Job Discussion Forums

thelmadatter · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:38 pm Post subject: sheesh

You've taught in politically-incorrect rich-kid schools on more than one occasion?????? And you chastise me for teaching at Tec?????

What a hypocrite you are, Moonraven.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Thelma: I LEARN from my experiences--I don't stagger through life like a robot PROMOTING WalMart, the TEC and other politically incorrect employers and parasites. You do. That's just one difference between us.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Some interesting comments and insights on this thread. There are private schools and private universities that cater to the wealthy in the city where I live. However, there are no international schools or ITESM schools here.

ElNota · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 123 Location: Buenos Aires

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

I have to admit if I were getting $25,000/year in a country where $10000/year made you "rich", I'd be totally fine with the parents viewing me in the same league as the housekeeper. I'd cry myself all the way to the bank ... Laughing

I'd try to be an excellent teacher, but I certainly wouldn't rock the boat by failing the children of the rich & powerful.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

I would cuz I don't see it as selling my soul. But different strokes for different folks.

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

What WOULD you be selling, then?

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

Flo · Joined: 29 Mar 2004 Posts: 112

I think I must live in a triangle similar to Ben�s corner of Mexico. My students don�t try to be disrespectful, its just how they are and how they were raised. After meeting the parents of the students, I can see that the kids are just little spoiled clones of their mom or dad.

gambasbo · Joined: 23 Nov 2003 Posts: 93 Location: Cochabamba, Bolivia

I am so glad I can choose my own students. And if they don't do the work or miss too many classes, they have to leave, regardless of who they are.

Mike

ElNota · Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 123 Location: Buenos Aires

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:54 pm Post subject:

Mike,

WHERE exactly are you working? Can I come? Sounds great...

Justin

thelmadatter · Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:22 pm Post subject: status

Responding to Flo's and ElNota's points.

Yeah ... kids from the "bubble" (good term and also applies to many of us foreigners as well). If a student wants to think of me as a "servant," that's no skin off my nose. They can think whatever they want. I know what I think of myself. The parents pay tuition for their kid to have the right to sit in the classroom and have a teacher of certain qualifications - they did not pay for a grade. That must be earned.

Of course, sometimes sticking to that is easier said than done. I'm lucky to have a supportive boss and mostly good students. Most do come from priviledged backgrounds (but not all - there are scholarship students whose parents scrape up the rest of the tuition somehow - and I remember having a discussion with one teacher about how some of the "naco" (her word) "nouveau-riche" (my word, for lack of a better one) don't really belong in the school.... but I digress). However, I get little in the way of that kind of attitude. And for some reason, when I do get it, it doesn't bother me ... I have no qualms about not cutting any slack for them. It's a good life lesson, I hope. Just because they are the big fish here, doesn't mean the rest of the world will bow to them. Besides, their body language and attitude is so freaking obvious, it's almost funny.

However, I'm in a priviledged position. I have absolutely no worries about my job and little to no pressure from above on grades. For those whose job security is an issue and feel the pressure from parents and administration, I have sympathy. In that case, there really is only two options - find other employment (and for some that may not be possible) or adopt some variation of Jonny's attitude "I can't change it, so I just go along with it."

My school also requires a social service component. I don't know exactly how that works out because I'm not involved with that program. I can imagine some parents from the "bubble" having a fit over their kids having contact with "undesirables" (not my word, mind you). I've run into this attitude before, even within my own family. Funny thing is, who is "undesirable" seems to change with every generation, even within my own family.

So why teach these kids? (I just KNOW Im going to get slammed here!) I really doubt that I can change their social class attitudes (or really effect any other internal cultural issue) in any serious way, and it really isn't my forte. But because these are kids of priviledge, they have the best chance of helping Mexico participate better in the global economy. My focus is to get my students to think beyond Mexico and the U.S. Is it fair? Not by most first-world standards, no. But unfortunately the fact is that opportunties are not equal here. My talents and background lend themselves more to what I am doing than to what is most beneficial to the less priviledged. It might seem fair and gratifying to say "Down with the rich/priviledged" but until human nature changes and becomes far more altruistic, there will always be rich and poor. Wiping out the difference completely is unrealistic. It is more realistic to raise the minimum standard of living so that "poor" isn't so insufferable. For Mexico or any country to do that, it needs, as a whole, a better general standing ecomonically (and, yes, it needs to get rid of the corruption and patronage).

I realize I risk sounding like an advocate of Reagan's trickle-down theory. But Mexico needs to work on its problems on several levels. My focus is one level. Others focus on other levels. All are important. I don't mean to say that what I do is more valuable than those who work in more "politically correct" institutions. I think both is necessary. I just choose to work with those I feel are most likely to focus internationally to improve Mexico's global business relations. Globalization is neither inherently good or evil... it just simply is. And Mexico needs people who can protect and promote its interests in this arena. Sad as it is, it is unlikely that the children of farmers or street vendors can help Mexico in this regard. Its the bubble children who have the best chance of doing this, at least for now. And yes, I do hope that a better general economy helps the poor. Most would agree that a BAD general economy hurts the poor much more than the rich. If any of these bubble kids rethink thier attitudes because of foreign contact (as Ive had to reevaluate many of mine being here), even better....