The hagwon color line

Korean language institutes and their inexcusably racist employment habits Putting skin tone before ability

By Jung Min-ho

While only a small number of ``hagwon’’ continue to put ``whites only’’ requirements when recruiting foreigners for English teachers, racial discrimination at cram schools remains common and blatant.

Korea has failed not only to improve the public’s perception of the issue, but also to make systematic changes to provide even a minimal level of protection for those exposed to the injustice.

An African-American job-seeker, who graduated from a U.S. college, thought getting a teaching job in Korea would be easy, considering her near-fluent command of the Korean language. Many of her American friends, who she believed were less qualified, had gotten jobs at hagwon.

After applying for many teaching positions in Korea, she learned the ugly truth. “Korean schools and hagwon primarily want white teachers,’’ she said.

“For getting any job in Korea, being black is a setback. I look pretty good on paper; I have teaching and text and grammar editing experience. But employers prefer white candidates with no experience.”

During her three-year stay, Monique Dean, another English instructor from the U.S., has experienced plenty of racial discrimination, which would surely be subject to employment discrimination laws in her country.

“There have been times when recruiters contacted me expressing great interest in my resume and skills, but after I sent my picture, I didn’t hear back from them again,” said Dean, also an African-American.

“There was also a recruiting company that was willing to help me find a job when I first decided to teach in Korea. But he later told me that it may be difficult because of my ethnicity.”

Korean employers appear to discriminate against Asians too. Bilingual ``gyopos’’ (Korean disapora) are frequently paid less than Caucasian teachers for the same jobs. The examples of discrimination can be easily found on hagwon’s websites.

Jes Island, an English institute for Children that has branches across the country, posted a job offering for its Daegu branch on the website Korea4home on Jan. 8.

It offered a monthly wage of 1.9 million won for gyopos, but 2.1 million won for "native speakers’’ with no job experience and 2.2 million won for native speakers with a minimum of one year of teaching experience.

It was obvious that the company’s concept of native speakers didn’t include Asians, no matter how fluent they are in English. Jes Island was promising free air fare, accommodation and even offering to pay up 50 percent of healthcare and pension deductions for their potential Caucasian employees.

While racial discrimination is an issue for many countries in the globalized 21st century, Korea’s lack of anti-discrimination legislation seems to make the problem more acute.

The last attempt by lawmakers to pass an anti-discrimination bill in the National Assembly was in March, but it failed due to opposition from conservative politicians and church groups, who expressed discomfort about the inclusion of sexual minorities in the equality laws.

Korea takes great advantage of globalism by exporting billions of dollars of goods across the world but lags far behind in understanding the weight of the issue and meeting the global standard for solving racism in employment.

Circular problem

The problem of discrimination is difficult to tackle in a system where employers can request applicants put their photos on their resumes without being pressured by legal sanctions.

In fact, many employers weed out black applicants through document examination.

Lee, who has worked in private English education for nearly 20 years, said most hangwon she has worked for wanted white teachers and requiring that photos be attached to resumes was the way they selected what they wanted.

“Some parents have a strong racial preference and hagwon cannot ignore it,” Lee said. “It is like packing what they sell.”

Some hagwon even hire non-native English speakers from Europe and the Middle East over black applicants whose mother tongue is English.

“A few years ago, I worked with someone Turkish who barely knew English. Apparently, appearance was more important than the ability to teach for the hagwon owners,” Lee said.

As she worked with teachers from many different ethnic backgrounds, Lee said her racial prejudice was erased.

But in the current system that has little protection for ethnic minorities, such discrimination will continue to prevent many qualified candidates from getting opportunities.

“I cannot believe that in Korea it is required to submit a photo with a resume,” An African-American job seeker said. “They focus on providing an aesthetically pleasing learning experience, and let other qualifications, like teaching experience and TESOL certification, become secondary.”

“I think they realize Korean parents will pay for a program with smiling blonde-haired, blue-eyed teachers on the brochure because they associate that whiteness with intelligence, power and English-speaking ability.”

It is a system that benefits nobody. Eventually, employers want to keep the teachers who do their job best as parents want their children to learn the most. Racism is causing a labor market failure.

In fact, many white teachers too feel “uncomfortable” about the unfair treatment.

“I do think I have an unfair advantage due to my skin color, because employers have said they prefer hiring a white person. The employers think that the parents and students feel a white person is more qualified,” a South African teacher, who refused to be named, said. “Korea is a very modern and developed country in many ways, but some part of it is stuck in the past when it comes to racial equality.”

There is still a large social perception in Korea that “white is right” so white people are the most qualified to teach English, Fulbright researcher Whitney Barr said.

“I think more of the issues lie not in obtaining the job but a genuine respect for one’s non-whiteness,” Barr said. “For example, non-white people’s English and teaching is often ‘double-checked’ and questioned more because they are not white. This is done by Koreans intentionally and unintentionally.”

For those who feel discriminated because of their race may seek help from Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission or National Human Rights Commissions of Korea. They offer English-language service.