SELCA is when people take a picture of themselves, while holding the camera. It's a Konglish contraction of self-camera. I took two pretty legendary selcas on Monday... but you have to read the post to find out with whom.
OK then.
World Friends Korea is the name of a group of government-run volunteer programs. There used to be overseas volunteer programs run by three government ministries, but they've been combined as "World Friends Korea" to provide a more coherent image of Korean overseas volunteers. It includes some internet volunteer programs, some peace corps volunteer programs, some expert adviser-type programs, and Taekwondo peace corps. (event coverage at Korea.net)
Now, volunteering is great, and volunteering overseas or outside one's home country can be a life-changing, horizon-expanding experience: I'm glad there are Korean programs doing this.
Well, on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Presidential Council on Nation Branding, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency organized an event on the Blue House lawn... because, I suppose, I write about Korea in English, and almost half of my readership is international, I fit into the "branding korea" box, and my buddy Mike, who's on the Presidential Council on Nation Branding recommended me for an invitation.
When I got the invitation, I realized I would have to miss a lecture for me "Introduction to International Economics" class, so I hesitated for about .0032 of a second, and then decided, "I think I can swing it."
I dropped off my bag somewhere (no electronic devices except cellphones: hence my cellphone pics later), and they bussed us into the blue house. This was actually the first time I'd been in the blue house -- visited the area a lot, but never took the tour.
It was nice. Really nice. Volunteers, organization leaders, and a huge number of diplomats, including some high-ranking ones, were here. There were also a half-dozen other foreign bloggers there. (Picture below,) including The Chosun Bimbo and The Marmot.
Click for pictures (it's worth it) and more explanations.
All these pictures are courtesy of Michael Hurt (The Metropolitician)... unless otherwise indicated. You can see more of his photography work here, and his writing here.
one expat's life in Korea
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
In Studying the '88 Olympics
a few things I've learned that might not make it into the papers, but were interesting to learn nonetheless.
from "The Games Within The Games" by Vincent J Ricquart (Hantong Books 1988)
1. The Olympic Museum in Jamsil is an awesome encapsulation of the Olympic narrative as told by the Korean government, and that narrative is followed by people who have talked with me about the Olympics with surprising consistency.
2. Before the '88 Olympics, South Korea didn't have diplomatic relations with many socialist countries. After the Olympics many of those countries established diplomatic relations with Seoul. That they committed to attending may or may not have been because Seoul was at least engaged in talks with Pyongyang about holding some events in the North, though that didn't pan out.
It didn't pan out because North Korea was being over-demanding, intransigent, and arrogant. They wanted to host either the opening or closing ceremonies (pretty damn big deal) and started building a stadium before having confirmed shared hosting duties. NK also assumed the North Korean team soccer would be granted an automatic berth in the Olympic tournament, as a host country, so didn't even bother to send their team to a qualifying tournament in (I think it was) Malaysia. FIFA, miffed at the arrogance, disqualified them from the Olympics.
Ever since the humiliation of that disqualification, North Korea has been a humbled state, and has engaged in international discussions with much less pride, willing to be flexible, and compromise. It's been impressive to see them back off from that off-putting, screeching brinksmanship they used to do.
(source)
(source)
3. My own thoughts, in regards to the "'88 Olympics made Seoul an advanced nation" meme:
IF we accept the eurocentric model of "development into an advanced nation" and the eurocentric definition of what an "advanced nation" is... (after all, the IOC and FIFA and the like are western institutions - it's no surprise they use Western criteria to determine which nations are "advanced" and award them hosting rights)
Landing an event like this DOES require a certain level of achievement/skill in two main areas: infrastructure development (to build facilities and handle logistics) and diplomacy (to 'sell' my country to the committees that choose the next host). That's all that hosting rights proves for SURE about a country.
But my own analogy is this:
Hosting the olympics for a developing country is like an adolescent buying a car with his/her own money. It doesn't CAUSE them to become an adult, and it doesn't automatically make them an adult, nor is it a prerequisite: another kid who never buys their own car isn't thereby disqualified from becoming an adult...
but it certainly can be a powerful sign of a kid's intentions to act, and probably also desire to be treated like an adult, and it makes a strong statement of that to everyone around. Sure, uncle Vernon might grumble that little Annie's not mature enough to own a car, and there might be a family discussion about Annie's shortcomings along the way (just as people grumbled about Korea's dictatorial political culture, and street protests, and North Korea stuff, just like they grumbled about Tibet and political prisoners in 2008), and young Annie might wrap the thing around a telephone pole... but the way she pays for, maintains, and uses her car might also be a way for all the adults around her to note, and recognize, that she's an adult, and for some adults, and many of Annie's peers, and maybe for Annie herself, that'll be a sure sign she's crossed the threshhold.
If you want to learn, literally EVERYTHING about the '88 games, you can go here, and download the two-volume, 1500+ page official report written by the Korean Olympic Organizing Committee, in .pdf form. Pictures in this post are screenshots taken from the .pdf.
I like these versions of "Hodori" the Seoul Olympic mascot.
Korea did an interesting job of presenting itself as a modern, developing, and also ancient culture, all at the same time, during the Olympics.
The Olympics have had a pretty troubled history of scandals, boycotts, tragedies, dumb moves, more scandals, and the like... but the fact that countries on both sides of the Cold War attended the Seoul Games (only Cuba, Ethiopia, and North Korea boycotted) might have been the beginning of the era we now experience, where Olympic attendance is pretty much taken as a given.
It used to be that who hosts the olympics was the stage for national rivalries (hence the cold war boycotts) but now, it seems that rather than hosting and boycotting the olympics, the main arena for international competition and bragging comes from who wins the most medals. At least that's how it looks from here.
from "The Games Within The Games" by Vincent J Ricquart (Hantong Books 1988)
1. The Olympic Museum in Jamsil is an awesome encapsulation of the Olympic narrative as told by the Korean government, and that narrative is followed by people who have talked with me about the Olympics with surprising consistency.
2. Before the '88 Olympics, South Korea didn't have diplomatic relations with many socialist countries. After the Olympics many of those countries established diplomatic relations with Seoul. That they committed to attending may or may not have been because Seoul was at least engaged in talks with Pyongyang about holding some events in the North, though that didn't pan out.
It didn't pan out because North Korea was being over-demanding, intransigent, and arrogant. They wanted to host either the opening or closing ceremonies (pretty damn big deal) and started building a stadium before having confirmed shared hosting duties. NK also assumed the North Korean team soccer would be granted an automatic berth in the Olympic tournament, as a host country, so didn't even bother to send their team to a qualifying tournament in (I think it was) Malaysia. FIFA, miffed at the arrogance, disqualified them from the Olympics.
Ever since the humiliation of that disqualification, North Korea has been a humbled state, and has engaged in international discussions with much less pride, willing to be flexible, and compromise. It's been impressive to see them back off from that off-putting, screeching brinksmanship they used to do.
(source)
3. My own thoughts, in regards to the "'88 Olympics made Seoul an advanced nation" meme:
IF we accept the eurocentric model of "development into an advanced nation" and the eurocentric definition of what an "advanced nation" is... (after all, the IOC and FIFA and the like are western institutions - it's no surprise they use Western criteria to determine which nations are "advanced" and award them hosting rights)
Landing an event like this DOES require a certain level of achievement/skill in two main areas: infrastructure development (to build facilities and handle logistics) and diplomacy (to 'sell' my country to the committees that choose the next host). That's all that hosting rights proves for SURE about a country.
But my own analogy is this:
Hosting the olympics for a developing country is like an adolescent buying a car with his/her own money. It doesn't CAUSE them to become an adult, and it doesn't automatically make them an adult, nor is it a prerequisite: another kid who never buys their own car isn't thereby disqualified from becoming an adult...
The official Olympic poster:
but it certainly can be a powerful sign of a kid's intentions to act, and probably also desire to be treated like an adult, and it makes a strong statement of that to everyone around. Sure, uncle Vernon might grumble that little Annie's not mature enough to own a car, and there might be a family discussion about Annie's shortcomings along the way (just as people grumbled about Korea's dictatorial political culture, and street protests, and North Korea stuff, just like they grumbled about Tibet and political prisoners in 2008), and young Annie might wrap the thing around a telephone pole... but the way she pays for, maintains, and uses her car might also be a way for all the adults around her to note, and recognize, that she's an adult, and for some adults, and many of Annie's peers, and maybe for Annie herself, that'll be a sure sign she's crossed the threshhold.
If you want to learn, literally EVERYTHING about the '88 games, you can go here, and download the two-volume, 1500+ page official report written by the Korean Olympic Organizing Committee, in .pdf form. Pictures in this post are screenshots taken from the .pdf.
I like these versions of "Hodori" the Seoul Olympic mascot.
Korea did an interesting job of presenting itself as a modern, developing, and also ancient culture, all at the same time, during the Olympics.
The Olympics have had a pretty troubled history of scandals, boycotts, tragedies, dumb moves, more scandals, and the like... but the fact that countries on both sides of the Cold War attended the Seoul Games (only Cuba, Ethiopia, and North Korea boycotted) might have been the beginning of the era we now experience, where Olympic attendance is pretty much taken as a given.
It used to be that who hosts the olympics was the stage for national rivalries (hence the cold war boycotts) but now, it seems that rather than hosting and boycotting the olympics, the main arena for international competition and bragging comes from who wins the most medals. At least that's how it looks from here.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Let me tell you about Mansplaining. I'll lay it all out for you in simple terms.
Before we get into the REAL topic... some word play.
The two longest one-syllable words:
screeched - screeched is one I found when I searched.
strengths - I came up with this one on my own in University.
Next: these words are fun to say, but their meanings are kind of gross. I just don't know what to do.
1. syphilis
2. gonorrhea
3. mansplaining
I'd never heard of mansplaining (more here) until I started reading some of the articles linked by various blog friends on various feminist topics... but I think it's an awesome word for the not-awesome practice of a man condescendingly explaining gender relations with the kind of attitude that screams, "Because I am male, and therefore logical, unlike you emotional females, I understand everything about your situation, and I'd like to set you straight on a few things while revealing my prejudices and ignorance of the topics you're trying to discuss."
(privilege-denying dude)
Is there an equivalent for when the privileged one begins explaining, condescendingly, the details of the not-privileged one's life to him/her? (WASPsplaining? oppressorsplaining?)
