being a teacher

I teach English in Korea.

Sometimes I love it.  Sometimes the students are happy to be there.  They're working in teams and fighting to be the best and enjoying what they're learning.  Sometimes they're actually curious about the material.  They work hard, not because they want points or because it's expected of them, but because it's something they want to know for its own sake.  On days like that I feel like I could keep doing this job forever.  And it's an attractive option.  I could spend my life traveling around the world, seeing sights and learning languages.  Maybe I'd finally settle down in a couple of decades in some hong kong suburb, marry a handsome pirate, and start a business selling discount swimwear for robots.

But usually I hate it.  Usually the students are only there for fear of their parents.  Usually they only begrudgingly participate and only after I woo them into it with sideshow antics.  And sometimes I have to shame them into it with a withering stare or a condescending talking to or even just yelling at them.  Usually I feel like a particularly uninspiring government sponsored edutainment service meant to get people totally enthused about sorting out their recycling.  And sometimes I just feel like a prison guard.

So I recognize that my job is fundamentally immoral.  I had mistakenly believed before I came here that private education was somehow less of a violation of non aggression than public education.  It turns out that it's not ok to herd children into curiosity destroying indoctrination camps where strangers will shame them into going through the motions of pretending to learn things that they don't care about, even when you don't mug people to pay for it.  And I wish that was enough for me.  I wish I had the courage and the conviction to break agreements and to tell people it's because I think what we're doing is wrong.  I'm still more of a coward than I'm happy to admit.  But I am quitting this job.  Exactly half way through my contract, I'm headed back to the states.  I'll save what pushed me over the edge for another post.