Job Discussion Forums

[taikibansei]

[6810]

well, the discrimination stinks... I guess the only thing left to do is the Debito and take out citizenship...

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

Hi again

found this on ELTnews Features page about university restructuring and impact on foreign teachers.

http://www.eltnews.com/features/special/2002_10_1.shtml

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

This story of working in Japanese universities is an old one.

The irony that I see here is that Japan is supposedly greying more than any other country on the planet but refuses to accept any other than Japanese.

Having no children means you need immigrants - and educated immigrants!

Places like Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong are ten times more ahead in their thinking than Japan, contary to what most would believe.

A very odd country, without a doubt.

[J.]

Thanks to Paul and taikibansei for the very informative articles. I didn't know the history of the problem before I read this and the quotes from dismissed professors were instructive. Perhaps the teachers who refused to greet their colleague after termination were embarrassed to do so, as it seems it has never occurred to Japanese professors to support their colleagues. If there is indeed a union, then can't it be joined by everyone? If not, why not?

Also, who are the people with all the power on the Monbushou? Are they career appointments, or do they have to answer to the Prime Minister and Diet? And if they are acting on orders from the government, what can it be thinking? Is Koizumi content to relegate Japan to having a second-rate university system, prejudiced and outdated, paying lip service to internationalism while mistreating everyone from other countries? Doesn't sound modern and progressive to me. Shame, shame on the government for this xenophobic policy.

[taikibansei]

J, these are huge--though excellent--questions. As answering all of them completely could easily take up the space of a book, here are some handy links instead:

Some good overviews to the situation:

http://www.debito.org/ninkiseioriginal.html
http://www.debito.org/PALEspring2000.html
http://www.debito.org/shingikai.html

A counter argument and rebuttal:

http://www.debito.org/ninkiseiazumi.html
http://www.debito.org/ninkiseiazreply.html

And finally, yes, at many universities, foreigners can join the union (if there is one). And yes, there have been a number of instances where the faculty union in question fought diligently for the rights of the foreign faculty member. However, the latter still almost invariably lost his or her job--even when the foreigner 'wins' a lawsuit, the court too often either cannot, or will not, enforce its verdict.

The result of this is as you suggest--i.e., skilled foreign faculty end up leaving for more secure jobs at home, to be replaced by desperate old timers (often with families to support and related debts to pay off....) and 'fresh' newbies (who often have little to no idea what they are doing). This in turn suits one of the main purposes of the universities. Desperate old timers and/or newbies almost necessarily will not make 'trouble;" they'll docilely teach the more difficult classes, judge the useless contests, write and edit the English entrance exams, and correct the English (German, Russian...) manuscripts of their Japanese colleagues (often re-writing them completely in the process), all the while serving as the university's foreign face to the outside world. Heck, one of the reasons I was so popular at the university I taught at before was that the Japanese faculty could give me their papers in Japanese and I'd translate them into English. (It was actually quicker for me to do it that way than to try to understand their attempts at 'English'....) Of course, I'd get neither credit nor extra compensation for this....

Finally, yes, there are a number of universities which are exceptions. Furthermore, the money at some of these universities is so good that the people hired are willing to put up with this kind of treatment. Heck, I was one of those people for six years--and let me tell you, I miss my old salary!

[J.]

A lot of reading there. I'm reading through and trying to understand the problem but understanding doesn't seem to follow logic. If I understand right, there is a union, some people have joined it and even got favourable decisions in court, but then the court has refused to enforce the decision???? What kind of toothless justice system is that? And it seems, if I read some of the information by Mr. Arudo right, that often the courts just uphold the status quo, in the face of lots of evidence of discrimination. If that's the case, then things will not change just by taking people to court. It may be necessary to create more international awareness of this problem. If Japanese Universities are known to be supporting this kind of discrimination and it becomes something of a scandal, might that not create some pressure for change? I'm not sure about the politics of universities but don't some universities in other countries have some influence or way of bringing pressure to bear, assuming that they care?

The instances of appropriating others work and taking credit for it i.e. fraud doesn't seem to register as a moral problem in Japan. I'm referring to rewriting of papers ( "translation") so they can be published in English Journals and the like. In these instances, the "translator's" name should appear on the work as co-author, since the translator is essentially re-writing the paper. I came across one Professor who was writing a Master's thesis. His method was to go around to various schools asking for "editing." However his real intent was to get ideas and rewriting from various people which he would incorporate into his thesis as his own work. I had no problem with helping with English, but when I saw some of my ideas in the finished work, which he had lifted from notes I made, I was a little annoyed. It didn't seem to bother him, because his real intent was just to get the degree and not to learn anything, I guess. Incidentally, while I was helping him he was letting me know that non-Japanese were essentially more stupid than Japanese, were only here because of the government trying to make some concessions to America, and that the Japanese education system was far superior to North America's. This despite the fact that his thesis contained no original ideas, but was a collection of quotes and ideas from other people. It would have been thrown out for plagarism in North America. This is getting digressive, but my point is that, if others in universities here are thinking anything like this fellow, then it's going to be a big job to change their minds.

[Brooks]

it seems to me that I have it good. I am at a private high school and I don`t have to worry about being shown the door.
I think a lot of universities should be avoided if the EFL teacher wants stability.
If I was real intent on teaching at a university I would forsake Japan and go to Korea or Taiwan.

[Gordon]

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

Brooks,

I agree with you.

In my view, we shouldn't 'expect' anything from any of these countries we are teaching in.

Having said that, Taiwan is far superior to either Korea or Japan for university teaching.

Japan, you're always looking over your shoulder. Not the way to live - especially if you have a family and bills to pay.