What you need to ask yourself even more than what your new director is like, is what about UAS as a school and Uruguay as a country! I worked at UAS from 1997-2000 and it was the most miserable experience I have had in an overseas school! Now granted, things might have changed since then...and actually i would be curious to know what is is like now, as their name is not even listed in the school reviews section.

Anyway, I left the year before David came in. The school was financially in big trouble, the staff morale was very low and the staff culture was divided between the overseas hires and the american local hires who resented everything about the overseas hires and would find fault with everything. Not a fun situation. However, maybe David was able to turn things around...I would certainly be curious to find out! Anyone?

I would also love to know the name of the school which is talked about in the Narmer review where they list all of the excellent benefits they are experiencing at the school they went to after leaving Narmer. It sounds a lot like one of the many GREAT schools in Southeast Asia. You can find packages like the one described out there...and many are in places like Taipei American School, Jakarta International School, Singapore American School, and International School of Bangkok. Those of you who are tired of the 'school for profit' which seems to proliferate in the Middle East should head to SE Asia and check out some of the fantastic [b][b]truly[/b] international schools that can be found in this neck of the woods!

Dear Scribe,
I have been an international school teacher for 20 years and raised my son in various parts of the world, including two stints in the U.S. What I found is that yes, there are important needs that you need to consider in a post when you have teenaged children that are very different from what you might find acceptable when your children are young. AND there are certain areas and types of schools that will make teenagers happier than others.

I spent 11 years in South America and LOVED it....the culture is fabulous and fun, the scenery is breathtaking and the people are super friendly so it is very easy to integrate into the local culture. However, most of the schools in that part of the world are more akin to national bilingual schools than to true international schools. When my son was young, this did not pose a problem and since he grew up speaking both Spanish as well as English he fit in socially and academically with his classmates.

However, once he got to 6th grade, it was apparent to me that his social/emotional needs had changed drastically and the types of schools that were available in most South American countries no longer suited his needs. He was extremely unhappy and was starting to develop a very bad attitude towards school. The 'national' students at the school were very clickish and refused to accept the westerners which meant he had very few friends. I knew that I really needed to do something...either move back to the states or go somewhere which gave him more options/opportunities.

I knew that in the States, even though I could probably get a job at a top notch school that would not mean my son would be able to attend such a school, as the zoning is done by your living area and as a single parent, I would never be able to afford to live in an area that had high enough property taxes to fund a school like that. So that left me searching for a new international posting.

I started to search for schools which had truly diverse student populations and all of the types of social/athletic/artistic/academic/extracurricular opportunities that I wanted for my son. What I found was that many of these types of schools are in Southeast Asia. There is so much foreign investment in this area that there are huge expatriate populations in most of the major cities and these schools have excellent programs for HS students. (sports teams, IB AP programs, community service opportunities, classrooms without walls programs, model UN, Cultural convention, travel clubs, the list goes on and on.)

To make a long story short...I took a job at the Jakarta International School and it was as if my son became a different person. He found that the diverse student body was made up of children who were just like him...most had lived in many different countries, spoke more than one language, and were very understanding of being the new kid and welcomed him with open arms. He had found his "niche".

The culture of the school made it "cool" to be smart and do well, and he rose to the challenge beautifully! He chose not to do the IB diploma but challenged himself by taking all IB and AP classes scoring 6's on all of his exams. He was active in all 3 sports seasons of the year, as the school policy is that they will make as many JV teams as needed to accommodate all students who want to participate. As to the social class of the students, they were diverse, and the paying students definitely had a much higher income bracket than I did, but the salary package for teachers is good enough, and the cost of living low enough, that we did not stand out! Also, the kids themselves did not think about that or make it any kind of an issue. They were just friendly kind, worldly children who had a true sense of global citizenship.

This is just my experience with one Southeast Asian school, however after living and working in the area for 7 years I would say that is the ‘norm’ of most SE. Asian international schools. They are truly diverse, cultural melting pots where all students are accepted for their merits and not how much money they have or what kind of a house they live in. (although we can afford a pretty nice one!) You might want to check out Asia!!