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bearcat
Joined: 08 May 2004
Posts: 367
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 Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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| peter31 wrote: |
To the people out there jumping all over the "Kevin Burns" thing, I can only say that if you got your head out of your arses, you might see that there is a certain amount of truth to what he says!!!!
Don't know the guy and can't say that if his character is decent or not but, what was written in my humble opinion is fair.
I have seen so much *beep* on this website and some of the answers are even more ridiculous than the questions.
C'mon guys be fair and at least admit that there are decent schools out there and not everyone of them is out to do an injustice to us all!!! |
As was stated on the forum thread on ELT News concerning Burns' article, it was written with ulterior motives. It sought to discredit websites and persons that though you can perceptionally consider the information they convey to be negative, you cannot say that the information they predominantly give is not factual. It is quantitatively factual and has been proven so over and over again. The fact that people don't see it or in some cases don't want to believe it is to me no different than those that want to believe in Alien Visitors doing cow mutilations in central Nebraska.
But Burns was in addition to attempting to bash certain folks (that he has had run ins with before and continutes to look for venues to trash them), he was also seeking to elevate himself and advertise his wares. By writing such and article and attempting to falsely place himself and his school/company in a higher light.... and thus gaining advertisement therein.
Knowing then that Burns has diss'd similarly in the past, has questionable things on his website and in his contracts for teachers he hires, his article comes off totally in the opposite direction of "humble". It was an exercise in ego.
Now let me arm you with another fact: he contacted the owner of Let's Japan (who he singled out website wise in his article) and attempted to excuse what he wrote as being attributed to the stresses involved with a personal family members illness(I don't have to be crass and give the details past that).
That means three very distinct things:
1. That Burns exhibited a small, fleeting yet confirmed amount or regret for what he wrote. This means he agrees that it was WRONG.
2. That he is so irresponsible in his actions that he would attempt to blame such on the illness of a family member instead of accepting the responsibility directly for what he wrote. He has to attribute it to something or someone else, yet he is the one that committed the keystrokes to the screen. But to then blame it on a family member's illness just shows the kind of ethics (or lack there of) he uses.
3. That he would not publicly admit this but only privately (its been a while btw since he contacted the guy to say such to em). I could understand and feel sympathy for Burns' family situation if he had made a public act of contrition and retraction of what was written and actually respected him much much more. But that he has not and never will write such means that this guy is beneath contempt.
This type of thing IS exactly the sort of things people in this line of work in Japan NEED to be aware of. This guy recruits people to come to Japan to work for him. This guy manages and owns an English teaching school/company and gathers students who pay him for his services. Don't you think those people have a right to know the kind of person they work for or give their money to?
Yes, its not pink bunnies and yellow daffodils. Make no illusions of what this industry is. Granted there good schools, companies what have you, but there are that many more that are not and when others are given such information and pass it onto others, it saves many from becoming exploited or otherwise harmed.
Stories of teachers hurt, tossed out on the street, never paid, money swindled or stolen, etc DO exist and again you have but to look to the General Union or new items of court cases to verify just a small percentage of them. I don't know anyone here in Japan who has been here more than a couple of years that can't tell of their own stories or that of others.
They are legitimate, for the most part. And if they come across as being "negative" then boo hoo to the princesses out there with delicate constitutions who would rather have the wool pulled over their eyes than to be forewarned and thus forearmed. To them I say "suck it up princess and deal with it"
Yes of course there are those who falsely post or embellish things to suit their own agendas(Burns included). But for the sheer volume of information that gets passed on, and the sheer number of complaints that arise about schools or owners, can't all be wrong. A healthy number of vindictive teachers is to be expected, but again the facts and the numbers of stories that flood channels of communication both on the net and off can't be -that- far off the mark.
If you don't believe a story that's good. Be skeptical.
But when facts are presented to you to back up such things, don't be an idiot and ignore them at your own peril and that of others.
So peter31, you may think we have our head up are arses, but at least we arent trying to talk out of ours. |
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Iwantmyrightsnow
Joined: 12 Feb 2004
Posts: 202
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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And Mr Burns is yet to reply to my questions (on any of the forums wheer he posts his ads) about if he follows the laws the law regarding:
paid FLEXIBLE annual leave
unemployment insurance
shakai hoken |
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Mike L.
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Wed Feb 09, 2005 6:34 am Post subject: |
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And Mr Burns is yet to reply to my questions (on any of the forums wheer he posts his ads) about if he follows the laws the law regarding:
paid FLEXIBLE annual leave
unemployment insurance
shakai hoken |
Of course you haven't heard back from him. He's like a roach when you turn on the lights. Scurrying away!
So much for your little plan Kevi! |
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ohahakehte
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 128
Location: japan
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| Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:24 am Post subject: |
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| ive never applied to burns' school nor do i want to but - i know this isnt news to anyone on this forum - im almost in the position of the hypothetical teacher he spoke of who was considering not going to japan after all. ive applied to more than 30 schools in the past few weeks and have had 3 interviews and i concluded after a few minutes of talking to them that i didnt work for them cuz the schools didnt sound good. the other dozens of schools that i applied to were nothing to be write home about except for a few that paid more than usual and sounded interesting. after spending a year in korea and having no shortage of bad stories about the country i had built up japan in mind to be the opposite. now after applying for jobs, having interviews and reading stuff online the rosy image of japan that i had has crumbled in front of me. i cant afford to fly to japan and then look for a job so if i dont find something soon im gonna conclude that teaching japan isnt worth it. |
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peter31
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 3:34 am Post subject: |
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Dear MR Mike L, you must have a real boring life and a strong sense of what I do not really know! Sarcasm is not really needed and as I have already said in my previous posting, do not know much about the guy and only felt that the stuff written by him seemed fair!