Or the neocolonial one explaining people's cultures to them? (Colonialisplaining?) My first three years of conversations with Koreans in Korea were mostly the story of me explaining the easy ways Korea could fix itself, if people would ONLY listen to me.
Of course... the WAY one discusses one's ideas is as important as the content...
Monday, May 16, 2011
Obangsaek and Royal Asiatic Society Events on Wednesday
Two events going down this Wednesday that you might like to know about:
1. "Project Obangsaek" at 7:30 is having a launch party... the lovely Nanoomi people are making a few presentations about building cultural bridges between expats, non-Koreans, and Koreans. Obangsaek is a group dedicated to presenting the modern, actually interesting world of Korean culture and life to the world outside, lest the old men making tourism policy convince the world that there's nothing to Korea except bronze dishes, hanbok, overpriced fermented side dishes, and four-hour long spoken-word performances drum accompaniment. It's led by Benson Lee, whose latest film you may have heard of: Planet Friggin' B-Boy! (on IMDB) (Trailer)
2. The Royal Asiatic Society (a super-cool group of super-long-term scholars, koreaphiles, and other such People Who Know A Lot About Korea And Have Been Here A Bloody Long Time (also known as the highest concentration of advanced Korean Studies degrees in one room outside of an academic conference) is having a talk about a topic of much interest to many of us: Korean film! The Topic is
Before the Korean Wave: Treasures of Classic Korean Cinema and a fella named Dr. Earl Jackson Jr., will be giving brief overviews of three of the very important Korean film directors who laid the foundation for the excellence in film that led the first swoosh of the Korean wave.
It's on the second floor of the Somerset Hotel, near the north end of Insa-dong, at 7:30pm. More information here.
1. "Project Obangsaek" at 7:30 is having a launch party... the lovely Nanoomi people are making a few presentations about building cultural bridges between expats, non-Koreans, and Koreans. Obangsaek is a group dedicated to presenting the modern, actually interesting world of Korean culture and life to the world outside, lest the old men making tourism policy convince the world that there's nothing to Korea except bronze dishes, hanbok, overpriced fermented side dishes, and four-hour long spoken-word performances drum accompaniment. It's led by Benson Lee, whose latest film you may have heard of: Planet Friggin' B-Boy! (on IMDB) (Trailer)
2. The Royal Asiatic Society (a super-cool group of super-long-term scholars, koreaphiles, and other such People Who Know A Lot About Korea And Have Been Here A Bloody Long Time (also known as the highest concentration of advanced Korean Studies degrees in one room outside of an academic conference) is having a talk about a topic of much interest to many of us: Korean film! The Topic is
Before the Korean Wave: Treasures of Classic Korean Cinema and a fella named Dr. Earl Jackson Jr., will be giving brief overviews of three of the very important Korean film directors who laid the foundation for the excellence in film that led the first swoosh of the Korean wave.
It's on the second floor of the Somerset Hotel, near the north end of Insa-dong, at 7:30pm. More information here.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Performing Nation-ness... Google Scholar Brings It!
So... with my grad school courses, I have access to all kinds of badass academic databases like EbscoHost (which generally rocks) and Jstor and whatnot... they don't quite pool EVERY journal and article, but they cover most of the bases between them, and the journal stuff is fun. You know: for nerds like me.
Well... the topic I'd like to write on for one of my classes is this:
During mega-events like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, host nations get a huge stage on which to present their cultures. That's all well and good... but especially when those countries aren't part of the commonly accepted "West" (and sometimes even then), such events are also seen as opportunities for those countries to demonstrate that they're a "major player" and to prove their nation's level of "advancement" (whatever that means) -- think about how Beijing used the Olympics as much as a showcase of "rising China" as it was a showcase for athletes and sports and stuff. Part of Seoul 1988 was the Seoul "Look How Far We've Come" Olympics, and such a practice goes all the way back to Mexico (1968) (where folks were trying to get Mexicans to behave to "international standards" as well "Teaching Mexicans How To Behave: Public Education on the Eve of the Olympics").
Add to that the way sports are a GREAT arena to generate nationalist feeling, and to put together nationalist stories, and a country hosting a big event like the olympics is in a unique situation where the leaders/event organizers can work on changing the behavior of their citizens in order to meet "international standards" -- I'm working on digging up material about China's attempts to curb "rude" behaviors during the Beijing olympics, so as not to offend international guests, and I'd like to talk about Korea's own attempts to "meet international standards" (whatever that means, and whatever those are), in order to put Korea's best foot forward to the world, in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the 2002 Korea/Japan world cup. I think it's interesting that part of creating one's own national story can (in the case of such a mega-event) be a kind of performance for an imagined audience (not all of it was, but part of it was)... and that the performance of one's own culture can, at the same time, change one's own culture.
For my paper, one of the articles I really wanted to look up was titled "Performing Nation-ness in South Korea During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup"... for obvious reasons.
But Ebscohost didn't have the full text available. Crap.
...but Google Scholar did! I never expected in a decade that Google Scholar would have, for free, something the very extensive (and expensive, university sponsored) database didn't have.
So... cool. And you can read it yourself here.
And these are the things that make me excited these days. Also, the dog farted yesterday. It was funny.
The comments are open. You're free to call me a nerd.
Or even better, if you have links to Korean editorials, video clips of PSA's about "representing Korea to the world" during the 2002 World Cup or 1988 Olympics, or buzzwords, key phrases or slogans that'll bring them up for me while I search, you know, you can tell me about them, too. I'll find them on my own if you don't, but if you have that stuff at your fingertips/in your memory anyway... cool.
Well... the topic I'd like to write on for one of my classes is this:
During mega-events like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup, host nations get a huge stage on which to present their cultures. That's all well and good... but especially when those countries aren't part of the commonly accepted "West" (and sometimes even then), such events are also seen as opportunities for those countries to demonstrate that they're a "major player" and to prove their nation's level of "advancement" (whatever that means) -- think about how Beijing used the Olympics as much as a showcase of "rising China" as it was a showcase for athletes and sports and stuff. Part of Seoul 1988 was the Seoul "Look How Far We've Come" Olympics, and such a practice goes all the way back to Mexico (1968) (where folks were trying to get Mexicans to behave to "international standards" as well "Teaching Mexicans How To Behave: Public Education on the Eve of the Olympics").
Add to that the way sports are a GREAT arena to generate nationalist feeling, and to put together nationalist stories, and a country hosting a big event like the olympics is in a unique situation where the leaders/event organizers can work on changing the behavior of their citizens in order to meet "international standards" -- I'm working on digging up material about China's attempts to curb "rude" behaviors during the Beijing olympics, so as not to offend international guests, and I'd like to talk about Korea's own attempts to "meet international standards" (whatever that means, and whatever those are), in order to put Korea's best foot forward to the world, in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the 2002 Korea/Japan world cup. I think it's interesting that part of creating one's own national story can (in the case of such a mega-event) be a kind of performance for an imagined audience (not all of it was, but part of it was)... and that the performance of one's own culture can, at the same time, change one's own culture.
For my paper, one of the articles I really wanted to look up was titled "Performing Nation-ness in South Korea During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup"... for obvious reasons.
But Ebscohost didn't have the full text available. Crap.
...but Google Scholar did! I never expected in a decade that Google Scholar would have, for free, something the very extensive (and expensive, university sponsored) database didn't have.
So... cool. And you can read it yourself here.
And these are the things that make me excited these days. Also, the dog farted yesterday. It was funny.
The comments are open. You're free to call me a nerd.
Or even better, if you have links to Korean editorials, video clips of PSA's about "representing Korea to the world" during the 2002 World Cup or 1988 Olympics, or buzzwords, key phrases or slogans that'll bring them up for me while I search, you know, you can tell me about them, too. I'll find them on my own if you don't, but if you have that stuff at your fingertips/in your memory anyway... cool.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Seoul is ASKMEN.com's 6th Best City to Visit
ASKMEN.com, the website equivalent to Maxim magazine, just listed Seoul as the 6th best city in the world to visit. Also: the top city in Asia, beating out Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai (none of which ranked, and all of which were also beaten by Beijing and Bangkok)
So... eat your heart out, lonely planet. And maybe next time another website says "Seoul Sucks," City friggin' Hall won't feel the need to act as if it's the end of the world.
Seoul's score was 80.2/100, and here were the criteria:
I like Seoul, too. :)
So... eat your heart out, lonely planet. And maybe next time another website says "Seoul Sucks," City friggin' Hall won't feel the need to act as if it's the end of the world.
Seoul's score was 80.2/100, and here were the criteria:
I like Seoul, too. :)
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
surprisingly frank discussion of prostitution in Korea
Go read it. I like especially where it places blame.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
MinJeong Kwak (민정곽) at KCC Switzen All That Skate (Yuna was there too)
Last night I saw Kim Yuna at the KCC Switzen "All That Skate" Ice Show. Wifeoseyo somehow scored tickets, and it as a seriously awesome show.
I'll put up more video when I have time to post it -- I didn't get everything, because readers, I love you all, but there are times when I'd rather focus on experiencing something, than focus on recording the experience in order to share it with you.
However, a pleasant surprise, for me, were the performances of the two other Korean skaters at the show: Hae jin Kim is a young up-and-comer who was quite good at using her movements to tell a story - she was cute as anything - and Minjeong Kwak 민정곽 has the chops, folks. She, too, is very expressive, and really fired the crowd up with her charisma.
She was also at the center of two of the best moments of spontaneous fun: 1. after her show, her interaction with the cameraman on skates was the beginning of a kind of a running gag where skaters had different interactions with him - avoiding him or turning their back on him, or skating in the opposite direction, etc., each time drawing a laugh from the crowd.
2. After taking her bows, she headed for the offstage exit... at the wrong end of the ice. Cracked herself, and the audience up. So... she's cute. In that "tell me about your cute niece" way. Really cute.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Steve Earle... Seriously?
I like lots of music that my snobby friends consider "cool" and I am well capable of dropping the right band names to establish my "cred" (whatever that's worth), and I totally liked Sixpence None The Richer back when they were underground.
But sometimes I'm also a sentimental old crow, and buddy, you've got a heart of stone if this song doesn't turn you into butter. It's about the only Steve Earle song I like, but I sure like it. It's also one of the better melodies I've come across: there are tons of songs that are great, but absolutely unhummable, because the music's awesome, but the melody... isn't. (In Mumford & Sons' defense... MELODY!) And other songs are nice, but the melody's so repetitive that it'd boring to hum. (coughPianoMancough)
Anyway: a lovely melody, and heartbreaking lyrics: get goopy with me. Steve Earle, Goodbye.
