Job Discussion Forums

[Mikana51]

I've been cruising the fora here and on other EFl sites for months and notice persistent threads where teachers complain and complain loudly about schools and especially school management. Many make the point that commercial ESL schools are uniquely bad places to teach because of their profit imperatives. But, as a teacher who has taught for about 15 years in four year colleges and universities in the US, Japan, and Australia, and who now teaches high school in an inner city school in Baltimore I'm here to tell you that I've never taught at a place where the bottom line is not at the center of operations. All educational institutions worry about making money and teachers are naturally caught up in that. All students are clients, whether at Johns Hopkins University or English Time, and teachers are charged with servicing those clients in both cost-effective and pedagogically-effective ways. A long time ago I taught English at NOVA in Japan and the dynamic there was not at all dissimilar from the dynamic I encountered as a full professor teaching politics at a swanky and expensive Vermont liberal arts college: where's the money coming from and what are you doing to make sure it comes? Live with it.

Similarly, teachers and management or administrators rarely see eye-to-eye, rarely grok each others' points of view. I've seen senior research scholars spend hours at a faculty meeting bitching about Xerox machine policy when they could have been discussing development of a new Chinese Studies BA programme. Nothing could be less supportive and pleasant to work with than the managers of the Baltimore City Public School System, but if one is a teacher who cares about teaching, one learns to rise above it, slide beneath it, go around it, and most importantly, to build alliances with managers and administrators so one can do one's job well and help students achieve their goals.

So there!

[justme]

[Baba Alex]

[Mikana51]

[justme]

And I see your point about the problems of offices and meetings. I used to work for a food bank, dealing with the pressing issues of people unable to get food for themselves and their kids, yet an inordinate amount of time at staff meetings was spent discussing the problem of people leaving their dirty dishes lying around the sink...

[Mikana51]

[justme]

I think if I opened a school, it would be a good school but a crappy business...

[Mikana51]

[Baba Alex]

[molly farquharson]

I think that is why teachers are teachers and businesspeople are in business. I am lousy at business stuff but I am a good teacher. They are totally different styles and as mikana pointed out, the communication is often muddy, not only because of cultural issues. If I were good at business I would probably not be a teacher However, I am very happy to be one and I am resigned to not being rich in this lifetime. It is not that important, actually, as I like my life the way it is , for the most part. My profession allowed me to come to this fabulous city and I think I am sharing what I know with the business as well as the education part of it.

and mivana welcome.

[Mikana51]

[justme]

I think my good school would be a crappy business for a few reasons-- first, I wouldn't be able to tell students, or sanction the telling of students, the delicious lies about how well and how quickly they'll be able to learn English simply by attending my school, so I wouldn't be able to compete with the schools that do this as a matter of course. I'd have a hard time firing or disciplining teachers unless they were very, very bad. Being a teacher, I would, of course, feel bad giving my teachers the lousy pay that would be necessary to keep the business' head above water, and unpleasant hours that customers have come to expect. I'd lose sleep at night over that one, feeling like a hypocrite.

Then I'd probably spend way too much on the jukebox and Beach Boys records. I'd have to get one of those cool vintage jukeboxes with the bubbles.

I always thought if I opened a school, I would do it with other teachers I knew well, and work out some kind of profit-sharing enterprise. Sounds nice, but deep down I know that would be an absolute disaster.

I'd never expect to become rich from my language school-- it's not a matter of money equaling success, it's the fact that my poor business would crumble in a matter of months, and I would lose the initial investment.

Still, I've been fantasizing about opening my own school, language or otherwise since I was about 14. It's like the teenage fantasy of 'When I'm a mom I'll let my kids smoke pot and stay out late and be friends with whoever they want....' Sounds good but it'll never happen.

[Otterman Ollie]

There is still a lot of money to be made in this game its just going about it the right way ,too many business fold in this country coz they didn't research their customer base and they know squat about marketing .

[whynotme]

[justme]

Hey, whynotme-- wanna open a school? Can we have Misfits and the Doors in the jukebox too?

You be the business manager, I'll be the DJ.