Importing teachers waste of money

Dear editor,

I read the article entitled, “Foreign English teachers necessary,” published in the Nov. 28 edition of The Korea Times.

In the story, the survey itself was very limited in its scope and did not provide a complete picture of native English teachers in Korea. It was a distortion that left a lot of the issues out of the minds of those questioned and sought primarily to alter the reality of the foreign presence in the classroom.

Almost anyone can teach if they know what they are doing and as long as students are willing to learn. One does not need a degree in education or a teacher’s diploma to be an effective teacher. They do need to be educated though and well versed in their native tongue.

This is the problem with surveys as the questions can be written in such a manner to achieve a desired result and manipulate public opinion. They tend to leave out vital information and refuse to discuss the negative issues that come with importing teachers. Basically that survey was a whitewash of the issue and barely acknowledges the fact that the scope of native English teachers’ contribution according to Korean English teachers is very minute.

Korea needs to realize that the need for Western teachers is small as their own people can do the job. Importing teachers is a waste of a lot of money as “accent” is a non-issue. It has not hurt the African, the Southeast Asian or Indian English speaker, thus it will not hurt the Korean English speaker.

It is best for Korea to start supporting its own people and instilling in them the confidence they need to carry the teaching load and show that their students that their teachers are qualified and are setting the example.

David Thiessen