The fall is finally arriving – I went to sleep with my windows open, and when I woke up, the air was chilly. Maybe 5 C or so.
I'm glad that Fall is arriving. I like summer in Korea because it is green and rainy for much of it – but I like the heat and humidity, less so.
I feel a bit frustrated with work. I sense implosional tendencies in the staffroom dynamic. These are making me uncomfortable. Meanwhile, I'm back to teaching the regular middle-schoolers. They can be frustrating sometimes, with their (externally) affectless approach to reality: I sometimes can't figure out if I'm getting through to them at all. And lately, there is a lot of talk of making the elementary side "harder" (or "hardcore") – which is exactly the direction I'm least happy in taking it, though I understand the rationale behind it, market-wise.
The big players in the hagwon biz are beginning a kind of price-war. They are thus undercutting the tuition of smaller players like Karma. Consequently, we have to differentiate in the market, and one option is to try to present ourselves as more "hardcore." Right? Personally, I think there's better options – e.g. become more "innovative" – but to be innovative, one needs to… er, um… innovate.