Job Discussion Forums

[eclectic]

WEll, Im getting the idea here that the money IS good, and if you can put up with the bullcrap, you can still save a pretty nickel.

Now, how bad is the bullcrap? That is a key question. And what is bullcrap to one may not be to another. Or atleast in large percentage.

Example: I hear you sometimes get midnight calls from your boss about something to do with a recent meeting. Well, Im usually up til then so I dont see that as too much bullcrap at all. WHile another might see that as utterly annoying, preposterous tyranny.

If we could get to a list, from greatest to least, of the major bullcrap possibilities, then we could judge better.

[johnslat]

Dear eclectic,
How bad the bullcrap is and just what it may consist of will depend entirely upon where you are working in the Kingdom, who your employer is.
Outfits that teach the military have their own brands of bullcrap (and even that can differ from one outfit to another.)
On the other hand, there are places where the bullcrap is minimal, employers such as KFUPM and (in my opinion) the Institute of Public Administration (where I worked for nineteen years.)
So, before a list could be formed (a list which would have to cover ALL the possible employers in the Kingdom), it would be helpful first to narrow down
the scope.
There's just too much variety, too many versions of bullcrap, to make the list you asked for.
Regards,
John

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[rigel]

[Kipling]

Having read the previous debates,I think that I speak for many on this forum in saying that Mr Rigel and Mr Electric's decision to not go to the KSA will be a tragic loss, not only to the teaching profession in general but to the student body in particular. In the immortal words of William Shatner
"Live Long and Prosper" Amin
If you ever consider teaching in Himavant (MA +3, BA+10) you will find that accommodation is usually not provided, however it just so happens that there is quite an attractive opportunity of renting a very spacious furnished room (one reproduction regency chair) quite close to all the amenities.
As most employers provide a furniture allowance immortalized over the period of your contract it is possible to save significant amounts if you both share accommodation. Himavant is a thriving cosmopolitan place(One Canadian, two Kiwis,a Scot, no relation and a guy from New Jersey)
Salt of the earth each and everyone. Apart from extremely expensive light bulbs (BYO) and a limited range in the bookshops (Unless you like tennis)
your stay should be enjoyable....no problems with visas either as you don't need one.
"Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto",

[12 Monkeys]

Hi johnslat, hi NCTBA and hello to those searching for some resolve on this issue. Some history 101 first. For over 60 or 70 years the KSA has been living high off the hog on their one and only export product and just until the last few years have realized that this can not continue. The idea was to educate the young generation so that new industries and job markets can open here. This new effort is depending on the rising and falling price of prehistoric decay. The higher the price the more invested in education but recently the swine flew epidemic (again with the haram word) the price has fallen. All it might take is another crisis or two to hit the pockets of KSA and all those wonderful offers will be history. Those teachers that are here now will have some degree of security (job wise) but new hires will be less and lower salaries will be offered.

Now part two of the problem. Actually getting the acquisition of the target language into the heads of these more than wonderful students is difficult. They are the greatest bunch of students that I've ever met but unfortunately they like cheating and memorizing multiple choice questions. Homework is done by about 50% of your class the other 50% seem to like reading the newspaper or doing their physics and math in your class. During tests the good students openly let fellow students (the ones that were reading the newspapers) look at their papers to get the right answer. If you fail them, that�s no problem, they just repeat the course and read more newspapers at the government's expense. You see they get nearly 1000 SAR a month for attending university. Now you see where the fluctuating fossil fuel prices come into play.

To pass or not to pass? If you don't pass they become a burden on the system and drain it even more, if you do pass them then they are only fooling themselves and you are also compromising your ethics. Maybe all universities are not this difficult but I would say the majority are. I've tried all sorts of classroom management even public flogging but nothing seems to work. I keep sufficient records of all my students cheating activities and basically cover my ass in case of insurrection.

As for the main matter, "the putting up of crap", there seems to be slow movement in promises made but if you work for a decent employer, and I do, this is normal. A bad employer would have no movement at all. Any contract that doesn�t have any teacher's accommodations free or a decent allowance for one, tickets and visa costs covered, medical insurance and transportation costs or transportation provided is not worth the paper it's printed on.

As mentioned earlier, a thick skin, patience, sense of humour, and an abandonee of some ethics are required here.

Regards

Cornelius

[johnslat]

Dear Kipling,
Actually, that's a Vulcan saying, used by Mr. Spock.
But I forgive you since you also used one of my favorite quotes, translated here for any non-Latin speakers:

"I am a man (so) I consider nothing human as alien to me"
Terence

Regards,
John

[12 Monkeys]

"Revenge is a dish best served cold".

Khan

[Kipling]

[12 Monkeys]

Himavant� T.S. Eliot�s unique approach to postwar decay and redemption in The Waste Land has left readers stunned. Eliot goes into many descriptions of �unreal� cities that continuously go through a cycle of destruction, rebuilding and then destruction again. Towards the end of the novel, a description of a horrid wasteland that seems to have no hope goes through a transformation back into a flourishing land, like an unreal city. The sacred river of the India�s, the Ganges, which provides nature with its necessary resources to survive, has sunken to the point that everything is dying. As life withers away, there is a glimpses of hope as �the black clouds / gathered far distant, over Himavant�. According to the British National Library the Buddhists refer to the Himalayas, which lie to the north of the Ganges, as the �Himavant�. The reference of the Himalay

Where are you Kipling? Can you see the pleasure domes of Shangrila?

Cornelius

[Kipling]

Where are you Kipling? Can you see the pleasure domes of Shangrila?


I think it highly unlikely, on a clear day in Himavant you can just about see the end of your balcony. To be honest Himavant is a bit of a Shantih town.

Is this where you are:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Those caverns seem a little dingy compared to what I have got to offer.
They are probably unfurnished too:D
PS. The Himavant Shangrila does an excellent Sunday Buffet.

It's good to see that there are other Olivia Newton John fans out there in
cyberspace

[Kipling]

[johnslat]

Considering Kipling's "Xanadu" quote, perhaps Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities would also be appropriate:

"The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by the narrator, Marco Polo. The book is framed as a conversation between the aging and busy emperor Kublai Khan, who constantly has merchants coming to describe the state of his empire, and Polo. The majority of the book consists of Polo's descriptions (1-3 pages each) of 55 cities. Short dialogues between the two characters are interspersed every five to ten cities and are used to discuss various ideas presented by the cities on a wide range of topics including linguistics and human nature. Not only is the book structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, but the length of each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillating sine wave, or perhaps a city skyline. The interludes between Khan and Polo are no less poetically constructed than the cities, but form a framing device, a story with a story, that plays with the natural complexity of language and stories."

[Kipling]

Mr JS, like the caverns measureless to man you are a mine of information.