But sometimes I'm also a sentimental old crow, and buddy, you've got a heart of stone if this song doesn't turn you into butter. It's about the only Steve Earle song I like, but I sure like it. It's also one of the better melodies I've come across: there are tons of songs that are great, but absolutely unhummable, because the music's awesome, but the melody... isn't. (In Mumford & Sons' defense... MELODY!) And other songs are nice, but the melody's so repetitive that it'd boring to hum. (coughPianoMancough)
Anyway: a lovely melody, and heartbreaking lyrics: get goopy with me. Steve Earle, Goodbye.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
A Goldmine for Teacher Resources
Really, I should post this link once a month, just for good measure.
Jason is a former K-blogger, and KOTESOL member, now living in China. While in Korea, he worked in Korea's public school system, and in his spare time (??? I hope he got paid for everything he did), he compiled the most extensive one-man compilation of living in Korea materials you can find.
His blog contains upwards of 300 pages worth of instructions, links, and suggestions that a first-time public school teacher might need.
It covers coteacher issues, lesson planning, survival in Korea, dealing with students, websites you should visit, books you should buy, handouts, pedagogy tips -- seriously, almost anything (a public school teacher) can think of.
Most of it's relevant for teachers at different levels, too.
So go read. Explore. Benefit from the work Jason did. And maybe leave a thank-you comment.
Here's the link. The work is under creative commons copyright, so give him credit, but share it widely. Poke around his site. It's a goldmine.
Jason is a former K-blogger, and KOTESOL member, now living in China. While in Korea, he worked in Korea's public school system, and in his spare time (??? I hope he got paid for everything he did), he compiled the most extensive one-man compilation of living in Korea materials you can find.
His blog contains upwards of 300 pages worth of instructions, links, and suggestions that a first-time public school teacher might need.
It covers coteacher issues, lesson planning, survival in Korea, dealing with students, websites you should visit, books you should buy, handouts, pedagogy tips -- seriously, almost anything (a public school teacher) can think of.
Most of it's relevant for teachers at different levels, too.
So go read. Explore. Benefit from the work Jason did. And maybe leave a thank-you comment.
Here's the link. The work is under creative commons copyright, so give him credit, but share it widely. Poke around his site. It's a goldmine.
Monday, May 02, 2011
Been taking things too seriously lately.
But I finished midterms today! Wrote three huge pages, double-sided, on modernity, theoretical discussions of construction of history, narrative methods, sources of meaning, and various human interactions with dominant and peripheral cultures.
Hella fun.
My favorite articles from the first half of the semester:
Stephen Tambiah Transnationalism, Diaspora and Multiple Modernities (subscription needed to access the full articles. sorry) -- summary: though we think of diasporic communities as moving to the "developed" world and becoming assimilated, often that is not the case. Diasporic communities find really interesting ways to connect with their homelands, with each other, with their host cultures, and with other diasporic communities, in ways that can redraw their new home landscapes. Their flows of affinity, connection, and resources can also greatly benefit the home land, as community members abroad use their new talents connections and resources to help preserve the way of life of those who remained in their ancestral homes. Modernity does not take the shapes we expect it to.
Isn't this a Korea blog? Tie it in, Roboseyo!
The disaporic communities of Koreans around the world add an interesting dimension to Korea here, in the "center" of Korean culture: the worldwide network provides an interesting variety of relations with the home culture, and each inform and add life to each other.
Michel de Certeau: The Practice of Everday Life -- Though dominant cultural forces are indeed impressing their will on populations and cultures outside of the main power/influence centers, those "receiving" cultures do not find themselves disenfranchised, or with their cultures suddenly co-opted, subverted, or vanished. Rather, the technologies ideas, etc. of the dominant cultures and power centers are taken into the local cultural matrices in unique ways, and are adapted to the ways of life already practiced by people.
Isn't this a Korea blog? Tie it in, Roboseyo!
Korean Culture Is Not Disappearing. It's taking new forms, and it's re-forming the cultural elements that come to it, in order to fit them into the systems and ways Koreans already live.
Wheee!
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Moderation off
A few people have reported having trouble leaving comments on the site.
I've turned moderation off.
Please continue to observe the terms of engagement for various posts.
Sincere apologies to anyone who's had trouble getting a comment through.
Here's a song that makes me happy. And also a wish:
I've turned moderation off.
Please continue to observe the terms of engagement for various posts.
Sincere apologies to anyone who's had trouble getting a comment through.
Here's a song that makes me happy. And also a wish:
Thursday, April 28, 2011
ATEK 4: Power to the Members
Update: ATEK's President is Resigning.
UPDATE II: ATEK's Official Statement Regarding Conflict of Interest Explanation of Disciplinary Procedures History of Removal of officers and members
Don't like something ATEK did recently? Think ATEK needs to improve something? Have some ideas about how to improve the organization?
Ultimately, ATEK answers to its general members, not to anybody else (as noisy as they may be). Every ATEK communication should include that fact, until the people who don't listen stop screeching that ATEK is claiming to represent them. ATEK is a communication network of (number of associate members), and represents (number of general members) English teachers in Korea.
If you're not a general member, ATEK doesn't represent you. It also doesn't answer to you, no matter how important you think you are, or how smart you are, or how loud you are.
If you ARE a general member, here's how to get involved, because if ATEK's general members get involved, and start exerting their will, that's a powerful thing... and if ATEK's general members can't be bothered, then maybe it is time for the organization to disband, and for its officers to find other venues to contribute to Korean society and the English teacher community. They're out there.
Fact: ATEK's bylaws, as they are written now, say that a General Member petition must be heard by the National Council, if only 2% of ATEK's general members submit it. If 4% are on board, you can demand a national vote/referendum. Given ATEK's current number of General Members, that's about six people, so if you're a general member, you DO have the power. Tons of it.
Here's the section of ATEK's bylaws (their constitution) that gives you the power:
Heres' how:
1. Get together a few ATEK members who want to shake some things up.
2. Go to the website (atek.or.kr)
3. Find the sidebar that says "GM Resources" - ATEK's new Webmaster has been moving things around (looks great so far), so it might move to the left or right side, etc..
4. Find the button that says "NC Petition Form" click it.
5. Follow the instructions. Write out your petition. Be clear and specific. If you want multiple things to happen, maybe even submit multiple submissions.
6. Upload it, as per the directions. If you have trouble uploading it, email it to president@atek.or.kr, media@atek.or.kr webmaster@atek.or.kr members@atek.or.kr and ethics@atek.or.kr ... that should make sure it reaches the eyeballs that need to see it. If I missed anyone important, sorry.
And if you want to get something going, send me an e-mail (roboseyo, gmail) or contact me on facebook, and I'll put you in touch with others who are interested in moving and shaking as well.
Demand new membership bylaws, or meeting minutes to be posted on the website, or for the membership list to have personal information about teachers removed, or for bureaucracy to be streamlined, or for the NGO goal to be put off until the organization's figured out how to function smoothly. Call for ATEK's Ombudsperson to conduct an investigation into the things reported by 3WM if you're not satisfied with the investigation Tom Rainey-Smith did. Demand that one be released to the public, or at least to General Members. Demand that the former officers involved in saying mean things about the organization be banned from membership for life. Or that they be made into the new ethics committee. Or anything else I recommended in my last post. Whatever.
Go for it! You have the power! You really, really do.
Comments will be open on this post, to have a discussion about what you'd like to see from an organization purporting to represent English teachers. I'd like the comments here to be a place where people can discuss that.... so please place your comments allocating blame for the meltdown, and making, or challenging allegations, elsewhere. He-said, she-said is playing out in other places so it's kind of unnecessary to re-state it all here.
If you wish to direct my readers to those discussions, you may put links in the comments to my site: I won't delete any links (once I find them: sometimes blogger's spam filter blocks things).
And don't worry: I'll read your comment: I keep tabs on those places, too. You can even go on there and call me a poopypants for deleting your comments, or suppressing that kind of discussion at my site.
In other "good for English teachers" news, some of the people who've been waiting for ATEK to pull its act together, got tired of waiting, and are expanding the services that can be found on the AFEK website. There is now an open discussion forum there, in which anybody can participate. If the forum there turns out to be anywhere near as useful as the F-visa only discussion forums on that site, it'll be an awesome resource once it's up and running. http://www.afek.info/
Comments open. Moderation on. Please observe the terms of engagement.
UPDATE II: ATEK's Official Statement Regarding Conflict of Interest Explanation of Disciplinary Procedures History of Removal of officers and members
Don't like something ATEK did recently? Think ATEK needs to improve something? Have some ideas about how to improve the organization?
Ultimately, ATEK answers to its general members, not to anybody else (as noisy as they may be). Every ATEK communication should include that fact, until the people who don't listen stop screeching that ATEK is claiming to represent them. ATEK is a communication network of (number of associate members), and represents (number of general members) English teachers in Korea.
If you're not a general member, ATEK doesn't represent you. It also doesn't answer to you, no matter how important you think you are, or how smart you are, or how loud you are.
If you ARE a general member, here's how to get involved, because if ATEK's general members get involved, and start exerting their will, that's a powerful thing... and if ATEK's general members can't be bothered, then maybe it is time for the organization to disband, and for its officers to find other venues to contribute to Korean society and the English teacher community. They're out there.
Fact: ATEK's bylaws, as they are written now, say that a General Member petition must be heard by the National Council, if only 2% of ATEK's general members submit it. If 4% are on board, you can demand a national vote/referendum. Given ATEK's current number of General Members, that's about six people, so if you're a general member, you DO have the power. Tons of it.
Here's the section of ATEK's bylaws (their constitution) that gives you the power:
ARTICLE 14 Part 6
6 General Members may by way of submitting a petition to the National Council call for a referendum or general vote. Petitions must comply with the following requirements:
(a) The petition must be supported by a minimum of 4% of the total of all General Members of the Association.
(b) The petition must be an electronic petition in the form of an email.
(c) The email must contain the names and email addresses of the petitioning General Members.
(d)The email must be sent by a General Member to the National Membership Officer. The name and email details of the petitioning General Members must match the details on the National Membership list held by the National Membership Officer.
In article 7 of the bylaws, only 2% of ATEK's general members (about 3 people) need to submit the petition, for it to be required to go to the floor of the national council, at their next meeting, and voted on by them.
The general members hold the power in ATEK, and you need to know that. And you need to use it.
