Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Gopher]

[sundubuman]

ok,

my hope in this thread is to dispel the sterotypes of "insular americans" that my canadian friend openly proclaimed as a matter of fact.

it's not their fault if their national media and educational institutions inculcate such (arguably) anti-american ideas into their thinking ie....americans are less interested in the world than canadians are...travel less, have fewer passports....



but sadly,

anti-americanism is still s.o.p. (standard operating procedure) for most canadians in asia.

again, i hope the FACTS might help those who feel/think so reflexively in an anti-american way.


the truth shall set you, and us, free.

[W.T.Carl]

Isn't it interesting that there are so many Canadians in the overseas EFL business? I wonder why? Could it be that there are not enough JOBS in Canada for it's educated youth? Why is that? When I was doing EFL, it was because of the adventure. Now I only do it part time in the summers.

[sundubuman]

i too started out in the esl """"field"""" for adventure, as most of my fellow americans did.

the job is simply an 'option' for canadians....correct me if i'm wrong


this i think is the single greatest differentiating factor between americans and canadians lliving and teaching abroad.

the americans that end up doing so truly are those who seek out unique life experiences, whereas for a lot of canadians...it almost seems like a rite of post-collegiate passage....

[sundubuman]

anyhoo...


back to the major issue at hand.....


americans apparently...despite their insularity and lack of interest in the world....manage to visit the continent of South America at roughly 18 times the frequency of canadians (which basically means twice as much....given population statistucs)



Does this mean Americans are more worldly, more travelled, more interested in the diverse cultures of the world than are the Canadians, who tend to stick to Europe and the USA when they travel abroad????


or does is simply mean airfare to brazil and peru and argentina is cheaper from american airports........


who knows?

[Gopher]

[laogaiguk]

[Milwaukiedave]

[Gopher]

Laogaiguk: yes, that is what I am saying.

I took about a half hour and here are some but not all of the links that I reviewed before posting that, above, not to mention personal experience and first-hand knowledge...

http://opendoors.iienetwork.org/?p=50138

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf04327/

http://www.abanet.org/legaled/studyabroad/foreign.html

http://www.aucegypt.edu/

http://www.aub.edu.lb/

But I am not going to get into the trenches with you over this triviality. Obviously it is an important point for you and those Canadians who raise it, again and again and again...almost as if they were attempting to validate themselves. Is that what they need to hear?

I, an American, hereby stipulate that Canadians are valid. And I am sure that most Americans will agree to this.

Therefore, I declare this nonsense over.

Anyone willing to second this?

[W.T.Carl]

Most of the people I know did NOT have "daddy' pay for their education. Most took out loans or did it with Government grants. Personally, I worked my way through University. This is not the point. The point is that most of the Canadians I have met abroad went because there were no suitable positions for them at home. This is not to say that the vast majority of folks I taught with overseas were not excellent people. They were, but they told there were no jobs for them at home.

[laogaiguk]

I have yet to meet one American with student loans. And I am not using hyperbole, I have not ever met one who had to send money home for student loans. I met a couple with 20000 on their credit cards (not for university). I don't know, but the fact that I have never met even one, meeting hundreds of Americans is strange.

But why do you people not see what I write? You see the bad and overlook anything good I say. Gopher just recently stuck me in with all bad Canadians because I made a post contradicting bad things he was saying about Canada. Though for 5 posts before, I was saying that these Canadians who bring this stuff up are stupid and that they probably have inferiority complexes. I can't win against these guys.

I said it was also due to scholarships. I also said there were many more scholarships too (than Canada, though the Canada was implied). There was a study done in Canada recently that showed Canada was seriously lacking in scholarships compared to America and that America thought it was better to let bright people study for free and help the economy later than Canada's attitude of loaning anyone money (look at all the stupid liberal arts grads on this board) and making them pay it back.

[dulouz]

[laogaiguk]

[sundubuman]

[Gopher]

Laogaiguk: when you allege (which is what you seem to be doing here) that Americans do not finance their educations via govt-sponsored Stafford subsidized and unsubsidized loans, or that Americans are only burdened by $20,000 credit card debts, or that, resentfully, that "daddy" pays for Americans who study abroad...

...well, I just doubt that you have anything but the most superficial experience with America and Americans.

Like I suggested above...