Thank you to Pauhl for not jumping over me and do appreciate what you said.
I do understand that posting on the site can be done with complete anonymity and this will allow people to say more than what they would if their real identity was known however, to Mike L, I wonder if you would say what you said on your recent posting to me in person?
I'm not challenging you here but merely saying that you know nothing about me and while I do not know all the facts about "Kevin Burns" (and I'm not Kevin Burns by the way!) I'm just saying my opinion.
How many other people have you attacked on this site I wonder!!!!
Go have a beer and chill out MR Mike!
What i said might have been offensive to some and that is not what I intended and I'm sorry for this!
I do have a very direct way of saying what I think and just happen to know a lot of decent teachers working at decent schools and what he said obviously touched a response in me. |
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peter31
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2005 8:48 am Post subject: To Bearcat |
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Thank you for that insight and yes I have to admit that knowing a bit more about the guy (did a little research out of curiosity) makes me a little sad about the state of English schools in Japan.
I will still stand by what I said in the fact that there are good schools but have to admit that there are schools that leave morals behind when dealing with teachers and students.
"Head out of your arses" statement was a bit rich sorry!!! |
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Mike L.
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 519
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| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| to Mike L, I wonder if you would say what you said on your recent posting to me in person? |
Really, let's meet for a few friendly beers sometime. I'm not going to come down your way but how about in between say in Machida?
| Quote: |
| How many other people have you attacked on this site I wonder!!!! |
I never start anything. It's usually the other way around. You brought it on yourself.
Anyways, I'm serious about those beers PM anytime......  [/quote] |
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ohahakehte
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 128
Location: japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 3:13 am Post subject: |
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| chi-chi- wrote: |
| ohahakehte wrote: |
| ive never applied to burns' school nor do i want to but - i know this isnt news to anyone on this forum - im almost in the position of the hypothetical teacher he spoke of who was considering not going to japan after all. ive applied to more than 30 schools in the past few weeks and have had 3 interviews and i concluded after a few minutes of talking to them that i didnt work for them cuz the schools didnt sound good. the other dozens of schools that i applied to were nothing to be write home about except for a few that paid more than usual and sounded interesting. after spending a year in korea and having no shortage of bad stories about the country i had built up japan in mind to be the opposite. now after applying for jobs, having interviews and reading stuff online the rosy image of japan that i had has crumbled in front of me. i cant afford to fly to japan and then look for a job so if i dont find something soon im gonna conclude that teaching japan isnt worth it. |
That pretty much sounds about right. I know you said you're from Canada, but on the American Embassy website, it actually suggests not working in Korea because so many of the schools are fraudulent. In Seoul at least, I would say that is dead on the mark. |
i taught in seoul for a year and it was a decent school. i would choose that school over all the japanese schools that interviewed me in a second. good schools can be found in korea but you have to do your research. thus far in my japanese job search, thats more than i can say for japan. if it comes down to not being able to find anything good from canada and having to go to japan first and then search for job, vs returning to korea, korea it is. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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Chi chi won't be coming back for a while.
Account has been deactivated by Dave. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:35 pm Post subject: |
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Chi-chi related posts removed following preventative action by Moderators.
Lets get back on topic shall we? |
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peter31
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:48 am Post subject: To Mike L |
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Would love to have a beer and to be honest, find it hard to say no to an invite where that lovely brown liquid is involved! You will have to tell me where Machida is! If it is near Tokyo, there is every chance that I will be up that way on business soon.
Cheers Peter31 PS. Why was "Chi chi" taken off this site? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 8:52 am Post subject: Re: To Mike L |
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| peter31 wrote: |
W, there is every chance that I will be up that way on business soon.
Cheers Peter31 PS. Why was "Chi chi" taken off this site? |
Obscene language, four letter words and regular trollish activity. She has done this before and she basically took herself off with her last posts.
Read the Posting rules on the General Forum |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 12:07 pm Post subject: Re: To Mike L |
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| peter31 wrote: |
Would love to have a beer and to be honest, find it hard to say no to an invite where that lovely brown liquid is involved! You will have to tell me where Machida is! If it is near Tokyo, there is every chance that I will be up that way on business soon.
Cheers Peter31 PS. Why was "Chi chi" taken off this site? |
Peter,
just curious.... are you anywhere near Gifu ken? |
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Brooks
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1369
Location: Sagamihara
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| Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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Machida is in Tokyo. It is in the western part. It is across the river from Sagamihara.
It is 35 minutes to Shinjuku on an Odakyu express train and Yokohama is about as close on the JR Yokohama line. |
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peter31
Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:11 am Post subject: To MikeL |
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Mike I hopefully will be going to Tokyo either at the end of this month or mid next month.
If we can meet somewhere around Shinjiku that would be great. Saying that, we would have to be pretty concise on the meeting place as I have been known to get lost around that place!
Yes I am from Gifu although do work a lot in Nagoya. I have to say unfortunately that in the past and I do mean in the past, have had a lot more in common with Kevin Burns that I would like to admit.
I do think my attitude has changed somewhat. This does sound ambigious and very happy to explain over a beer or two!
You do seem to know what goes on in the ESL industry here in Japan more than I and do look forward to the meeting. Cheers Peter31 |
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