Job Discussion Forums

[B�te T�te]

some people act like they know everything on this board. it's not very helpful. negative comments, are fine. its good to know if a school sucks, but calling people backpackers, and newbies all the time is completely idiotic. these people throw these terms around, but are also living out of their back packs, unless they've married one of their students and become an ex-pat, and at one time were new to the job. its intellectual machismo. its not helpful, and it's the pot calling the kettle black.

i posted a question about xinjiang, and the only response i got was a curt, don't take that job response. i asked serious questions and got the bullshit, "you're a newbie idiot, *beep* you!" response.

for any newcomers to china, or any other Asian country here's a list of things to watch out for in a person...

from my experience, the people in real life, on the ground over here with the attitude that nothing is ever good enough are; socially inept, completely dry and boring to be around, and in class(i have been invited to sit in on one or two becuase, "i didn't wake up everyday thinking of my students."), intellectually macho, usually male, going out with or married to an asian woman(not that there is anything wrong with that) who is usually younger by like at least 5 - 10 yrs, constantly complaining about the host country(i believe this to be a way of showing superiority), fat, usually Canadian(i love Canadians, don't get me wrong), constantly surprised at how cheap everything is, afraid to eat outside of their apartment or upscale dining places, never leave their apartment, claim to know a lot about their host country, have been in the same place for over 5 years, et cetera.

why are these people here?
i'll tell you why. becuase they are either on the run, have no social network in their land of origin, find that chinese or other asian women(of considerably lesser age) will pay attention to them, or they are completely, off the charts, anti-social!

i know this profile is predominately male, but that is usually the case.

i think it's time, that instead of complaining about "newbies," and, "backpackers," (who from, my experience, are usually young, full of energy, and deeply interested in cultural exchange)people start complaining about these people. they make all of us look like pompous assholes.

sorry if i offend anyone. canada is awesome. my girlfriend is canadian!

[jeffinflorida]

[theincredibleegg]

There's nothing wrong with newbies. I consider myself a freshie eventhough i have a pretty long education.

What i don't like are people, often young travellers, who get into teaching for the sake of having a job and not for the sake of being a teacher. They ruin the whole reputation of my profession and i really don't like it.

I have a colleague who is young with no experience. He has no education but atleast he cares about his job. He has a talent for interacting with kids and that's all good. It's a pretty small demand that teachers should care about their jobs.

[Sly22]

[melilly]

This one will surely ignite a firestorm of replies from the pecking-order cronies I believe this discussion is about.

I see it from a much deeper prespective, from more of a humanistic point of view, and this leads me to BELIEVE that NO ONE on this site is any better, or worse, than anyone else.

Of course, even in cyberspace, where we are ALL annonymous, the world is not a perfect place. There are good characters and bad, and altough I have my own good and bad charateristics as a human being, I can try to be one of the protagonists here rather than a true antagonist.

There is way too much unprovoked smuggness and snobbiness here, way too many people who think they're entitled, as though they have a special priviledged place to sit and judge others. Sadly, as many of the great novelists have shown, this is a normal and natural part of the human condition.

I think it comes down to simple basics like being a positive or negative person, a kind or unkind person, a person who wants to help others or a person who wants to bring them down.

It doesn't really matter why we're here, we're just here. And it makes no difference whether we're in EFL teacher-forum land, or in real life; we either choose to love or we choose to hate. When people share hatred here, which can be as subtle as curt, rude, or intrusive replies that show no compassion or understanding, to the hateful and hurtful labels used to put others down (and build others up), it's bad for everyone.

Of course, since I first came onto this forum in 2002, under a different user name, it's always been the same. This is the perfect place for bullies to roam, because there are always naive newcomers to pick on.

[william wallace]

"some people act like they know everything on this board"
....
"why are these people here?" ...?---Nope!

" i'll tell you why. becuase they are..."



Ironic

[jeffinflorida]

[melilly]

Thanks for the jokes.

I'm all for poking a little fun at ourselves, for not being afraid to share a little self-deprecating humor here.

But this...