Parents Sue English Camp for Having ‘Too Many Koreans’ in One Classroom

January 4, 2019

The parents of an English camp participant sued its organizer after learning that their child was sitting with “too many Koreans” in class.

In a recent ruling, the Seoul Central District Court said that the private English institute failed to keep a maximum of four Korean students in one classroom as indicated in a contract.

According to the student’s parents, there were “more than 10 Koreans in a classroom” at the camp that took place in Guam last year, the Korea Times reported.

They also discovered that the learning environment looked different than what they had expected.

Image: BUSAN, Republic of Korea (Aug. 19, 2010) Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Riad Taha, assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), helps a child with his English lesson during a community service project at Hee-Rak-Won Children’s Welfare Facility in Busan.

Upon discovering the situation, they decided to ask for a refund but, the institute refused to honor their request.

In response, the parents filed a lawsuit.

Image (representation only) via Flickr / Marie (CC BY-SA 2.0)

In its defense, the institute argued that the students were taking a “level test” and were about to head to different classrooms with the maximum designation in place.

However, the court did not recognize the institute’s claim and ordered it to pay 3 million won ($2,660) to the student’s parents.

“I signed an exclusive contract with the school, but they secretly contracted two other companies to increase the number of Korean students,” the child’s father told the Seoul Shinmun.

They initially sought 10.58 million won ($9,420) in compensation to cover the costs of taking their child to Guam and the “mental agony” they suffered.

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