Job Discussion Forums

[Toe Save]

Or are you?

It's come up a few times before. And with all due respect to each individual person working in whichever aspect of the ESL industry in Taiwan who happens to read this post, generally speaking, I posit (once again) that we are not "teachers" but merely marketing tools/babysitters/paid clowns. Now, some of you take your jobs very seriously. Some of you put a lot of effort and creativity in your planning and execution of lessons. Some of you care very deeply for your charges. Buddha knows I am one of those, even if I self-describe.

But when I compare myself to my most memorable teachers, I would never insult them by putting myself in the same class ( sorry about that) as them.

Situation: You've been working at the same cram school for three years. Annual raises, respect from parents and peers, considerate boss who springs for a weiya retreat each year. By all accounts, more than adequate employment. Then a friend tells you about a job-opening in another cram school. Let's say it is 4 fewer classes per week and a 5000NT/month raise. Your friend loves it and paves a path for you to easily make the transition?

Simple question: Do you switch?

My most memorable teachers, in fact the bulk of the faculties that I've been honoured to be educated by, worked for 20 years at the same job. I remember my Phys Ed teacher taking about 8 of us on a ski trip to Smugglers Notch in Vermont. This, while teachers were under a strict "work-to-rule" policy initiated by their unions. Mr. Potter felt bad that the 8 of us had raised money to have a ski team only to be told we couldn't have a coach from the faculty, therefore the season was cancelled. Mr. Potter, along with his wife and another teaching couple from a neighbouring school, chaperoned the 8 of us for one of the most memorable ski weekends of my young life. I still remember them letting us break curfew to attend a college party at the condo next door. It was the stuff of every coming of age movie since Dazed and Confused.

And get this. Almost 20 years later, while working as a ski guide for corporate and college ski escapes, who should show up on our door step at Mont St. Anne, Quebec, but Brian Potter, older, far-more grizzled, but still working for the same school I done graduated high school from. And he is towing 2 busloads of students with him. The entire graduating class was treated to a weekend of sun and snow. Seems our little trip some 20 years earlier had blossomed into an annual event.

Does Brian and his now group of 8 teachers get paid for this event? Not a dime. Sure, they get a free ski weekend out of it, but at the same time they are responsible for 80 young lives in a high risk venture. Not the easiest of work.

Now, would any of you hard working teachers like to compare your job to Brian Potter's? I know I wouldn't. If I went back to Montreal tomorrow and met him again, would I have the audacity to call myself a teacher to his face? I think not.

[dangerousapple]

You should have put a third option...both!

I am a teacher (certified K-12, but that's beside the point) who cares very much about his students, and works extremely hard to ensure they are given the best opportunities to learn.

I am also very much a business person. For 8 years I worked the system to get as much out of it as possible. I loved it so much that I opened my own school!

Anyone who says they don't care about the money is a hypocrite. Anyone who doesn't care about the quality of their work is a jerk!

I am the luckiest person on earth, because I have the opportunity to make money doing the thing I love most.

What's wrong with being both?

[Toe Save]

[KaiFeng]

I'd add a third option.

"My responsibility is to help my clients be as successful as possible in their professional lives, by strengthening their communication skills as much as possible, and charging them based on the awesomely superior value I deliver."

My early Chinese teachers did not socialize with us and did not coddle us. They crammed as much knowledge and skills transfer into every hour as possible. And after all, that's why I was studying Chinese with them: to build up my ability do do what I wanted in their language. They were paragons of fabulous professionalism and commitment.

And I feel like that was enough.

[BigWally]

This question comes at a perfect time. Here is my scenario. I have a little girl in one of my classes that is far too advanced for the other students in the class. She sits alone, has no friends in the class, and the other students only speak to her when they want to steal the answers from her. Now I have another class who is on the same schedule as they are, but are a more advanced class, where she would be amongst her intellectual peers, rather than with a bunch of boys who want to talk about "blowing the horn" all class long. I go to my director and ask her about swapping her from the one class to the other. The classes are on the same daily schedule, the only difference is new one would be 5-7pm, the other is now 7-9pm.

The director tells me that if I move her the number of students in the lower level class puts me close to the 'danger zone' of where they might consider closing the class. So I have to make a choice what to do. So I say to my director, "So basically you want me to choose between what is best for the student, or what is best for me?". She kind of looks at me for a second and laughs, and then tries to come up with an alternative solution.

None the less, the crux of it all is that the business end will come around to bite you in the ass if you want to have the best interest of the students in mind. Its sad to say, but I dont think in all honesty any one can choose anything but option A or C. Otherwise you are just lying to yourself, or you own your own bushiban.

[Dr_Zoidberg]

[clark.w.griswald]

I voted for 'both'.

The companies that employ most of us and pay the wages that we expect are largely private businesses which means that we are employees. There are public institutions that do employ 'teachers' rather than just people to teach, but many of these pay considerably less than the private places and expect a lot more.

It seems to me that those who become successful in the teaching scene in Taiwan are the ones who can accept that it is a business, but also concentrate on looking past that and concentrate on what and how they teach rather than how much of a business the school they work in really is.

[wood]

It is a business. I think of myself as a teacher. Perhaps it is self-delusional to think the two can come together and be productive. The jury is still out.