Job Discussion Forums

[TeresaLopez]

[Phil_K]

I didn't judge the people who want to settle for second-best - good luck to them, they're probably happy. I just said that I didn't want to! My viewpoint is irrespective of the country, these people exist everywhere.

You are welcome to your POV about my understanding of Mexico, but that doesn't make it right, and I think you'll find that a lot of people who actually know me will disagree with you. As I said, if you want to discuss it elsewhere, fine. I think you will find me a formidable opponent.

[leegleze]

Every day I see a part of what each of you is talking about. I work at an all-inclusive resort where employees are given English classes as part of their employment contract. In September, when I started at this resort, 80 students signed up ... in fact, ALL of the staff. I had 60 turn up for the first set of classes (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced). By the end of the second week, the number had dwindled to about 35. Now, 10 months later, I can rely on six students to come to class regularly. About 10 other students drop in sporadically. No matter how the importance of learning English is impressed upon the staff, from the director yelling at the managers to the managers hollering at their underlings, the number will continue to dwindle until I am found "redundant", as they say in Britain. The company has tried more than six teachers in the past five years, yet I am the one with the most staying power.

Granted, some students have to take classes for 40 minutes after or before their workday, but you would think they'd still jump at the chance, considering they work in the tourist industry. The reality is that most are dog tired after a one-hour commute each way and most are contracted for a 12-hour day. I can understand their time-crunch, but most are young and supposedly upwardly mobile. So why don't thay attend? Is it just that they don't care, or is it a case of peer influence? ... Non-attendance has been the norm in the past, and throughout Mexico in my experience, so why should they attend now? Why work at it when employers are willing to hire people with "taxi-driver English", which they can pick up on the street or the beach. Are they lazy?

I've taught in this country for more than ten years, and the situation is the same no matter who the employer is. It is indeed a conundrm.

[TeresaLopez]

[mejms]

[leegleze]

Teresa, I believe your experience in Mexico City relates to the number of people there who are "driven" to learn, as opposed to those out here in the boonies for whom tourism is a relatively new occupationary venue. Mexico City is a business-oriented town, as is Guadalajara, where many of my colleagues say they have about 75% of students who are eager learners while the rest don't give a hoot. The farther you get from the business centers, the fewer eager learners you will find, in my experience and that of my colleagues. You are indeed fortunate.

While I am not opposing what you say, I can definitely relate to Phil's comments. I found, teaching in Poland, a completely different attitude among the students. All were university-bound; all were eager; all were delightful, enthusiastic players in the classroom. Here, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, and in most other areas of Mexico I've seen, students don't really seem to care or are too lazy to put in the effort to advance their careers. It's a frustrating difference. Without any further debate from me, I'd like to hear what Phil has to say.

[Mrs L]

I should add that I still have Mexican students here in the UK and they're as motivated as the rest of my students.

It's not being Mexican that makes the students we've been talking about unmotivated, I think it's more a symptom of learning English because they've been told they have to and not because they want to. And those long days at work which eat into valuable family time- who'd want to go to a non-compulsory class after one of those shifts?

In my multilingual classes, the few less motivated students have always been- wait for it- Asian

[Samantha]

I completely agree with your observations, Leegleze. I have commented about this a few times over the years.

[mejms]

I think it's much more of a general undervaluing education in Mexico. Who was it that said, "Education is the one thing that people will pay for and don't care if they get." Something like that.

It's true all over the world, I don't doubt, but because of the Mexican government's failure to and lack of interest in offering good education, it's especially true here.

I've said it before and I'll say it, in Mexico education is viewed as a privilege, not a right.

[Isla Guapa]

[TeresaLopez]

[Isla Guapa]

I think the word "career" is overused these days. In many cases, it's used when "job" would be more appropriate. For example, does a waiter in a restaurant have a job or a career?

[Samantha]

Those working in tourist hotels don't always put much effort into improving their English because their pay doesn't increase for their effort. Where's the incentive, especially after working those long hours with only one day off a week? It's the reality in my area.

[Isla Guapa]

[Phil_K]