Job Discussion Forums

[Fitzgerald]

There's no need at this point to go into details, but I have recently had a reminder of just how bad an international high school can be. In the wake of that experience, I have read a lot of reviews at the International Schools Review, and even allowing for the fact that the disgruntled are more likely to write reviews than the pleased are, the picture that emerges from around the world is not pretty.

Several points occur to mind. One: Although it is easy to find the people who represent commercial and bureaucratic values at these institutions, it is not so easy to find the people who represent strong educational values. I think a lot of them become frustrated and leave the schools, or perhaps the profession of education altogether.

Two: I think that whether these schools call themselves "for profit" or "not for profit," virtually all of them are actually for profit institutions and run themselves accordingly. Very few would compare favorably to your average, reasonably well-funded suburban American public high school. Yet parents pay high fees because the alternatives to the independent schools are, in most countries, much worse.

Three: Many students at these schools are nice, and I can't blame the ones who are jerky too badly, because they were not responsible for their own rearing. Way too many students are academically lazy, which would matter less if they weren't enrolled in IB or honors programs that should not tolerate laziness. Overall, I would not lay the problems of the schools at the feet of the students; they are pawns.

Four: I do think that many parents are culpable however, because they show a far higher concern that their children be treated with the deference due to privilege than that they be well educated. One choice tidbit from a 9th grade mother: "Even though the students were all misbehaving, the teacher shouldn't have spoken to them harshly." Oh well, excuse me.

The upshot in my case is that even though I like teaching high school (under decent circumstances, anyway) and have won accolades for my teaching, I am fleeing towards Business English classes, online English classes, private tutoring, and perhaps some university classes. None of those settings is perfect either, far from it, but it seems to me that the headaches in international high schools and K-12 schools are much worse. (I do know that things are not rosy back in the U.S. or Canada, either.)

[BadBeagleBad]

Been there, done that. All of it! In the US, Guatemala and Mexico. I don't think your experiences are just a Mexican phenomena, but a matter of certain people feeling entitled, or considering themselves better. I do think that aspect of it is more pronounced in Mexico because social classes tend to be more rigid and moving between classes is not as fluid as it sometimes is in the US. I have been teaching adults for many years now and would never, ever go back to teaching children, regardless of pay. Motivated students are just so much easier and so much more enjoyable to teach. The last job I had in Mexico City was teaching all adults and I actually looked forward to going to work. It can take a little time, but you pick and choose your classes to get a workable schedule. I actually never minded working splits, though some people hate it. I was making as much working around 20 hours a week as I would have made working full time in a school. I had a three hour block of classes in the same location every morning, M-F, and then two evenings. One Saturday a month was a conversation club which was actually a lot of fun. You might also consider doing business classes in the morning and working online afternoons and evenings. I work entirely online now and have for over three years, but if we lived in a larger city I would do a combo of online and business classes. I do miss getting out of the house everyday, sometimes I work out on the patio, haha, but not quite the same.

[Fitzgerald]

[bdbarnett1]

[BadBeagleBad]

Places I have either worked for, or know someone who works, or has worked for are: English Town, Open English, ISUS, ABC Tutor - they are pay on time and are fairly pleasant to work for. There are loads of places out there, there are ads here from time to time for online schools, as well as some of the other teacher sites.

[Fitzgerald]

[bdbarnett1]