For the unaware: There’s something fairly common in Korea, which translates to something along the lines of “Night Run”. People will hear that and go “oh okay, I guess they’re going for a jog?” But it’s actually referring to teachers’ tendencies to ghost overnight. Things are so bad in S. Korea that teachers feel the need to just vanish. It’s one of those Underground Railroad “don’t tell anyone you’re planning it, even your closest friend” type of thing. And yes, it’s so common that they have a specific phrase for it.
Teachers are leaving their entire lives and livelihoods behind, taking only what they can fit into a carry-on duffel bag. They’ll go to extreme lengths to cover their tracks, up to and including buying a plane ticket in cash on the same day that they’re leaving. They won’t even buy a plane ticket in advance, because they’re so afraid someone will find out about it. There are even apocryphal stories that Korean immigration/customs may try to stop fleeing teachers, and will even call the school if they find out you’re a teacher that is attempting to flee. All because the teaching situation in S. Korea has left them feeling so powerless that they believe fleeing is their only solution.
I’m Korean and I’m really curious where did you get this story. In 2021 turnover rate of teachers is South Korea was less than 3%(only for reasons other than retirement).
“Night run”, which I’m assuming you’re talking about 야반도주, was just unheardof to me at least. I have never, ever heard about that happening. So I got curious and dug more and found out that a lot of non-Korean (mostly English language) teachers run away.
The article is about Korean teachers so I don’t think that applies here but yeah. Work environment generally is shit here. But schools and teachers in general are quite well funded and all. It’s just that there is absolutely no safety guard to the teachers in regards to abusive parents and extra-shitty kids. Plus obvious overworking that, to be honest, teachers are very much far from being the worst, not that it’s objectively fine.
I believe the previous comment was about visa-holding, language teachers, such as a foreign teacher in a Hakwons.
10-15 years ago midnight runs were more prevalent because you could wait out the expiration of your visa and come back to work for for another company.
The handful of people that I knew who did this had their salaries underpaid or paid late. Sometimes they did it because the company refused to give them the correct benefits or working conditions. The treatment of foreign teachers is so bad that even current government contracts will have clauses that break the Korean labor standards.
The article is talking about actual licensed Korean public school teachers. They have a higher retention rate. But, as the article points out, they do suffer from abusive parents (and sometimes students) and a lack of support from their schools and the government for dealing with them.
I’ve seen The Glory. Certainly doesn’t paint schooling in a very positive light
How are they powerless? Are they being physically hurt?
I must admit I don’t know the situation well but I feel like “immunity from child emotional abuse claims” is not the right move. This feels like a symptom of much wider problems. Parents work way too much, kids spend too much time in school, too much revolves around being “productive”. Parents can’t parent much but they feel the pressure to provide their kids with best possible future… Much is left to the teachers who probably need to do parenting work too without necessary time and tools. So they suffer, because kids suffer because parents suffer.
Interesting… similar problems have emerged and become more intense in the US over the past couple decades.
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Schools have been dealing with a shortage for a long time:
Teacher shortages have gotten worse. Here’s how schools are coping. - 2023
‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage - 2022
Well, other people do. It’s been widely discussed recently.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/03/ed-school-panel-examines-u-s-teacher-exodus/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/opinion/teachers-quitting-education-crisis.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/us/teachers-quitting-shortage-stress-burnout-dg/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/04/teachers-quitting-jobs-covid-record-numbers
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I’m from Italy and several of my friends are teachers: parents nowadays are so abusive towards teachers, they will blame the teachers for their lazy child’s low grades. It’s the teacher’s fault if the child fails tests, or if is unruly and gets reprimanded. Parents never blame their lazy, videogames-playing, social media-browsing kid for failing tests, nor they take responsibility for not ensuring they do their homework. They wait for the teachers outside the school to attack them, they criticise them with the other parents, they complain with the principal, they even move kids to other schools (where the cycle starts over)… everything but owing that their child just doesn’t study enough. Fanatical parents are a real issue
I’m also from Italy, and let’s not kid ourselves: The education system here is still somewhere in the 70s in terms of understanding child development or anything related to pedagogy. Not saying youre wrong about parents neglecting their kids either though.
I know next to nothing about Korea, IIRC they have a similar work and educational culture to Japan: you leave after the boss and competition for education is extremely high. Coupled with a cost of living crisis, it reduces the will to have children or start relationships. I’m not sure if it’s Korea but didn’t the prime minister say something along the lines of they should stop complaining and make children?
Anyway, I might be mistaken (and probably am) this problem likely stems from the highly competitive educational environment. You want the best for your kid and will try very hard to remove any obstacles, because even small hindrances might have a huge impact on life afterwards.
I know next to nothing about Korea
90% of what I know about South Korea comes from Old Boy, Squid Game, Parasite, and the video for Gangnam Style. I might have a skewed perception.
I don’t know, the first 3 are excellent documentaries, and Gangnam Style is their new national anthem, so… you probably have a fairly good understanding of what it’s like in SK.