Heres' how:
1. Get together a few ATEK members who want to shake some things up.
2. Go to the website (atek.or.kr)
3. Find the sidebar that says "GM Resources" - ATEK's new Webmaster has been moving things around (looks great so far), so it might move to the left or right side, etc..
4. Find the button that says "NC Petition Form" click it.
5. Follow the instructions. Write out your petition. Be clear and specific. If you want multiple things to happen, maybe even submit multiple submissions.
6. Upload it, as per the directions. If you have trouble uploading it, email it to president@atek.or.kr, media@atek.or.kr webmaster@atek.or.kr members@atek.or.kr and ethics@atek.or.kr ... that should make sure it reaches the eyeballs that need to see it. If I missed anyone important, sorry.
And if you want to get something going, send me an e-mail (roboseyo, gmail) or contact me on facebook, and I'll put you in touch with others who are interested in moving and shaking as well.
Demand new membership bylaws, or meeting minutes to be posted on the website, or for the membership list to have personal information about teachers removed, or for bureaucracy to be streamlined, or for the NGO goal to be put off until the organization's figured out how to function smoothly. Call for ATEK's Ombudsperson to conduct an investigation into the things reported by 3WM if you're not satisfied with the investigation Tom Rainey-Smith did. Demand that one be released to the public, or at least to General Members. Demand that the former officers involved in saying mean things about the organization be banned from membership for life. Or that they be made into the new ethics committee. Or anything else I recommended in my last post. Whatever.
Go for it! You have the power! You really, really do.
Comments will be open on this post, to have a discussion about what you'd like to see from an organization purporting to represent English teachers. I'd like the comments here to be a place where people can discuss that.... so please place your comments allocating blame for the meltdown, and making, or challenging allegations, elsewhere. He-said, she-said is playing out in other places so it's kind of unnecessary to re-state it all here.
If you wish to direct my readers to those discussions, you may put links in the comments to my site: I won't delete any links (once I find them: sometimes blogger's spam filter blocks things).
And don't worry: I'll read your comment: I keep tabs on those places, too. You can even go on there and call me a poopypants for deleting your comments, or suppressing that kind of discussion at my site.
In other "good for English teachers" news, some of the people who've been waiting for ATEK to pull its act together, got tired of waiting, and are expanding the services that can be found on the AFEK website. There is now an open discussion forum there, in which anybody can participate. If the forum there turns out to be anywhere near as useful as the F-visa only discussion forums on that site, it'll be an awesome resource once it's up and running. http://www.afek.info/
Comments open. Moderation on. Please observe the terms of engagement.
That Roboseyo Sure Is A Poopypants.
If you're a fan of 3 Wise Monkeys, and don't like that I criticized them,
or if you think it's lame that I closed comments until I'd finished saying what I had to say,
you are invited to comment here, and call me a poopypants, and tell other commenters how right they are about my poopypantsiness, so that the other comment thread remains devoted to discussing what the way forward is for ATEK, if there is one.
It's not often I write a whole post just for one person. You know who you are. You're welcome.
[Update: that might have been the most passive aggressive sentence I've ever written. I apologize. You know who you are.]
Here. I'll start things off:
SOCKOSEYO I:
That Roboseyo sure is a poopypants. And passive-aggressive to boot! It must be because he's dishonest, ego-mad, and a jerk, and a bully, and a coward, those last two somehow simultaneously, and not because he's annoyed and fucking exhausted at having to revisit an ugly mess on which he already
SOCKOSEYO II: You sure are right, Sockoseyo 1! Allow me to cast more aspersions on his character!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
ATEK 3: Why Bother, and What's the Way Forward for ATEK? Is there One?
So Why Bother with ATEK? Why doesn't ATEK just pack it in?
Let's not lose sight of these facts:
1. ATEK is a good idea. It's a good idea for English teachers to have an organization that can, hopefully, provide a legitimate voice for them. A good idea badly executed? Perhaps. A good idea executed as well as its officers could manage, given their experiences, skill-sets, and personalities? Maybe. A bad organization that deserves to be executed? Not unless there's another representative organization doing a better job of giving English teachers a voice.
If that other organization comes along, and does a better job... well, awesome, and ATEK's officers should quit and move there, and hand over access to the ATEK facebook groups and such. On the other hand... ATEK already has a massive communication network, and it would be stupid if the organization disbanded and that went fallow.
2. Any new volunteer organization that tries to develop a democratic process for representing English teachers, will have to go through its own growing pains, and will end up subject to similar criticisms, and going through similar personality issues, and pitfalls. That ATEK has survived this long speaks well of it, and every time it goes through another rough patch, it comes out a better-built, more useful organization. The problem? Every time ATEK goes through a rough patch, the other thing that happens is more of the long-term people who should be driving an organization like this and providing it with stability, continuity, and support, instead decide they've heard enough and get out their ten foot poles.
Any organization that doesn't try to have a democratic process for selecting its leaders, and some kind of procedure, wouldn't be able to claim to be representative. Any that does is going to end up with personality conflicts and people jockeying for influence in the organization. Catch-22. And when somebody catches the short end of a power-struggle... hell hath no fury, you know.
3. ATEK has been having a constant discussion, at all kinds of levels, about what an English teacher organization should, can, and needs to do, and how the best way is to go about that. They haven't arrived at a final answer and smoothed out every wrinkle (probably never will), yet, but every miss is closer to the mark than the miss before it.
4. There are still English teachers who need help with stuff, because shit still happens.
5. The Anti-English Spectrum remains intact, and active.
6. At its best, ATEK's communication network can be a really effective way to help English teachers pool and spread information.
7. ATEK is by NO means the only organization to have embarrassing public fallouts. I've spoken with people who play/played parts in a number of other volunteer or expat organizations who have found their organizations similarly paralyzed by "titanic battles of ego" to borrow my own phrase.
8. The great idea of ATEK is that when somebody knows a lot about Korea, or teaching, or getting help in specific situations, they can (through passing their knowledge to other officers, developing resources and training materials and documents), ensure that their knowledge, experience, and contacts remain in Korea, even after they leave. The idea of keeping people's knowledge and experience in the country, perpetuating the learning (rather than reinventing the wheel time and time again) is a good one, and it's why I believe an organization like ATEK needs to exist. If ATEK is/becomes an organization that facilitates people pooling, improving, and perpetuating their knowledge and experience of Korea, then the English teaching community is richer for it.
Is ATEK doing that? Discuss amongst yourselves. We've read lots of words already about how the organization has been getting in its own way at times.
Some of this stuff refers to things said on other forums or in communications with ATEK officers, some of these ideas are borrowed from other commenters in other discussions.
Rob's Prescription for ATEK to get back to being a relevant/effective organization. Take it or leave it.
Shiva the destroyer (source): destroys, to make room for creation.
So... let's get destroying.
Some of this come from inside information, and some of it's based on comments I've read in other places. I apologize to anyone whom I accidentally quote without attribution. Tomorrow's post will have comments open, and you're invited to take credit for as many of these as you like. Meanwhile, I don't think any of the inside information is too scandalous, or contrary to the goals of ATEK.
Apologies for repeats:
1. Shakeup. Again.
The remaining characters who were key players in the meltdown from last autumn need to vacate decision-making/influential positions in the organization. Most of them already have. For the most part, I like and respect my former colleagues as people, but pragmatically, as long as the events of last October can be thrown in the face of any of the people involved in ATEK's efforts and plans, not many people are going to take the organization seriously, at least in any endeavor where that person's role comes into play. Hopefully they'll be given enough time to find their replacements, and hopefully their replacements will be given the benefit of the doubt.
And who's going to run for president now, when the job description reads like this: "Wanted: punching bag. Requirements: rhino-thick skin; ability to motivate people, make idealists compromise, and sniff out ulterior motives in the space of a five minute phone call. Compensation: The people you help the most will send you an email "thanks" on their way to the airport with their severance bonus in hand. That's it, but your name may be google-bombed if certain online personalities, or certain officers decide you do too much, or too little, of something. They won't tell you what until you've already done it, though. Tenure: one year, renewable."
Who's going to answer that bell? Given the amount of punishment ATEK's president needs to be ready to take on the chin, I'd be surprised if any sensible person would go for it. That leaves people who are in it for some other motivation... and that introduces a whole other set of problems.
And that's how it comes to be that... to riff on a line from The Dark Knight
What else?
2. Streamline.
There are too many PMAs and too many officer roles. Combine some PMAs so that there aren't so many one-officer PMAs. Rearrange the officer role descriptions to allow more flexibility and play. ATEK is operating on too wide a bandwidth to effectively accomplish EVERYTHING it sets out to do. It's time to simplify its goals, and set targets according to what it can do, instead of what it wants to do, and take some of those goals, and either outsource them to other organizations, or put them aside until the organization's big enough to achieve them. (for example, the conference)
3. Make it easier for people to become, and stay members: require less personal information for membership. Maybe require it for an officer position, or at least some of them, because we need to know who's occupying these positions, but make it easier to become a member.
If people want to contribute to ATEK, rules shouldn't stop them. Too many people have had more to offer, and been turned away or forced-resigned, because of clumsy rules.
Ways to do this:
4. This one might be hard to swallow for some people: Back away from the NGO goal for now and focus on utility
Take an organization people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do, and make it an NGO, and you have an NGO which people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do. Becoming an NGO won't magically make ATEK a useful organization and automatically overhaul its reputation, any more than joining a religion automatically means I can stop taking my antidepressants and seeing my counsellor.
But if ATEK, after retooling, proves itself an effective tool for helping people to maximize their wish to help English teachers, then it'll be even more useful as an NGO.
ATEK's best moves lately have been things like opening the blood-type registry and compiling a list of mental health services in Korea, and getting Hankyoreh to publish a retraction for an article about English teachers breaking contract. Nobody was talking shit about ATEK when it did those things, because they were tangible. Why not focus on those kinds of goals for a while, until the organization's name is tied to efforts like that, instead of saddled to a reputation for having a big, ugly, public scandal every 8 months?
These next three might be repeating. Sorry.
5. Get better at forming and maintaining contacts with outside bodies and people -- DON'T reinvent the wheel. Instead, coordinating the efforts of stuff that's already out there is more effective. As an example: why bother creating an events forum on ATEK's website, when people check for events at 10 Magazine?
If someone's helping English teachers already, or enabling English teachers to contribute to their communities, do they need to be recruited as an ATEK officer, before ATEK can form a connection with them, and help them spread the word about whatever they're doing?
