By Lucas Murray

Well, I guess we needn't worry about terrorists or folks north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). If recent press reports are to be believed, it's your standard garden-variety English teacher that poses the greatest threat.

In his article entitled ``Taking Back the Classroom'' published in the Nov. 2 edition of The Korea Times, Mr. Steve Schertzer said, ``The major problem with teachers today… a lack of responsibility and leadership."

He continues, ``There are simply not enough teachers who want to own the room, take control of the class, and take responsibility for the class.'' Is that not a breathtakingly naive generalization made of tens of thousands of English teachers across Korea by one teaching assistant?

It also seems immensely misguided and outright false. Moreover, Mr. Schertzer also fails to offer anything of value as to what constitutes leadership and responsibility in the classroom, other than to begin the class with some autocratic ejaculation coupled with a willingness to use a ``love-stick.''

It's legally recognized as battery across almost all Western countries. I'm told that even in Korea, using sticks and batons has diminished exponentially in recent times because most now realize that violence generally represents the total failure or breakdown of communication.

It has no place in my classroom, and not one of the many other English teachers I've met (numbering in the hundreds) has ever professed to use it.

Wait. There's more. Mr. Schertzer continues ``Unfortunately, far too many teachers today would rather be liked by their students than be respected. They would rather leave the teaching to others and take the easy way out by playing games like bingo and hangman.''

There is a plethora of research on this subject. It has been concluded ad infinitum that because there is a high level of stress in the classroom and because students have to face unfamiliar or unknown grammatical structures, words, texts and so forth, they often feel uncomfortable and insecure in class, which inevitably affects their ability to learn.

This research points to the importance of using games in the ESL classroom. In the light of this, most teachers more experienced than I consistently use games to great effect in the classroom.

Across the Pacific then, at the Harvard Korea Institute, Jason Lim in his Oct. 30 Korea Times article ``Why Not Korean Americans'' appears quite outraged.

He was ``chewed out'' by his president, apparently. His crime? He hired ``… one of those `Let's travel through Asia while earning money as English teachers and score some women at the same time, dude!' (say what, dude? ...) types of instructors that were so prevalent in those days.''

He describes abject ``discrimination practices'' in hiring whereby choosing Caucasians over Korean Americans ``have led to recent scandals.'' So where does it all leave us?

According to him we have private language schools being ``mostly excuses for social gatherings for young people to meet new friends and lovers,'' blatant discrimination practices across the board, we have sex, drugs, rock and roll, pedophilia and 'chewing' presidents … eh … cannibals? Good God. Kimchi with all that, anyone?

To be fair to Jason, he does make one short reference to native speakers who do work well towards the end of his article, and by ``chewed out'' he probably means ``fired.'' However, the piece dramatically overemphasizes negatives that actually constitute a very minute proportion of what goes on in the English market in Korea.

Through work and associations, I have met hundreds of English teachers, university professors, public school teachers, hagwon teachers, writers of text, members of English teachers' associations and a few friends of mine.

From what I have seen, they are some of the most dedicated and professional people I have met. Further, the Internet is full of Web sites set up, with tens of thousands of English teachers conducting daily research and posting results online, free of charge, all towards the important aim of teaching Korean students.

There's an army, tens of thousands strong, marching with pride, energy, knowledge and enthusiasm across this great country.

There are people from all corners from Canada to South Africa, from England to Australia, from America to New Zealand sharing culture and language with the next generation of Koreans, not with violence but with patience, competence and care.

And, yes, that is what Korean children deserve.

Lucas Murray is a teacher in the English Program in Korea (EPIK) in South Chongcheong Province. He can be reached at hauwande@hotmail.com.