the politician's rhetoric until it is quickly forgotten is probably a better course of action.

If there must be some response, discrete communication with the politician helping him further his political goals without doing any real damage to the English teacher community is a win-win situation… as he gets publicity for "showing results" and ATEK gets legitimacy.

A joint public push for effective teacher training and increased professional standards would do more to counter this politician's rhetoric than all the whining and statistic quoting… even if they are right and he is wrong.

Very amateur.

Instead, bad attention was brought to foreign teachers and their "representatives" over issues that just aren't that big of deal to the Average Kim… as well as making themselves a future target for politicians wishing to shift public attention away from more important issues…

…much in the way Dokdo seems to come up whenever scandal is looming.

This was my first impression… but… I thought I'd make a more solid opinion.

So, I just took a look at ATEK's website.

Here are some quick observations…

1. As of today, the website's official picture of the new president, Greg Dolezai, shows him wearing (and I shyt you not) what appears to be an undershirt and morning hair.

This shows a huge lack of understanding… or caring… about how things are done in uniform-conscious Korea… and it reinforces the stereotype of unprofessional foreign English teachers… because, well, it's not professional… and nobody in ATEK leadership seems to recognize this.

People that intentionally look like this don't… CAN'T… represent the truly professional teachers in Korea.

They can only represent the ragged hippies, assorted losers and shabby stinkers, that make up an unfortunately large percentage of "teachers" in Korea.

2. ATEK leadership appears to be more interested in building a politically-fueled little kingdom with lots of official positions than improving the quality of teachers… which would actually solve many of the problems.

Apart from a few sentences proclaiming lofty goals, if they were clearly useful and beneficial for teachers wishing to improve themselves right now, members would come and they would gain the political clout they are seeking.

Instead, they are trying to get members first, through adversarial publicity, and become useful, in some vague way, later.

They state this objective.

This is a turn-off to those of us who watch directionless organizations get bogged down with internal politics and in-fighting over who controls the screensaver on the office computer.

We have already seen this happen with the great plagiarism non-controversy.

3. While it would be great if they currently offered high-quality lesson plans for directionless teachers or openly pushed professional standards of dress, conduct and attitude, they are instead whining about the non-issue of mandatory HIV testing and criminal background checks.

Sure, this is a pain the arse… but it has no real effect… except, maybe, preventing a criminal from teaching or keeping an unnecessary foreign HIV carrier out of Korea.

Since ATEK can't really come out and say these are bad things that shouldn't be done, they are instead whining about discrimination… and pushing for everyone to experience the irritation of intrusive tests and checks.

Instead of focusing on helping members improve their situation in some way, they are focused on making life more difficult for other groups of people.

Go, ATEK!

4. I'm sure I could go on… but this was the last straw.

Each local chapter of ATEK has 5 leadership positions.

One of these, or 20% of leadership, is titled, "Women and Minorities Status Coordinator".

Uh… ATEK's main talking point has been the evils of separation and special attention directed at a single classification of people.

Instead of a clear platform of assisting all teachers equally, their leadership structure is openly based on categorization by skin color and gender… and providing enhanced assistance for certain groups.

This is an indicator that ATEK is politically driven rather than results-oriented.

They do know the majority of teachers in Korea are white men and the majority of problems that need solved will involve them, don't they?

So…

While I had no real opinion about ATEK, now I do.

They appear to be more of a whiny conflict-oriented agenda-driven special interest group and "community organizer" political stepping stone, than I had first suspected.

ATEK's model is fundamentally flawed. Their actions may attract members… but they will be of the most disgruntled type… as happy teachers have no need to fight the issues they are pushing.

Korea probably needs an association focused on offering organized training and problem-solving assistance to foreign teachers.

ATEK is not it.

Let me guess, you and ATEK can decide what is moral for everyone.