Why not let them stay where they are, and use ATEK's communication network give them a bigger stage to keep doing what they're already doing anyway? Or give them access to parts of ATEK's communication network, and then let them go to keep at what they were up to anyway? As one example: why not have a quick tutorial on the ATEK site on joining forums for other pages, posting event notices on other sites, etc., which anybody can access, instead of forcing it to go through an officer (when one is filling the position), and requiring officers to go through an approval procedure before communications can go out? Then, ATEK's network is helping to connect people with the community that's already out there instead of duplicating work and/or bogging it down with procedure.
6. Be facilitators
One of the biggest ways ATEK was getting in its own way was all the different ways people were being told not to do things, and given constraints on their actions. For ATEK to become an organization where people want to contribute, it needs to earn a reputation for helping people do what they're already doing faster, or more easily, or to a larger audience. Then, people will be flocking to the organization, instead of dithering about joining, or quitting out of frustration.
7. Kill the stuff that isn't working, or that's duplicating what others are doing.
The forums? Aren't working. Kill them. It's a good idea to have some discussion forums which are more positive and productive than... that discussion forum, but Hi Expat and Waygook.org and AFEK have open discussion forums now, and people who are already putting time and work into developing, moderating, and improving them. Why not use ATEK officer time and talent in other areas, and send ATEK members to those places, with ready-made communities, instead of trying to become the all-hub-of-everything, all at once? KOTESOL has conferences that are quite well-attended and successful. They have experience and know-how. Why not support them instead of putting together ATEK's own?
The Employment and Legal Issues role? Isn't working: there hasn't been a labor officer in months. Kill it. ATEK.or.kr/legal has a list of legal services expats can call. Add to that a flow chart of "have you tried...X, X, or X?" and maybe some downloadable examples of letters that have been written to employers for certain situations, and a checklist of pertinent cultural points to remember for conflict resolution in Korean workplaces. Then, when somebody comes along with talents to improve the system, let them. Until then, promising labor help that can't be given is leading to disappointment.
How many of the things ATEK promises to do, has it been unable to do, because it's understaffed? How many of those vacant officer roles could be replaced with links to other places where people are already doing those things?
8. Focus on the local
Busan and Gyeonggi PMAs are doing quite well. This would be a good time for ATEK's leadership to work on finding ways to facilitate and empower the local organizations to develop themselves. Maybe Busan and Gyeonggi can make it their goals to work on building PMAs adjacent to theirs, and let it go from there.
9. Stop claiming to represent...
Add the line "ATEK represents X general members" to all promotional materials press releases and info kits. One of the most common gripes from the screeching complainers is "You don't represent me, and I never asked you to." So keep hammering home the point that ATEK only represents its general members. Yeah, I know the screechers don't listen... but that's their problem. ATEK's job is to make sure it's because they weren't listening, not because ATEK was talking too big.
10. Close that chapter for good
The first edition of the English Teacher's Guide To Korea(Sparkling) was recently removed from the website. The organization name and the logo need to change too, to erase the legacy of that one former communications officer who pissed off a lot of people who should have been ATEK's allies from the start, and whose name comes up every time somebody who doesn't like ATEK needs to throw something in ATEK's face. The name ATEK's been bogged down with too much crap as well, at this point. I was the PR guy for half a year and even I tense up when I hear or read "ATEK."
11. Expectation management - let's be reasonable here.
ATEK should be talking, and setting goals, according to the number of active general members and/or officers it has, not according to the number of associate members it has, or the number of contacts in its mailing list.
12. Get all private information about members off the ATEK website, so that it's easier to give people moderator or administrator access, without people worrying about them getting access to information they shouldn't have.
13. Transparency and news:
ATEK should be making its successes known. English teacher avoided getting ripped off because an officer brainstormed some coping strategies? Take out personal info and put that up on ATEK's twitter account, or in a little window on the front of the webpage. English teacher decides not to do a midnight run? Put that up on twitter, or the webpage. English teacher found a much-needed counseling service? Remove the slightest hint of personal information, and let the world know on twitter. That stuff happens. People get helped. Let people know about the little victories as well as the big ones. Get pictures from all the volunteer events happening down in Busan, or in Gyeonggi (another of ATEK's most active PMAs), and let's see them on the website!
ATEK's organizational bodies/decision making bodies should have regularly scheduled meetings, and those meeting minutes should be available at least to general members, and maybe also to associate members. A version of them should be available for the general public.
14. A rhetoric tip:
It's a fallacy, or at least a false dichotomy, to assert that those who don't join ATEK aren't helping English teachers, as if ATEK is the only way to contribute to the expat community. So let's never again hear anything along the lines of "at least ATEK is helping people. What have YOU done?" I think "If you know how to do it better, please join and show us" is fair game, but speaking as if ATEK is the only legitimate outlet for supporting the English teaching community sounds smug. It's off-putting.
If people who like to help English teachers, and do it a lot, are not finding ATEK a good venue to do what they do, then ATEK needs to look at why.
After part 4 tomorrow, when comments come open, you're invited to add your input to the comments.
Let's not lose sight of these facts:
1. ATEK is a good idea. It's a good idea for English teachers to have an organization that can, hopefully, provide a legitimate voice for them. A good idea badly executed? Perhaps. A good idea executed as well as its officers could manage, given their experiences, skill-sets, and personalities? Maybe. A bad organization that deserves to be executed? Not unless there's another representative organization doing a better job of giving English teachers a voice.
If that other organization comes along, and does a better job... well, awesome, and ATEK's officers should quit and move there, and hand over access to the ATEK facebook groups and such. On the other hand... ATEK already has a massive communication network, and it would be stupid if the organization disbanded and that went fallow.
2. Any new volunteer organization that tries to develop a democratic process for representing English teachers, will have to go through its own growing pains, and will end up subject to similar criticisms, and going through similar personality issues, and pitfalls. That ATEK has survived this long speaks well of it, and every time it goes through another rough patch, it comes out a better-built, more useful organization. The problem? Every time ATEK goes through a rough patch, the other thing that happens is more of the long-term people who should be driving an organization like this and providing it with stability, continuity, and support, instead decide they've heard enough and get out their ten foot poles.
Any organization that doesn't try to have a democratic process for selecting its leaders, and some kind of procedure, wouldn't be able to claim to be representative. Any that does is going to end up with personality conflicts and people jockeying for influence in the organization. Catch-22. And when somebody catches the short end of a power-struggle... hell hath no fury, you know.
3. ATEK has been having a constant discussion, at all kinds of levels, about what an English teacher organization should, can, and needs to do, and how the best way is to go about that. They haven't arrived at a final answer and smoothed out every wrinkle (probably never will), yet, but every miss is closer to the mark than the miss before it.
4. There are still English teachers who need help with stuff, because shit still happens.
5. The Anti-English Spectrum remains intact, and active.
6. At its best, ATEK's communication network can be a really effective way to help English teachers pool and spread information.
7. ATEK is by NO means the only organization to have embarrassing public fallouts. I've spoken with people who play/played parts in a number of other volunteer or expat organizations who have found their organizations similarly paralyzed by "titanic battles of ego" to borrow my own phrase.
8. The great idea of ATEK is that when somebody knows a lot about Korea, or teaching, or getting help in specific situations, they can (through passing their knowledge to other officers, developing resources and training materials and documents), ensure that their knowledge, experience, and contacts remain in Korea, even after they leave. The idea of keeping people's knowledge and experience in the country, perpetuating the learning (rather than reinventing the wheel time and time again) is a good one, and it's why I believe an organization like ATEK needs to exist. If ATEK is/becomes an organization that facilitates people pooling, improving, and perpetuating their knowledge and experience of Korea, then the English teaching community is richer for it.
Is ATEK doing that? Discuss amongst yourselves. We've read lots of words already about how the organization has been getting in its own way at times.
Some of this stuff refers to things said on other forums or in communications with ATEK officers, some of these ideas are borrowed from other commenters in other discussions.
Rob's Prescription for ATEK to get back to being a relevant/effective organization. Take it or leave it.
Shiva the destroyer (source): destroys, to make room for creation.
Some of this come from inside information, and some of it's based on comments I've read in other places. I apologize to anyone whom I accidentally quote without attribution. Tomorrow's post will have comments open, and you're invited to take credit for as many of these as you like. Meanwhile, I don't think any of the inside information is too scandalous, or contrary to the goals of ATEK.
Apologies for repeats:
1. Shakeup. Again.
The remaining characters who were key players in the meltdown from last autumn need to vacate decision-making/influential positions in the organization. Most of them already have. For the most part, I like and respect my former colleagues as people, but pragmatically, as long as the events of last October can be thrown in the face of any of the people involved in ATEK's efforts and plans, not many people are going to take the organization seriously, at least in any endeavor where that person's role comes into play. Hopefully they'll be given enough time to find their replacements, and hopefully their replacements will be given the benefit of the doubt.
And who's going to run for president now, when the job description reads like this: "Wanted: punching bag. Requirements: rhino-thick skin; ability to motivate people, make idealists compromise, and sniff out ulterior motives in the space of a five minute phone call. Compensation: The people you help the most will send you an email "thanks" on their way to the airport with their severance bonus in hand. That's it, but your name may be google-bombed if certain online personalities, or certain officers decide you do too much, or too little, of something. They won't tell you what until you've already done it, though. Tenure: one year, renewable."
Who's going to answer that bell? Given the amount of punishment ATEK's president needs to be ready to take on the chin, I'd be surprised if any sensible person would go for it. That leaves people who are in it for some other motivation... and that introduces a whole other set of problems.
And that's how it comes to be that... to riff on a line from The Dark Knight
 |
| this is not batman. this is spider-man. don't be stupid. |
ATEK is the organization English teachers deserve, but not the one they need.
What else?
2. Streamline.
There are too many PMAs and too many officer roles. Combine some PMAs so that there aren't so many one-officer PMAs. Rearrange the officer role descriptions to allow more flexibility and play. ATEK is operating on too wide a bandwidth to effectively accomplish EVERYTHING it sets out to do. It's time to simplify its goals, and set targets according to what it can do, instead of what it wants to do, and take some of those goals, and either outsource them to other organizations, or put them aside until the organization's big enough to achieve them. (for example, the conference)
3. Make it easier for people to become, and stay members: require less personal information for membership. Maybe require it for an officer position, or at least some of them, because we need to know who's occupying these positions, but make it easier to become a member.
If people want to contribute to ATEK, rules shouldn't stop them. Too many people have had more to offer, and been turned away or forced-resigned, because of clumsy rules.
