Hagwon vs Public

I've been teaching in a hagwon now for 4 months. I feel that this is long enough to be able to properly compare and contrast it to the Korean public school. This only applies to my hagwon and previous public school as others are different.

For the record, a hagwon is often referred to as an "academy". An "academy" is essentially a private school, usually a high school. My hagwon is a preschool/kindergarten in the morning so, in a sense, it is a private school. However, the afternoon classes are elementary students who come in after school to be tutored on various subjects. There are hagwons for everything - learning to play the guitar, piano, learning English, Chinese, Japanese, brushing up on math, science, history, and even some for learning magic tricks (I had a student who went to a hagwon for magic and he was really good!).

Similarities:

• I have students who really could care less about learning and those that seem to enjoy being in my class. 
• Co-workers are very friendly and willing to help with anything/everything.
• I enjoy teaching.
• Books. In public school, we taught out of the books but we incorporated more games and activities into our lessons. The hagwon has books/workbooks, we are allowed to do extra activities, but it feels more mindless. For both schools, I am required to finish the workbook as parents want to see the workbook completed. Even if I do worksheets that have the same general idea, I have to complete the workbook pages.

Differences:

• Class size. I went from having over 35 (public) in each class to under ten - most classes have around 6. I have to say, I like having less than ten kids per class.
• Food. Public school had some pretty great lunches (and some pretty awful ones but overall good) while I have yet to have a decent lunch at my hagwon.  The students are fed lunch and it seems as though we get the leftovers. Typically, lunch is cold and pretty flavorless.  However, since we are here around dinner time the co-teachers order random things like pizza, chicken, and cake (we eat a lot of cake). So it isn't all bad. 
• I am able to use more English in the hagwon. The students, for the most part, know a good bit of English. I am able to converse with the majority of them - something I miss about teaching kids who speak English as a first language. Most of the Korean teachers who work there speak a good amount of English as well. 
• The days are longer in the hagwon. I had more vacation days in public school as well as time to plan fun activities for my after school classes. My hagwon days are pretty packed.
• I have more extra work in the hagwon. In public school, I created my own curriculum for several after school classes as well as for winter/summer camps. For the hagwon, I have several things every month I have to do - role playing scripts and activities, calling the kids at their home once a month, preparing for a talent show, etc.
• The students are given "English names". We don't refer to them by their real names, we call them by their English names. This. This I don't like. I don't feel like the students respond as well to their English names as they would to their actual name. I feel stupid calling them an English name around their parents or other Korean teachers - only the native English teachers use these names. I do understand the idea - it creates a more English environment and, to be honest, some of the Korean names are difficult to pronounce and the students get angry when you can't say it correctly. I go by "Taylor" because they pronounce "Brooke" as "Bah-ru-kah".
 

I think that's about all. In the end, both have their advantages and faults. I see why hagwons get a bad wrap as things are often sprung on you last minute and getting paid seems to always be a battle. But, given the new contract for public schools, I think I'd rather go with a hagwon.