View Comments to “SeoulPodcast #62: The Unqualified Teacher Show”

1. kushibo Says:
   July 7th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

   Um… Since you claim Kushibo “goes by many socks,” can you tell me which socks those are so that I can review what they’ve written and better defend myself for when people accuse me of writing something I might not have written. Which of these socks said, “Korea is a great place for someone with no talent, no degree, and no job to find a piece-of-cake job that will pay for cheap beer and easy women”? Do you have a link? I couldn’t find this.

2. Paul Ajosshi Says:
   July 7th, 2009 at 7:35 pm

   Really great podcast this week, held my interest for the whole two and a half hours. Mike is a fantastic guest.

   By the way Stafford… First!

3. ZenKimchi » SeoulPodcast: Unqualified Teachers Says:
   July 8th, 2009 at 1:09 am

   [...] the latest SeoulPodcast we invite Michael Hurt to talk about the recent mowing down the Chosun Ilbo did this week on [...]

4. Some Guy Says:
   July 8th, 2009 at 8:44 am

   Gotomypc.com? Cuuuutte. Hope you’re making enough money off these ads Great podcast though – just a bit long.

5. kushibo Says:
   July 8th, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   Colonel Fernandez has left his calling card at my blog, in case anyone wishes to go over there and engage him.

6. Chae Says:
   July 10th, 2009 at 6:09 am

   Gotta love the U.S. of A. where we have probably the best search and seizure jurisprudence in the world.

7. Ian Says:
   July 10th, 2009 at 11:28 am

   Great podcast! Love hearing Mike on the radio.. er… internet. I noticed that he didn’t plug Bomb English… I guess it really is dead

8. karl Says:
   July 11th, 2009 at 11:09 am

   I’m skeptical the Korean police are trolling facebook. The bust might be as easily explained by a disgruntled former player ratting them out and maybe using a screen cap of the facebook page to back his claim. Facebook is locked away from google and you pretty much have to friend someone to gain access to their content.

   As Joe intimated you could well have fake people trying to friend you to see what you’re up to. That does seem terribly inefficient (errr then again, this is korea). And it would seem suspicious if the facebook account has friended 180 whiteys. Of course it would be terribly fun if it were true. You could set up a “honey pot”. Set up a fake account, make it clear some illegal activity (making porn!) was going on, and give the addy as the VANK office or something.

9. Good Jen Says:
   July 11th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

   Oh, Karl, you’re still stringing along Nigerian scammers, aren’t you?

10. karl Says:
    July 12th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    I try, Jen

    Regarding english teachers as targets. If Koreans tried to pull this 1933 germany race baiter stuff on the 3D workers, I don’t think they’d get away with it for long. English teachers, however, are perfect targets to scapegoat. White, college (university!) educated and “rich”. The perception (largely true), if you don’t like it you can get on a plane and return to Canada and your free healthcare. You know? It’s like when Joan Rivers used to make fun of Elizabeth Taylor. Rivers defense for her nasty jokes was always “she’s famous, she’s rich, she can’t take it?”

    To wit, not many NGOs are ever going to waste time drawing attention to the plight of the educated middle class whitey.

    The metropolitician had a totally awesome point, I thought. If foreign english teachers treat Korea like their playground it’s because Korean males have created the playground for themselves. They drink. We drink. They chase skirts. We chase skirts. They wager over cards (gostop). We wager over cards (poker).

    He also had a great point that E2 teachers who have been fucked around by their hagwon are going home with bad stories about Korea. As these E2 teachers work their way up the ranks in the work world, they might be in a position one day to steer business away from Korea. “No way, deal with Japan. The Koreans will rip you off. Let me tell you about contract culture there…” For example, at my work, we were looking for a way to get some animation done. Of course Korea is the place to go for cheap animation work. If I had been ripped off by my hagwon I would have warned my boss not to deal with Korea. (I had always been fairly treated.)

    If you google on korea and contracts the first hit that comes up reads:

    Instead, Koreans tend to view contracts as infinitely flexible and subject to further negotiation. Furthermore, the written contract is not the real contract; rather, the unwritten, oral agreement with an employer is the real contract. You should bear these factors in mind when you sign a contract.

    (sounds familiar?)

    It’s an english teaching site but if I was a business person, I might take that as a red flag. It’s pretty sad, in a way, when the first hit on these terms warns you about Koreans and their ability or desire to honor contracts.

11. Joe Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am

    How the heck did you get tagged as spam?

    I was referring to a piece written by Matt (Gusts of Popular Feeling) in the book Outlanders that was backed up by Gord Sellar, two writers I trust, of the “Kushibo Scandal” of 2006. If it’s not the same Kushibo, then I apologize.

12. kushibo Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    A lot of fake kushibos have been posting out there. A lot of stuff attributed to me that I didn’t say or do. A lot of people think they know stuff they actually don’t. A lot of people have mistaken silence for admission of guilt.

    I’ve never met Matt or Gord Sellar, though I frequently comment on Matt’s blog, and I haven’t read Outlanders at all, for whatever that’s worth. I get accused of stuff all the time and I resist responding no matter how strong the urge. This comment itself is more than I usually write, and it’s probably all I will.

13. Nomad Scry Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 10:50 am

    Maybe I’m just missing it, but I can’t find the links for the out of the bag segment. I made myself a mental note to check out one of them, but I have no idea which one that was…

14. Joe Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    I never got the links. Stafford, you got them in your pocket somewhere?

15. Stafford Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    Are these the links you’re looking for?

    http://korean.sogang.ac.kr/
    http://eng.teenkorean.net/

    First!

    Aaaargh crap! Not again!

16. Nomad Scry Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am

    Excellent! Thank you Stafford.

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