Ways to do this:
- more effective use of committees (one doesn't need to be a full member to be part of a committee)
- a third type of membership where people can contribute without NEEDING to be English teachers. ATEK has developed disclosure protocols, in order to sniff out conflicts of interest where they exist. I'm OK with people working certain jobs being ineligible for certain officer roles - for example, a recruiter should never have access to any of ATEK's membership lists - but if a recruiter wants to design and organize professional development materials, why shouldn't s/he?
- relaxed membership policies
- Membership, at the very least, should expire when their officer role does. The lost opportunities coming out of forced resignations mentioned in 3WM part 2 are one of the worst things ATEK did to itself.
4. This one might be hard to swallow for some people: Back away from the NGO goal for now and focus on utility
Take an organization people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do, and make it an NGO, and you have an NGO which people don't understand, and don't totally trust, which hasn't provided many tangible benefits for the people it's trying to reach, and hasn't done a great job of communicating what it has, is, and will do. Becoming an NGO won't magically make ATEK a useful organization and automatically overhaul its reputation, any more than joining a religion automatically means I can stop taking my antidepressants and seeing my counsellor.
But if ATEK, after retooling, proves itself an effective tool for helping people to maximize their wish to help English teachers, then it'll be even more useful as an NGO.
ATEK's best moves lately have been things like opening the blood-type registry and compiling a list of mental health services in Korea, and getting Hankyoreh to publish a retraction for an article about English teachers breaking contract. Nobody was talking shit about ATEK when it did those things, because they were tangible. Why not focus on those kinds of goals for a while, until the organization's name is tied to efforts like that, instead of saddled to a reputation for having a big, ugly, public scandal every 8 months?
These next three might be repeating. Sorry.
5. Get better at forming and maintaining contacts with outside bodies and people -- DON'T reinvent the wheel. Instead, coordinating the efforts of stuff that's already out there is more effective. As an example: why bother creating an events forum on ATEK's website, when people check for events at 10 Magazine?
If someone's helping English teachers already, or enabling English teachers to contribute to their communities, do they need to be recruited as an ATEK officer, before ATEK can form a connection with them, and help them spread the word about whatever they're doing?
Why not let them stay where they are, and use ATEK's communication network give them a bigger stage to keep doing what they're already doing anyway? Or give them access to parts of ATEK's communication network, and then let them go to keep at what they were up to anyway? As one example: why not have a quick tutorial on the ATEK site on joining forums for other pages, posting event notices on other sites, etc., which anybody can access, instead of forcing it to go through an officer (when one is filling the position), and requiring officers to go through an approval procedure before communications can go out? Then, ATEK's network is helping to connect people with the community that's already out there instead of duplicating work and/or bogging it down with procedure.
6. Be facilitators
One of the biggest ways ATEK was getting in its own way was all the different ways people were being told not to do things, and given constraints on their actions. For ATEK to become an organization where people want to contribute, it needs to earn a reputation for helping people do what they're already doing faster, or more easily, or to a larger audience. Then, people will be flocking to the organization, instead of dithering about joining, or quitting out of frustration.
7. Kill the stuff that isn't working, or that's duplicating what others are doing.
The forums? Aren't working. Kill them. It's a good idea to have some discussion forums which are more positive and productive than... that discussion forum, but Hi Expat and Waygook.org and AFEK have open discussion forums now, and people who are already putting time and work into developing, moderating, and improving them. Why not use ATEK officer time and talent in other areas, and send ATEK members to those places, with ready-made communities, instead of trying to become the all-hub-of-everything, all at once? KOTESOL has conferences that are quite well-attended and successful. They have experience and know-how. Why not support them instead of putting together ATEK's own?
The Employment and Legal Issues role? Isn't working: there hasn't been a labor officer in months. Kill it. ATEK.or.kr/legal has a list of legal services expats can call. Add to that a flow chart of "have you tried...X, X, or X?" and maybe some downloadable examples of letters that have been written to employers for certain situations, and a checklist of pertinent cultural points to remember for conflict resolution in Korean workplaces. Then, when somebody comes along with talents to improve the system, let them. Until then, promising labor help that can't be given is leading to disappointment.
How many of the things ATEK promises to do, has it been unable to do, because it's understaffed? How many of those vacant officer roles could be replaced with links to other places where people are already doing those things?
8. Focus on the local
Busan and Gyeonggi PMAs are doing quite well. This would be a good time for ATEK's leadership to work on finding ways to facilitate and empower the local organizations to develop themselves. Maybe Busan and Gyeonggi can make it their goals to work on building PMAs adjacent to theirs, and let it go from there.
9. Stop claiming to represent...
Add the line "ATEK represents X general members" to all promotional materials press releases and info kits. One of the most common gripes from the screeching complainers is "You don't represent me, and I never asked you to." So keep hammering home the point that ATEK only represents its general members. Yeah, I know the screechers don't listen... but that's their problem. ATEK's job is to make sure it's because they weren't listening, not because ATEK was talking too big.
10. Close that chapter for good
The first edition of the English Teacher's Guide To Korea
11. Expectation management - let's be reasonable here.
ATEK should be talking, and setting goals, according to the number of active general members and/or officers it has, not according to the number of associate members it has, or the number of contacts in its mailing list.
12. Get all private information about members off the ATEK website, so that it's easier to give people moderator or administrator access, without people worrying about them getting access to information they shouldn't have.
13. Transparency and news:
ATEK should be making its successes known. English teacher avoided getting ripped off because an officer brainstormed some coping strategies? Take out personal info and put that up on ATEK's twitter account, or in a little window on the front of the webpage. English teacher decides not to do a midnight run? Put that up on twitter, or the webpage. English teacher found a much-needed counseling service? Remove the slightest hint of personal information, and let the world know on twitter. That stuff happens. People get helped. Let people know about the little victories as well as the big ones. Get pictures from all the volunteer events happening down in Busan, or in Gyeonggi (another of ATEK's most active PMAs), and let's see them on the website!
ATEK's organizational bodies/decision making bodies should have regularly scheduled meetings, and those meeting minutes should be available at least to general members, and maybe also to associate members. A version of them should be available for the general public.
14. A rhetoric tip:
It's a fallacy, or at least a false dichotomy, to assert that those who don't join ATEK aren't helping English teachers, as if ATEK is the only way to contribute to the expat community. So let's never again hear anything along the lines of "at least ATEK is helping people. What have YOU done?" I think "If you know how to do it better, please join and show us" is fair game, but speaking as if ATEK is the only legitimate outlet for supporting the English teaching community sounds smug. It's off-putting.
If people who like to help English teachers, and do it a lot, are not finding ATEK a good venue to do what they do, then ATEK needs to look at why.
After part 4 tomorrow, when comments come open, you're invited to add your input to the comments.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
ATEK 2: My farewell letter to ATEK Officers
Dear ATEK Officers,
While I have had a great time working with ATEK, it is time to inform you that I am now resigning from my role as ATEK’s National External Communications Officer. It has been an exciting but challenging experience, and I have learned a lot. I believe that another officer will be able to do a better job of promoting ATEK to the media than I have been, and I believe ATEK will benefit from new blood. Where I have failed, or proven inadequate to the job, I apologize. Where I have done well, I thank you for your support in giving me the opportunity to do so.
I will remain a supporter of ATEK, even after I am no longer an officer.
Before I go, I would like to say a few words about what ATEK is, and what it can become, and ask you all to consider this as you promote and recruit for ATEK, and plan events.
One:
While I believe that ATEK will grow stronger as more teachers volunteer and contribute, I ask you to consider that there are some people, in some positions, who will better serve English teachers from outside the organization. A journalist who supports ATEK will do a better job of helping ATEK as a friendly press connection than by becoming an officer, at which time, for the sake of journalistic objectivity, he/she would not ethically be able to write about ATEK.
This becomes especially true in two cases: (1) where there is money to be made (for example, if I am the publisher of a book about teaching) and (2) where ATEK’s goals and purposes could impede me from acting freely because, as an officer, my actions would reflect on the organization at large (for example, a human rights lawyer: where their work might help English teachers, a too-close affiliation with ATEK could lead to the appearance that ATEK plans to engage in human-rights agitation). There are organizations and groups that are developing services for English teachers and, while ATEK would benefit from having members of some of them, there are others that work best as allies or friends of ATEK. ATEK must be judicious in choosing when, and how, to form relationships and affiliations, in order to guard the organization’s image, both now and for the future. It is important to support ATEK’s President and Ethics Committee as they help make decisions about forming such relationships.
Two:
As a writer, writing guides often urge me to consider my audience. As members of an organization that can do a lot of good for English teachers, I ask all of you to consider the different audiences that are watching and passing judgment on ATEK. In particular: many of ATEK’s officers are foreign English teachers; however, foreign English teachers are not the only ones watching ATEK, and initiatives that read well among English teachers don’t always play well to other audiences.
Consider this:
Developing labor services looks great to foreign English teachers and having a record of helping English teachers, Korean and foreign, get fair treatment will look very good on ATEK’s record.
However, if the perception develops that this is the only thing ATEK does, this will damage ATEK’s ability to perform other goals that will, in the long run, serve English teachers. If labor is ATEK’s main strength, and the area where ATEK expends most of its energy, the hagwon owners’ association, and anybody else who employs English teachers, will look on ATEK as an enemy. This will ultimately hurt English teachers, as the ideal outcome for English teachers and, for English education in Korea, is for ATEK to have strong ties with such an association in order to work together and develop concrete steps for improving the resources and training available to English teachers, steps which can be developed by the talent contained in ATEK, and then implemented by the administrators and decision-makers who have final say.
This is why professional development initiatives MUST play a larger role in ATEK’s future. This is why community contribution: volunteering, social events, clothing drives, and other philanthropic efforts MUST NOT be scoffed at. ATEK is not only concerned with teachers getting their severance pay, as dishonest treatment from employers is only symptomatic of the bigger problem that foreign English teachers are being used as scapegoats for the problems in Korea’s English education system. In order to deal with the larger problem of scapegoating, building goodwill with community action is of VITAL importance to ATEK’s long-term goals.
Foreign English teachers are not the only group with whom ATEK must build credibility. Parents’ groups, school boards, school administrators, and others concerned with Education in Korea must also see something in ATEK that they consider positive, and the perception that ATEK is a pseudo-union will not be the thing that wins their hearts and minds. For these audiences, ATEK must project the image that we are reliable, that we are professional, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers improve as teachers, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers contribute to our communities, and that we are actively and concretely helping teachers transition more smoothly into life in Korea and work in Korean schools.
