[LETTERS TO THE EDITOR]Willing teachers spurned

I am preparing to enter graduate school this year to study education. I graduated from college, majoring in mathematics and have taught students at a private education institute for the past eight years. I love teaching and math was my major, yet I cannot teach at a public school because I did not study in a department that focused only on education.
I am sure that teachers at regular schools have many hardships of their own, but teaching at a private institute, or cram school, is a very grueling task. Work hours can go on and on, especially during exam periods, when I would even have to teach on Sundays late into the night.
Despite the fact that I have a regular job, teachers at private institutes are not given the benefits that are usually given to regular corporate employees, such as medical insurance. Of course, there is no concept of a pension either. Our circumstances are similar to those of non-regular workers or contract laborers, and unlike reports in the media, only a few very popular teachers have high incomes. With no fixed working hours, no vacations, no age limit guarantee, and no pension, it is obvious why I am envious of teachers teaching at schools.
Although I did not attend an education college, I studied mathematics at a four-year college and believe that with my experience, I should have the right to become a teacher at regular school. I think it is unfair that people who majored in mathematics or Korean literature cannot actually teach at schools because their focus was not on education.

by Kim Su-jin