Messed-up Gaijins

The past couple of months have allowed me to travel across the US where I have met with a variety of international education professionals.  Last week, I was in Chicago and met a teacher of 19 years who managed to do his teaching gigs at a local junior college and a for-profit language center with only his bachelor's degree and teaching experience overseas as the prerequisite.  He mentioned that when he returned from his four-year stint of teaching in Japan that he was "messed up."  He didn't go into details but having walked a mile in his shoes, I can only imagine.  It wasn't that long ago when I felt "messed up" trying to make a go of things in the bucket of the "Bible Belt".  As we observed his class, he stepped over to us and gave more teaching tips in five minutes than I could imagine in my four years of teaching ESL.

This reminded me of the out-of-touch American student advisor in Yokohama, Japan who got completely bent out of shape when I questioned the need for a post-bachelor's degree as a PREREQUISITE for the international educational profession.  Their are two things that are essential for international education.  International experiences preferably overseas and continued education beyond a undergraduate degree.  Mr. "Out-of-Touch" couldn't wrap his head around my need of being practical and not wanting to invest 2-3 years and $30K when I could be working and going to school on the side like it is done in the real world. 

Are you one of those messed-up gaijins reading this in Japan?  It is time to man up or end up irrelevant.  One good thing that has come from this recession is how things are correcting themselves.  Government and for-profit English-language programs in Japan are having to revisit the effectiveness of their International
Education Programs (IEP) meaning that the token gaijin in Japan is having to do more with less.  Why would you work like that on the other side of the world with nothing guaranteed?  Too often, people do not know when to call it quits or will walk away from the industry only to return with disasterous results.         

The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10