Dear editor,

While Jessica Kim's April 8 op-ed article, ``Korea's English Pandemic,'' raised some valid questions about the country's obsession with English, I was extremely disappointed by Jessica's crass generalizations about the character and intelligence of English teachers coming to Korea.

The problems she raises are valid: Yes, Korea's obsession with English education is expensive for families and stressful for children. However, recruiters for Korean companies trying to expand their global reach would probably take issue with Kim's assertion that Korea's English obsession is pointless.

There is also nothing wrong with Kim being proud of her country's language: She mentions how Korea has a national holiday to celebrate hangeul, but why, in the same sentence, does she need to start making insinuations about the kinds of people who ask about coming to Korea to teach?

Does she know these people well enough to accurately judge their probable SAT scores, or is she guessing wildly about their intelligence? How did she judge that they had no life goals? Is she so sure that their only qualification to teach English is their white skin?

Does she even know how many of them are asking about teaching in Korea out of a serious desire to come overseas, and how many are simply exploring possible options, the way desperate people do during a financial crisis, when they feel their options diminishing?

And how dare she call these people miserable failures in their own lives, unless she knows their entire life stories?

Finally, as a long-term professional English instructor in Korea, who works hard to improve both my craft as a teacher, and my students' true English capability, I deeply resent Kim's insinuations that my white looks are my only important qualification to teach English in Korea.

By ignoring the fact there are a lot of excellent native English instructors in Korea, Kim sounds just as ignorant as the people approaching her, who think white skin is enough to get a teaching job here.

I also resent Kim's trotting out the old, ugly stereotype of the ``unqualified English teacher,'' using a broad brush to paint an entire group of people. The English instructors in Korea range from experienced and supremely qualified career educators, to backpackers looking to pay for the next leg of their Asian tour.

But the recruiting teachers are responsible for the teachers who end up coming to Korea; and in recruiting, the old saying, ``You get what you pay for'' applies ― for better and for worse.

Robert Ouwehand
English teacher
Seoul
roboseyo@gmail.com