Our audiences are as follows, and we ignore any of these audiences, as an organization, at our peril.
Education administrators in the Korean government school owners and administrators in all kinds of English programs and departments short-term foreign English teachers long-term expat English teachers (including those with F-visas) Korean national English teachers, parents of children in school, adult English students, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with education issues, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with expat and migrant worker issues, the Korean media (English language and especially Korean language), and – through them – the Korean public in general.
Some of these groups might be impressed by short-term actions; for most of them, establishing credibility and building good-will will be a long-term project.
Three:
While this is a common issue in volunteer organizations, many of us know that a lot of stress and turmoil has come through ATEK lately. This came from numerous sources, but ultimately, it boils down to this simple issue: ego. A few very smart and capable people decided that their opinion, and their vision for ATEK, was better than that of others, and a few other very smart and capable people insisted likewise.
I’d like to remind all the officers in ATEK that none of us owns ATEK. ATEK does not belong to any of us, nor to any one body of the association. ATEK is an idea bigger than one or another of our conceptions of it, and the only way ATEK will grow to be as big and as exciting an organization as it CAN be is if people acknowledge and respect other points of view, other opinions, and look for ways to collaborate and compromise, rather than seeking ways for their view or vision to win primacy over others.
Those who have been with ATEK a long time must be mindful that, as more talent joins the organization, their level of sway over the organization will decrease, and THIS IS A GOOD THING, because it indicates that ATEK’s resources are expanding. Those who are new in the organization should be mindful that the ATEK has been around for a while. It is built the way it was built for a very good reason, and they should seek the insights and counsel of those who have been involved for longer.
Everyone should remember that, in everything they do, they are not just acting now but also creating an organization they will pass on to others when their time in Korea or time with ATEK expires. And, when there is a difference of opinion, the need to listen and respect others’ views is more important and serves the organization better in the long run than the need to say one’s piece.
Four:
One of the most practically useful things ATEK did in its opening months was to publish the English Teachers’ Guide to Korea.
Some officers are working on developing the second edition, the online edition of this guide. This is a practical, hands-on, lasting contribution ATEK can make for the English teaching community in Korea, and the scope of information an online guide can provide is inexhaustible, if we find and coordinate the people to help with this. This is also a project where many people outside ATEK, but sympathetic to ATEK’s goals, would be happy to help out. I strongly urge every officer in ATEK to consider how they can help with this project, and to do so.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please support the President, and the officers around you, as we try to build a better organization. Please support the next National External Communications Officer, and please continue working to support and improve life for English teachers in Korea.
Your (former) National External Communications Officer, Rob Ouwehand
While I have had a great time working with ATEK, it is time to inform you that I am now resigning from my role as ATEK’s National External Communications Officer. It has been an exciting but challenging experience, and I have learned a lot. I believe that another officer will be able to do a better job of promoting ATEK to the media than I have been, and I believe ATEK will benefit from new blood. Where I have failed, or proven inadequate to the job, I apologize. Where I have done well, I thank you for your support in giving me the opportunity to do so.
I will remain a supporter of ATEK, even after I am no longer an officer.
Before I go, I would like to say a few words about what ATEK is, and what it can become, and ask you all to consider this as you promote and recruit for ATEK, and plan events.
One:
While I believe that ATEK will grow stronger as more teachers volunteer and contribute, I ask you to consider that there are some people, in some positions, who will better serve English teachers from outside the organization. A journalist who supports ATEK will do a better job of helping ATEK as a friendly press connection than by becoming an officer, at which time, for the sake of journalistic objectivity, he/she would not ethically be able to write about ATEK.
This becomes especially true in two cases: (1) where there is money to be made (for example, if I am the publisher of a book about teaching) and (2) where ATEK’s goals and purposes could impede me from acting freely because, as an officer, my actions would reflect on the organization at large (for example, a human rights lawyer: where their work might help English teachers, a too-close affiliation with ATEK could lead to the appearance that ATEK plans to engage in human-rights agitation). There are organizations and groups that are developing services for English teachers and, while ATEK would benefit from having members of some of them, there are others that work best as allies or friends of ATEK. ATEK must be judicious in choosing when, and how, to form relationships and affiliations, in order to guard the organization’s image, both now and for the future. It is important to support ATEK’s President and Ethics Committee as they help make decisions about forming such relationships.
Two:
As a writer, writing guides often urge me to consider my audience. As members of an organization that can do a lot of good for English teachers, I ask all of you to consider the different audiences that are watching and passing judgment on ATEK. In particular: many of ATEK’s officers are foreign English teachers; however, foreign English teachers are not the only ones watching ATEK, and initiatives that read well among English teachers don’t always play well to other audiences.
Consider this:
Developing labor services looks great to foreign English teachers and having a record of helping English teachers, Korean and foreign, get fair treatment will look very good on ATEK’s record.
However, if the perception develops that this is the only thing ATEK does, this will damage ATEK’s ability to perform other goals that will, in the long run, serve English teachers. If labor is ATEK’s main strength, and the area where ATEK expends most of its energy, the hagwon owners’ association, and anybody else who employs English teachers, will look on ATEK as an enemy. This will ultimately hurt English teachers, as the ideal outcome for English teachers and, for English education in Korea, is for ATEK to have strong ties with such an association in order to work together and develop concrete steps for improving the resources and training available to English teachers, steps which can be developed by the talent contained in ATEK, and then implemented by the administrators and decision-makers who have final say.
This is why professional development initiatives MUST play a larger role in ATEK’s future. This is why community contribution: volunteering, social events, clothing drives, and other philanthropic efforts MUST NOT be scoffed at. ATEK is not only concerned with teachers getting their severance pay, as dishonest treatment from employers is only symptomatic of the bigger problem that foreign English teachers are being used as scapegoats for the problems in Korea’s English education system. In order to deal with the larger problem of scapegoating, building goodwill with community action is of VITAL importance to ATEK’s long-term goals.
Foreign English teachers are not the only group with whom ATEK must build credibility. Parents’ groups, school boards, school administrators, and others concerned with Education in Korea must also see something in ATEK that they consider positive, and the perception that ATEK is a pseudo-union will not be the thing that wins their hearts and minds. For these audiences, ATEK must project the image that we are reliable, that we are professional, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers improve as teachers, that we are actively and concretely helping teachers contribute to our communities, and that we are actively and concretely helping teachers transition more smoothly into life in Korea and work in Korean schools.
Our audiences are as follows, and we ignore any of these audiences, as an organization, at our peril.
Education administrators in the Korean government school owners and administrators in all kinds of English programs and departments short-term foreign English teachers long-term expat English teachers (including those with F-visas) Korean national English teachers, parents of children in school, adult English students, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with education issues, other NGOs and NPOs dealing with expat and migrant worker issues, the Korean media (English language and especially Korean language), and – through them – the Korean public in general.
Some of these groups might be impressed by short-term actions; for most of them, establishing credibility and building good-will will be a long-term project.
Three:
While this is a common issue in volunteer organizations, many of us know that a lot of stress and turmoil has come through ATEK lately. This came from numerous sources, but ultimately, it boils down to this simple issue: ego. A few very smart and capable people decided that their opinion, and their vision for ATEK, was better than that of others, and a few other very smart and capable people insisted likewise.
I’d like to remind all the officers in ATEK that none of us owns ATEK. ATEK does not belong to any of us, nor to any one body of the association. ATEK is an idea bigger than one or another of our conceptions of it, and the only way ATEK will grow to be as big and as exciting an organization as it CAN be is if people acknowledge and respect other points of view, other opinions, and look for ways to collaborate and compromise, rather than seeking ways for their view or vision to win primacy over others.
Those who have been with ATEK a long time must be mindful that, as more talent joins the organization, their level of sway over the organization will decrease, and THIS IS A GOOD THING, because it indicates that ATEK’s resources are expanding. Those who are new in the organization should be mindful that the ATEK has been around for a while. It is built the way it was built for a very good reason, and they should seek the insights and counsel of those who have been involved for longer.
Everyone should remember that, in everything they do, they are not just acting now but also creating an organization they will pass on to others when their time in Korea or time with ATEK expires. And, when there is a difference of opinion, the need to listen and respect others’ views is more important and serves the organization better in the long run than the need to say one’s piece.
Four:
One of the most practically useful things ATEK did in its opening months was to publish the English Teachers’ Guide to Korea.
Some officers are working on developing the second edition, the online edition of this guide. This is a practical, hands-on, lasting contribution ATEK can make for the English teaching community in Korea, and the scope of information an online guide can provide is inexhaustible, if we find and coordinate the people to help with this. This is also a project where many people outside ATEK, but sympathetic to ATEK’s goals, would be happy to help out. I strongly urge every officer in ATEK to consider how they can help with this project, and to do so.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please support the President, and the officers around you, as we try to build a better organization. Please support the next National External Communications Officer, and please continue working to support and improve life for English teachers in Korea.
Your (former) National External Communications Officer, Rob Ouwehand
Monday, April 25, 2011
ATEK 1
Been lots of talk about ATEK lately.
You can hear Greg Dolezal talk about it on the Seoul Podcast.
I'm going to write about this one time. (in a few parts, though)
First: Ground rules.
I won't be making any comment on specific personalities. Comments about specific personalities on my blog will be deleted. If you wish to participate in character assassination of either side, here's your link. Comments will be closed on this post: only the fourth of my four will have commenting. Keep it in one place. It's tiring moderating comment discussions, and ATEK has already gotten as many fifteen hour weeks of unpaid effort and time as I'm willing to offer up for now. And I've got midterms.
I have lots of thoughts about some of the specific people... but they'll stay between me, myself, and maybe people I know who have zero chance of publishing communications between me and them on the internet.
Because if I let a little out, I have to let it all out... and nobody really needs to know which former or current ATEK officer hates puppies, which one can't hold his/her soju, which one eats babies, which one has a habit of "adjusting" in public, which one once accidentally killed a tranny in a Cambodian bar fight and which can quote season and episode for the entire run of Dr. Who, and will punch you if you think "Firefly" sucked.
I made all those up.
But here are the points I'd like to make:
1. If 3WM's traffic works like my blog does, a controversy, and a lively comment discussion means lots of hits.
A whole year ago, 3WM stumbled onto the fact that picking on well-meaning people DOES stir up lots of comments. If their site is anything like mine, a good lively comment discussion is also a web traffic bonanza.
