[Current & Culture]How Much Am I Worth?

Published 28 Jul.2023 13:25(KST)

Transportation Costs Considered When Giving School Lectures
Teachers in Rural Areas Proactively Cover Travel Expenses
Unspoken Assumption in the Metropolitan Area: No Extra Compensation

One day, a certain broadcaster recently mentioned that he has been giving lectures at middle and high schools and revealed his lecture fees. It seemed he wanted to emphasize that he lives a modest life, but according to him, the lectures are almost free, and he receives about 180,000 to 220,000 won. This was shortly after it became known that he was receiving lecture fees around 15 million won. The difference between those amounts is huge, but I know that neither side is wrong. The price for speaking varies each time, so it can range from 180,000 won to 15 million won, or even less or more. I once heard that a renowned foreign scholar charges about 200 million won to project a hologram of himself from his country to a conference hall in Korea for a special lecture. If just transferring his image costs that much without him coming in person, how much would it cost if he actually came to Korea? The world is truly full of mysteries.

In fact, the broadcaster’s calculation is both right and wrong. For a lecture of about 90 minutes, based on general levels 1 to 2, the fee would likely be calculated as 120,000 won for the first 60 minutes and 60,000 won for the next 60 minutes. Adding a manuscript fee of 100,000 won and round-trip KTX transportation costs depending on the distance between his address and the school, the total would be roughly around 300,000 won.

I give about 30 to 40 lectures a month. About half of them are at middle and high schools. Each school sets a different price for me. The lowest I have received was 230,000 won for two hours, and the highest was about 800,000 won. Since the responsible teacher submits a request, someone approves it, and the administrative office executes the payment, I just accept it as it is. However, recently, one item has started to bother me: “transportation costs.” When I go to lecture at schools in rural areas, one of the first questions asked is where I came from. If I went to a school in Mokpo, Jeollado, the KTX fare from Seoul to Mokpo becomes the standard for transportation costs. About 120,000 won is added to the lecture fee. A teacher at a school in Jeonnam once worriedly asked how I came, and when I said I rented a shared car, they said they would cover that cost as well. Although I received a call the next day saying the rental fee could not be processed, I had already told them it might be rejected by the administrative office and that it was okay.

However, when I go to lecture at schools in the Seoul metropolitan area, there is often no item for transportation costs at all. It seems to be assumed that I live in Seoul. I live in Gangneung. I moved here about two years ago. So when I asked the responsible teacher about transportation costs, they said they have never paid transportation costs to any writer before and asked if I didn’t live in Seoul. No, teacher, as I wrote on my instructor card, I live in Gangneung, and people live in Gangneung too.

Why is it that when inviting outsiders, teachers in rural areas first apologize for the school’s remote location and take care of transportation costs, while teachers in the metropolitan area ask, “Aren’t you coming from Seoul?” Since half of the economically active population lives in the metropolitan area, it’s inevitable, but as someone living beyond Daegwallyeong, those words somehow feel sad. So nowadays, when I go to lecture in the metropolitan area, I ask first, “I’m coming from Gangneung; will you be covering transportation costs?” The lecture fee, whether 180,000 won or 800,000 won, is fine, but that cost, which is important to some and taken for granted by others, somehow annoys me. It’s a feeling I didn’t have when I lived in Seoul.