5.19.2010

Getting old and ugly in Korea.

If you're (tentatively) planning on teaching here for the longish haul, how do you feel about the Korean premium on youth/attractiveness for their foreign teachers? Aren't you afraid of waking up 35 and undesired by the Korean educational system?

Well, first of all, I've got quite a ways to go before I hit 35. Ten years, to be exact. So it's not exactly a pressing matter.

But no, I'm not really worried about it. I'm not exactly a looker as things stand, and fail on a lot of the supposed "Koreans only want to hire young blonde thin beautiful foreign women" criteria. It hasn't affected me so far. And I should think, if I keep working hard, it really won't. I know plenty of teachers who have much better jobs than I do who are over 35. They've never had an issue.

Now. Once I'm like 60, I might run into some problems. But hopefully by the time I'm 60, I won't have to worry about working anymore.

4 comments:

Burndog said...

I'm 34 and have a face like a blind cobblers thumb...but my school loves me.

Chickjin said...

My mom's 54 and she's thought about coming over here to teach, just for a change, something new to try. As we get older we try new careers all the time. There should be room for intelligent people of all ages to share their knowledge, abilities, and caring natures. Didn't Jimmy Carter's mom start working in the Peace Core in her 70s?

I'm no Picasso said...

I really don't think it's a problem until you hit 50ish. And I don't know why they start pulling crap then. Although I have to say the Korean teachers who are over/around 50 are pretty useless at teaching English, despite their experience. And the students moan to me endlessly about it. But that's not really their fault, I guess.

Anyway, my students think I'm "pretty girl", or at least they say that before they ask for candy. That's good enough for me.

Nathan said...

"Anyway, my students think I'm "pretty girl", or at least they say that before they ask for candy. That's good enough for me."

Hey, candy's cheaper than the hundreds of dollars of anti-aging cream, makeup and what-have-you that some people put themselves through to get a "pretty girl" comment or three, so I'd say you've onto a huge winner there!