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Van Norden
Joined: 23 Oct 2004
Posts: 409
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 Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:14 am Post subject: last refuge of the failure? |
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| Ambition is a positive thing? That's debatable. Anyway, I am ambitious financially. I take my investments very seriously. At work my only 'ambition' is avoiding doing any! My students feel the same and often give me a sympathetic wink. |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 958
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| Posted: Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:18 pm Post subject: |
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SW, did I mention Canadians??????????????????????? 
Actually, I have in the past worked with some excellent Canadians, and I do not wish to be derogative to that nation in any way. I merely wanted to emphasise that while I was not referring to the OP of that particular thread, whom I personally found to be a very decent individual, neither were his accusations of Britishness-meriting-favouritism or British-being-bad, and by implication Canadianism being the personification of squeaky-clean, justified in any way. There was a very small number of people there at HBCC, the nationality of whom is frankly irrelevant, whose concept of integrity was at best subtlely and modestly concealed.
Perhaps in their own way, they thought that altering students' marks and giving them the details of exam papers prior to the actual exams, constituted "integrity", and they had a naive misunderstanding of the service they were meant to provide. Perhaps they assumed they were expected to facilitate the exam success of their charges irrespective of other considerations? Or maybe they were just lazy, unprincipled buffoons who wanted to make life as easy as possible for themselves? Perish the thought!!!! |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:26 am Post subject: |
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You know Bebsi... the one time I encountered a situation like this... in a country that shall not be named, but not KSA... the sharing of test materials was part of a barter system - both cash and... err.. 'favors.' The teacher ended up in prison there in an unrelated swindle attempt... don't know if the favors extended to improve his situation behind bars or not.
This can be a very interesting profession sometimes...
VS |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 958
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 1:27 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't even want to vaguely speculate on the possible nature of what "favours" might be expected!! |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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| . the sharing of test materials was part of a barter system - both cash and... err.. 'favors.' |
In many parts of Africa this is very common. Sleeping with the teacher is considered sort of prestigious. Explains why after lorry drivers and prostitutes teachers had the highest prevalence of AIDS. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, there were no Africans involved here, but there is a sordid underground everywhere I guess... |
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Queen of Sheba
Joined: 07 May 2006
Posts: 397
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| Posted: Sat Sep 16, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject: Re: last refuge of the failure? |
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| Van Norden wrote: |
| Ambition is a positive thing? That's debatable. Anyway, I am ambitious financially. I take my investments very seriously. At work my only 'ambition' is avoiding doing any! My students feel the same and often give me a sympathetic wink. |
So what's the point of complaining when the unambitious dont have to push themselves very far to make a living? Either don't buy into the negatives or if you do, sit back like the fat cat that you are and count your riyals because you wouldn't have the opportunity to be less than mediocre anywhere else. Thats why you are here anyway... right? |
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Van Norden
Joined: 23 Oct 2004
Posts: 409
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| Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm not complaining Queenie. I know I'm rewarded waaaaaay beyond merit, and that it's all because this county is a living hell. For this I'm truly thankful. Saudi saved me. |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 1:28 pm Post subject: |
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| but there is a sordid underground everywhere I guess... |
There was a teacher jailed for it a couple of years back at JIC. Not one of the EFL faculty.
He asked for SR5,000 to show the student the exam, and the student asked his brother a policeman for a loan. The brother set up a sting outside the local supermarket. |
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Bebsi
Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 958
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| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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| In many parts of Africa this is very common. Sleeping with the teacher is considered sort of prestigious. Explains why after lorry drivers and prostitutes teachers had the highest prevalence of AIDS. |
The moral of the story, therefore, is that if you want to teach in Africa, you should carry loads of condoms!!!!   |
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Mark100
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 441
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| Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:08 am Post subject: |
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Maybe I was being a little over the top with my comments about sacrificing your intergrity in KSA however there were so many instances in my time in KSA where people were sacked for standing up for their principles that many just kept their heads down and collected the money.
Cheating was tolerated and students were passed who failed at a few of the colleges i know of and was teaching at. Further teachers were sacked for refusing to tow the line and not pass students who had failed or turn a blind eye to the cheaters.
As to being unambitious i don't see this as a negative. If i was ambitious I wouldn't have become a teacher or indeed have ventured to KSA. |
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