There’s really no other way to explain what I just read by just showing you what I just read – all credit to Ajarn.com, the place where apparently “men” go to lose their feelings and talk about how bad life is here in Thailand.
As an African American, I’m completely appalled at the fact that so many people, of a completely favorable skin-tone, can complain about this country. I mean, I was turned away at immigration and treated badly at the main dog house in the heart of Bangkok five years ago, I was looked down upon at the border crossing (Sadow) where a family before me went to the window and the lady gave them a proper “why”; however, when I approached the window, she gave me a disparaging look as if I was the worst drug-dealer on the face of planet Earth. Does this happen to “anglos” here? Absolutely not.
I’m pointing out ethnicities simply because this is what I’ve talked about all long. Those “whiny bitch parties.”
Without further ado, there’s a little entry thingy on this particular website called the “great escape.” The man, who doesn’t even need to be mentioned, is the creator of this – telling Native English Speaking teachers who have left Thailand to write an entry on why they left.
This is one of those cases…..
I wasn’t qualified enough as a teacher and the ESL industry in Thailand doesn’t allow for any sort of nurturing or learning of teaching abilities, except in a really cruel and counter-productive manner to the actual idea of teaching.
The way Thailand immigration and work laws are set up simply doesn’t allow for any sort of real growth in teaching or for students learning ESL. I wish I had done my research better and I had more realistic expectations to start with, because it really didn’t end well.
The first job, I got sacked from a high rotation agency for little reason and extremely roughly in a way that went directly against the contract I signed.
Second job was for a school that was little more than a prison for rich boys with an unbelievably toxic bully culture – and they had no curriculum, exam papers or even textbooks. I resigned from that one.
Even the international school I applied for was super wrong. They couldn’t even arrange a demonstration class for me properly and got me to travel back and forth three times before they threw me into a science class to demonstrate an English class I had prepared. Of course I didn’t get the job and I now understand I was set up to look incompetent because they couldn’t be bothered to manage things right.
My self-esteem plummeted and I guess I must have “lost face” with my own partner, with whom I’d arranged to marry after the school year ended. I told her I didn’t believe I was qualified enough (to be honest I don’t think anyone is except for local teachers) to teach in Thailand. We couldn’t realistically keep the same date for marriage so I suggested postponing. She kicked me out – taking my bike and leaving me in a hotel with only what luggage I could carry (after a 3-year relationship).
It’s a terminal issue that goes way beyond me. I met other teachers who were either alcoholics drowning their issues into oblivion, losers, sex pests using the local women for their man-ventures, people running away from their own countries for whatever reason, ditzy backpackers or gap year folk looking for a working holiday (probably the best way to do things), actual teachers who were extremely bitter (for good reason), or good folk who were stuck in relationship quagmires like me. The long-termers all seemed stuck in a toxic situation and all seemed miserable.
I realised that I was contributing to a more ingrained pattern of a toxic education system that is highly budgeted but highly ineffective in teaching English.
I got burnout from teaching and got treated badly by immigration and country in record time, and then everything I had built just fell apart. That could have been a good thing because it could have gotten worse. I saved money from the dowry (for a relationship gone bust) and I have that to get me by back at home.
First of all, how could you rely on immigration to help you with your personal and professional development as a teacher? I mean that’s what “schools” are suppose to provide, right? I mean I’m working at a language center which has declined rapidly because they don’t have development curriculums and classes that teachers can take to improve their teaching capabilities in a particular subject. This is all because the foreign coordinator — and has nothing to do with the Thai system, immigration, or Thai culture.
The second school he was at where he detailed, “no curriculum, no textbooks, no nothing” is a reasonable find, but I’ve been through those, too. However, can I just back up the Thais on this one? How about China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia…etc….do they have the same problems? The Australians and British within Thailand always love comparing saying, “back home in England we have such an unbelievable system that prepares students – BLAH BLAH BLAH!” Yeah, and they also have men shoving Africans off subway trains while spewing racial rhetoric. This “I’m from England; therefore, I’m the greatest man on the planet” nonsense has to stop.
Him losing self-esteem is not because of what he went through, but because he allowed it to happen. I lost my self-esteem when Thai women shouted racial comments at me on social media. However, I got it back by taking personal development into my own hands. When he told his partner this, I can tell almost immediately that she was a bargirl. No girl would kick a man to the curb, take his stuff, and leave him at a hotel. My guess is again, he was a 40-70-year-old man like I’ve told you about a many of times.
If your is in the wrong place, you’re going to lose the game. Those foreigners that come here winning the 1st and 2nd quarters will end up losing the game. I can assure you that.
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