Screenshot taken last week.
You can hear Greg Dolezal talk about it on the Seoul Podcast.
I'm going to write about this one time. (in a few parts, though)
First: Ground rules.
I won't be making any comment on specific personalities. Comments about specific personalities on my blog will be deleted. If you wish to participate in character assassination of either side, here's your link. Comments will be closed on this post: only the fourth of my four will have commenting. Keep it in one place. It's tiring moderating comment discussions, and ATEK has already gotten as many fifteen hour weeks of unpaid effort and time as I'm willing to offer up for now. And I've got midterms.
I have lots of thoughts about some of the specific people... but they'll stay between me, myself, and maybe people I know who have zero chance of publishing communications between me and them on the internet.
Because if I let a little out, I have to let it all out... and nobody really needs to know which former or current ATEK officer hates puppies, which one can't hold his/her soju, which one eats babies, which one has a habit of "adjusting" in public, which one once accidentally killed a tranny in a Cambodian bar fight and which can quote season and episode for the entire run of Dr. Who, and will punch you if you think "Firefly" sucked.
I made all those up.
But here are the points I'd like to make:
1. If 3WM's traffic works like my blog does, a controversy, and a lively comment discussion means lots of hits.
A whole year ago, 3WM stumbled onto the fact that picking on well-meaning people DOES stir up lots of comments. If their site is anything like mine, a good lively comment discussion is also a web traffic bonanza.
Screenshot taken last week.
Screenshot taken last week
Let's also note this: (from their right-hand sidebar)
Had to be said.
[Update: after a polite email from one of the Three Wise Monkeys, it's only fair to inform my readers that the advertisements on the side of the 3WM page are unpaid, and the site is, for now, non-profit. So add that to whatever you've already put in your pipe, and smoke it, too.]
So... 3WM is doing well on this. Do they give a damn about the plight of English teachers? Who knows? The series didn't offer a single productive suggestion except "disband" (which is destructive, not productive)... but they got the eyeballs. So congratufuckinglations.
Equivocation:
Also to be noted: 3WM isn't just the editor or the three main writers. In the comments after posts, you'll notice that the 3WM community is pretty tight, too: they seem to look out for each other and back each other up. Good for them... when they're not bullying people like Chris Backe, with even site admin joining the mean-spirited pile-up. Etcetera.
And some of the articles on there have been very interesting and well-written, and some have been done by writers whom I respect a lot. That's not to say I have any respect at all for the way THIS story was investigated or presented... but if The Korea Times gets Michael Breen AND Kang Shin-Who, I can be impressed by some of the writers at 3WM while this article and the apparent intentions behind it can still make me want to punch through a wall.
Next thing:
2. Critical thinking 101: Don't trust a one-sided story
When a narrative makes one side sound completely virtuous, and as if s/he and s/he alone was the one wronged, and the other side is always and invariably the one in the wrong, either through ineptitude or malice...
That's not a narrative you should trust, folks.
Are ATEK's leaders, and the organization in general, all the bad things presented in the 3WM article? Is the former Seoul Chair the well-meaning hero (presumably on a white horse, and maybe even with a crown of thorns,) out to save all English teachers, only to be foiled by the cackling ATEK executive wearing black hats and rubbing their hands together?
No.
Are ATEK's leaders totally guiltless little hippies, who were on their way to a utopian English education atmosphere, only to have their kumbaya-singing circle spoiled by a big bully who joined the organization in order to launch a pipe-bomb into it, and may or may not have been wearing a mecha suit?
No.
3WM will tell you that the stories they gathered corroborated... but folks, if you go down to rural Georgia, find a house with a confederate flag in the second story window, and ask the six good ol' boys sitting on the porch to tell you the story of the US civil war, you'll get a story that corroborates... corroboration doesn't always mean a lot. Even my research design class highlights the fact a high rate of non-respondents undermines reliability.
Ask six Koreans about colonial Japan. Then ask six Japanese about it. Bet the Koreans' stories corroborate, and so do the Japanese's. But I also bet their stories are so different you'd barely know they were talking about the same region, and the same time period.
The truth is somewhere between the narratives you've been presented in the 3WM article, and the view you get from commenters like Oh Really in the 3WM piece, or the view you get from Greg in the Seoul Podcast, or whatever ATEK's official statement will be, when it comes out. I have my own ideas about how blame should be divvied up... most people involved acted not in malice so much as over-certainty of their own perspective, or simply on bad advice, and some of them are bad listeners, or bad communicators, and some of them lost perspective, and a few people simply had lapses in judgement or vigilance at crucial points... but I'm keeping the specifics to myself, because finger-pointing and he-said she-said distracts from the thing that's actually important: What's good for English teachers in Korea?
So go back to the other narratives, and decide for yourselves where the truth lies. Be suspicious of anyone whose story is too well-told or juicy, because good storytelling requires a massaging of facts, and don't forget these events happened, mostly, last October and November, meaning there's been a good five months for people's memories to color what actually happened. Having witnessed the whole thing myself, and been party to even more of the e-mails than our dear former Seoul officer, here's what you're getting from me:
3. A titanic battle of egos it was.
But for a titanic battle of egos to occur, requires titanic egos on both sides. Both sides, folks, despite what 3WM would have you believe.
There were people on all sides (not just two people, not just two sides) who refused to budge, who were bullying, who were disrespectful, who were rude or petty, who dismissed and scorned the other side, who sulked, who stomped their feet, and who did things that seemed to demonstrate that to them, being right had become more important than helping ATEK help English teachers. Everybody looked bad at some point or another, from where I stood, myself included. And anybody who looks back, and finds a way to hold themselves blameless, is missing something. Any narrator who makes themselves sound blameless, is being dishonest with their audience, and themselves.
It was a perfect storm of incompatible personalities, communication styles, and visions of what ATEK could/should do/be. It was ugly, and I hated being witness to it. I'd meant to take my last months with ATEK and use them to get the second edition of the English Teacher's Guide to Korea on its feet. Instead, I spent them writing e-mails, talking various people off various ledges, sorting through bullshit and ego and accusations and threats and distortions and personal issues made into ATEK issues. The Teacher's Guide project remains in limbo, and I'm fucking choked.
At EVERYBODY involved. I want my fucking three months back.
That said, there were a lot of smart (not always mature, and not always polite, but very smart) people trying to come up with the fairest way they could, for dealing with a situation the organization hadn't encountered before, trying to implement it at the same time as developing it. And dealing with it this time it was ugly. Really ugly, but the things the organization has learned from this, mean that next time, similar issues will be dealt with much more quickly and efficiently.
4. The full dish on the former Seoul Chair.
Nah. You're not getting anything from me. I'm not a muckraker.
I have, before, during, and since the ATEK blowup, recommended the services of that firm to English teachers. Because I'm on the side of English teachers, and that's a service for English teachers. And that's all you're getting from me.
5. Change of Focus:
Here's what has been forgotten in this mess:
Anti-English Spectrum is still out there, organized, and active. Anti-English Spectrum members continue putting bugs in the ears of Korean policy makers, and going through foreign English teachers' trash, and "following" them. And English teachers (and various non-English teacher expats) continue cannibalizing their own, rather than mounting/supporting/contributing to an organized response to it.
(yeah, go ahead and tell me ATEK has gotten in its own way in letting people help mount/support/contribute to that response. I know. I'll cover that in a future post)
And that's a fucking shame, because that's the bigger picture here.
Look for a few more posts on this, and then I'm done with this topic until ATEK, or another organization, is showing results worth reporting. The first time I threw down on ATEK's behalf, I ended up looking stupid, and moderating the discussions about ATEK back in 2009 at Roboseyo and the Hub Of Sparkle (did you forget about that, 3WM, the part where I gave ATEK's critics an equal voice in discussions even then, or did it just not fit your narrative, so you ignored it?) was so time-consuming and stressful it very nearly cost me the most important friendship of my adult life. I still volunteered as communications officer, because I think ATEK is a good idea, and no other organization was trying to do what ATEK wanted to do.
And now I'm tired of the histrionics, frankly, and I'm tired of having my good intentions thrown in my face by a muckraker pretending to be a journalist who never even approached me for a fucking comment. I'm not an English teacher anymore, I gave it the best shot I was able, given the circumstances, because I believe in the idea that English teachers should be empowered to help themselves, and ATEK, supposedly, and painstakingly, is moving towards that. But if this is the atmosphere that's going to perpetuate itself, if the axe-grinders, naysayers and dart-throwers carry the discourse, and the ones who want a more rational and mature way of dealing with issues stay silent, and people who have the knowledge and qualifications and energy to help English teachers get intimidated or bullied away from an organization that can (ideally) give them an opportunity to do so... then maybe English teachers in Korea deserve to drown in their own piss and vinegar. Fuck it.
Posts to come:
1. The farewell letter I wrote when I left office as communications officer.
2. My personal set of prescriptions for what I think ATEK needs to do next, to rebuild its reputation, and moreover its usefulness.
3. How ATEK's members, whom ATEK's leadership ultimately answers to, can take control of the organization that purports to represent them.
The final post in my ATEK series will be open for comments. Until then, go talk about ATEK on another discussion board where somebody else can moderate the fireworks.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Somebody must be studying for midterms...
'cause he keeps posting random weird stuff on his blog.
Seriously, though, it's intellectually dishonest of many Korean scholars reinterpret their colonial history through the false binaries of (Japanese) exploitation/ (Korean attempts at) development, Japan/Korea, Imperialist repression/Nationalist modernization. The hegemonic strategies Japan deployed were not monolithic, but nuanced, changing over time, and a complex mix of different cultural forces, interactions, and negotiations, while Korean responses to colonization were likewise.
Seriously, though, it's intellectually dishonest of many Korean scholars reinterpret their colonial history through the false binaries of (Japanese) exploitation/ (Korean attempts at) development, Japan/Korea, Imperialist repression/Nationalist modernization. The hegemonic strategies Japan deployed were not monolithic, but nuanced, changing over time, and a complex mix of different cultural forces, interactions, and negotiations, while Korean responses to colonization were likewise.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
For everyone who's EVER played Tetris...
Even better: somebody actually made the game.
(if the game doesn't embed properly in your browser, click on "somebody" to play.)
I should be studying for midterms.
(update: let's not forget the counterpoint, also an XKCD comic: Tetris Hell)
Also playable. http://www.geekosystem.com/xkcd-tetris-hell-game/
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