Sad state of affairs that Robert Holley and his school should continue with their very illegal ESL programe. The requirement of the students for living abroad in an English speaking country has been dropped from 5 years to 3 years. Eligibility now favours foreign schools. Still a student who has had parents spend the money for him or her to live abroad to learn English isn't going to want their child to be learning in an ESL environment when they return.
The school actively pushes it's ESL programe, and there is no letting up from it. Can't believe Mr Robert Holley would so brazenly flout the law. The school has had this stuff going on for years, and he makes one hell of a deal about his legal qualifications, and the membership he has in the Chamber opf commerce. What a hypocrite. The information about the schools ESL programe was on the school news letters which it writes on the school website every month. They were available for everyone to read as well. Now these newsletters are only available to registered readers. All of a sudden they would rather not have there school matters open to the public the way they used to. Apart from the ESL information the school newsletters have nothing of interest to any non school personnel. One can rightfully assume that the Holleys are desperately trying to cover something up. Hide the dirty stinking incriminating evidence that so dissapointingly shows how lacking in integrity they really are.
Mr Robert Holley is of no credit to us waeguks at all. He used to be held up on a pedestal by us foreigeners to show that there was one of us who could cut it here in Korea. What a bitter blow to see the level that he has sunk too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Found this on May8th newspaper
The government yesterday announced measures to ease regulations on foreign schools and attract more foreign students to Korea as part of a broader initiative to advance the country's service sector.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said it will allow foreign schools to admit more Korean students.
Currently, Korean nationals cannot exceed 30 percent of all students attending a foreign school. The ministry seeks to "temporarily" allow schools to fill up 30 percent of their nominal student quota with Korean students.
The ministry is seeking to revise related laws by August, officials said.
Songdo International School, which is scheduled to open in the Incheon Free Economic Zone in September, has had difficulty opening here due to a lack of foreign students.
The ministry also seeks to enable foreign schools to remit their surpluses overseas and handle their financial matters according to the accounting regulations of their own countries.
The ban on the overseas remittances has discouraged many of the schools from opting to open in Korea. Currently, many countries, including Japan, Singapore, Qatar and Dubai, allow overseas remittances.
The ministry also seeks to loosen requirements for the establishment of foreign schools, such as one related to the size of a school building.
Currently, a college building is required to have the capacity of accommodating at least 1,000 students, but such requirements will be eased, officials explained.
To attract more foreign students, particularly those from Asian countries, the ministry plans to run various educational exchange programs and ameliorate studying and living conditions for foreign students.
The government plans to increase the percentage of the classes taught in English at national universities to 5 percent in 2012 from 3.2 percent last year. It also plans to increase the percentage of foreign students accommodated in school dormitories up to 60 percent.
The government also plans to develop systems through which universities in Korea, Japan and China can exchange their students and share curriculums.
It also plans to enhance the government's website, designed to give foreign students information on Korean education. The website (www.studykorea.go.kr) currently provides translation services in 10 languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese and Spanish. Translation services in four more languages will be offered, the ministry said.
The number of foreign students in Korea has steadily increased from 22,526 in 2005 to 32,557 in 2006, 49,270 in 2007 and 63,952 in 2008.
By Song Sang-ho
About 10% of the students in Seoul-area foreign schools are Koreans, reports Yonhap. In fact, at some foreign schools, the student body is 30—60% Korean.
Seoul councilwoman Lee Su-jeong of the Democratic Labor Party said during an administrative investigation of Seoul Office of Education that some US-owned foreigner schools had become “royal academies” for the children of wealthy Koreans. In the case of Seoul Academy International School, she said, 60% of the students were Korean.
According to Seoul Office of Education data, as of March, the US-owned Seoul Academy International School had the highest percentage of Korean students — 101 of 166 students.
No. 2 was the French Lycée international Xavier (43.2%), followed by US-owned Asia Pacific International School (36.6%), Korea International School (30.8%) and Centennial Christian School (27.9%).
Of a total 5,573 students at Seoul-area foreign schools, 503 — or 9.0% — were Korean.
Of the foreign schools running courses K thru 12, the expensive US-owned schools charged about 10—12.8 million won a year as of March.
To boost the educational environment for resident foreigners, the city is pushing plans to establish additional foreign schools in three areas — Banpo-dong, the DMC in Sangam-dong and Gaepo-dong. For the project, the city has set aside 154.4 billion won for next year alone.
Needless to say, Lee was less than happy with this, explaining that since Koreans who have lived more than five years overseas or had foreign residency could enrol, local foreign schools had become “royal academies” for the kids of rich Koreans. “Seoul City must completely withdraw its plan, which wastes taxpayer money, to establish new foreign schools,” she said.
About this, a city official said a presidential order limiting Korean enrolment in foreign schools to 30% would soon go into effect, and that they would use that basis to set up new foreign schools that prioritise foreign students. He said they’d word so that the schools lead to foreign investment.
Marmot’s Note: I don’t know as much about this issue as I probably should, but it does seem odd that the city would spend taxpayer money to help set up private schools for rich folk.
Post a Comment