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The Horrors I Saw at Korean Private Schools | Informer - YouTube
Channel: VICE
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I used to teach at a Korean <i>hagwon</i>.
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A <i>hagwon</i> is a private Korean school.
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We were being watched 24/7.
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CCTV was everywhere,
in every classroom and every hallway.
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I also think that there was audio.
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We couldnât speak freely
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about anything negative
that was happening.
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I felt very uncomfortable
around my assistant director.
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He had brushed up against me
a few times.
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He touched my butt a few times.
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You start to think, like,
not necessarily being suicidal, but
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what do I do?
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âMidnight runningâ is a term
specifically for Korea,
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for English teachers who are in
similar positions that I was in,
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who their bosses are breaking laws
or breaking rules
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or treating them horribly,
whether it be
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racism, sexual assault.
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It is for people who
their last resort is leaving
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and not telling anyone.
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[INFORMER]
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[HAGWON]
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I wanted to teach
at a <i>hagwon</i> originally
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because my cousin has lived in Korea
for over six years.
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Teaching or working
with children, rather,
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was more of my passion.
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Working at a <i>hagwon</i>
turned out to be one of the
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worst experiences of my life.
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The children definitely
are overworked.
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I was teaching them mostly English
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but also illegally
was teaching them ballet.
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There were not enough people
working in the school teaching.
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I was watching multiple classrooms,
like, three at a time, almost,
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with four-year-olds,
you know, very young kids.
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Kids are jumping on tables.
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And one kid actually
tried to, like, jokingly
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throw himself through a window.
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Itâs just complete madness.
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The Korean teachers
would have far less breaks
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than the foreign teachers.
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They were way more overworked.
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Iâve seen teachers
running through the school,
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not sitting down
for, like, eight hours a day.
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Iâve seen many of them cry.
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One of them would be in tears
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because my director
just yelled at her.
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And I canât even go over there
to hug her or console her because
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I will get yelled at
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not to talk to her.
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It was a very hostile environment.
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The most shocking thing that I saw
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was how the teachers were treated.
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Within the first three days
of being there,
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I saw my director yell at
a Korean teacher and call her
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stupid multiple times in a row
in Korean.
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I only knew a few Korean words,
but I knew that one.
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And I think that is the first time
where I realized,
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âOh, what did I get myself into?â
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I felt...
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very uncomfortable
around my assistant director.
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He had brushed up against me
a few times.
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He touched my butt a few times,
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and he got very close to me.
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And it was just me and him
in the break room,
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and I was like, âNo, Iâm good.
Please get away from me.â
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I wanted to tell my director
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because I knew that
that was a big deal,
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and especially with hearing
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other instances of
him touching my co-workers.
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And also I felt
she would be understanding.
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She did not care that heâd done that.
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She basically wrote it off
as not being a big deal,
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which was very upsetting because
I thought even maybe as a woman,
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sheâd understand that.
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My co-worker found
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porn on my
assistant directorâs computer.
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It was in a folder on his desktop,
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so all you had to do
was open that folder,
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and you would see them.
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And there were children around.
He teaches children.
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I just found it incredibly repulsive.
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My co-worker did report it
to my director,
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but as usual,
nothing came of it, and
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she shrugged it off.
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This shows you the lengths that
this woman is willing to go through
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to keep her business afloat
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that she does not want to fire
someone that is looking at porn
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and sexually harassing her employees.
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My breaking point was
when I was exposed to COVID
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and the school
lied to our faces about it.
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I had to be in quarantine,
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and my director flew to Jeju
when she knew sheâd been exposed.
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They lied to my face multiple times.
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They lied by omission multiple times.
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It was completely beyond upsetting,
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and I was definitely not OK,
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and I was very depressed.
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Do I need to
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midnight run?
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Do I need to leave and tell no one
and speak of it nowhere
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and just get a ticket and run?
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Thereâs all these thoughts
going through my head
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of what should I do next?
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But I couldnât do anything
because Iâm stuck in a room.
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It was a feeling of just hopeless
and being powerless
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and not feeling like
I could do anything.
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I would have done it if she didnât
try to fire me and give me a way out.
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My director told me,
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âHey, you donât follow me,
you donât follow me,â
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which I believe she meant,
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âYou donât do what I want
all the time,
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so I donât like you.â
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And she said, âOK,
so youâre just going to have to go.â
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The experience
was definitely traumatizing.
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Being treated like that
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by people who clearly do not
care about you as a person,
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they only care about
the money that you make them,
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was horrible.
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A lot of <i>hagwons </i>are like
the school that I worked for.
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If not, Iâve heard worse stories.
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This is not rare.
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