What would it take to lure you back to North America?
I agree with so many posts on this thread .. from both sides. What jumps out at me, though, is what I don't miss about working abroad. The back-biting. The passive aggressiveness. Rudeness. When I came back to the states and started working in public schools after being overseas for 10 years, it took a long time for me to stop looking over my shoulder.
Here's an article I wrote for ISR awhile back about this thread's topic:
http://internationalschoolsreview.com/n ... g-home.htm
Here's an article I wrote for ISR awhile back about this thread's topic:
http://internationalschoolsreview.com/n ... g-home.htm
E.B. White
Sorry you are in such a poor working environment. Could you share the name of your school so none of us will end up there?
wow, this has been my first time reading the forum, lots of perspectives here. i worked in the states for years and worked under some visionary principals. one school was in a white suburb, one school was 100% title one. and yes, i belonged to the union. the title school was fed by two large sections 8 housing projects, largely african american and latino immigrants. we had, however, an outstanding principal. you did feel like you were effecting kids lives in a very postive way. out staff was a mixed bag of white, black, latina, christian, non-believers, gay and straight. those issues were not an issue as we were there for the kids, not to argue and debate. once in a great while differences flared but most of the time, people were professional and focused on kids. NCLB had its plusses and minuses. our state had clear, developmentally appropriate standards and indictors. yes, testing had a big focus but we used good teaching and staff study groups to expand our knowlegde base so that it did not feel like we were teaching to the test. decent test scores were the result of decent teaching. it was tiring at times and a joy at others. i think that is called life. the principal was innovative and a real leader. we had resources. i see from the posts that this experience did not happen for everyone out there in public schools.
now i teach at an international school. the "curriculum" is 10 years behind at best as are the teaching practices. the administration has the old boy network on full swing. the parents can be a mixed bag but for every crackhead parent i had in the states, there are plenty of cokehead parents here. for every kid who had never even met the father in the states, there are kids here who are raised by the driver and the nanny. why international schools say they offer an american type education but then expect teachers to "write" curriculum is a mystery to me. i don't have a master's in curriculum development. if i had wanted to do that i would have gotten a master's in that. there is no job security here and for those of us at midlevel international schools, the loss in pay is not outweighed by the free housing. living in a new country is exciting and challenging and i feel it has stretched me in a postive way. traveling is cheaper. there is new food to discover. to save money our school hires mostly locals and only few foreign hires so this makes the friends pool very limited. there is much gossip and back stabbing. it took me a while to get used to this after coming from working with professionals. so again, it is life, some of it is good, some not so hot. here, it is either kiss the administrator's butt or move on. it is difficult to break into top tier schools but i will continue to try.
i don't think that it is an "either/or" thing. there were things about my life in the states (lack of diversity, expensive to travel, mentality of some folks) that spurred me to teach abroad. there are things here that make me yearn for my old school. but there is no perfect school in the perfect place. or if there is, it is different for every person.
now i teach at an international school. the "curriculum" is 10 years behind at best as are the teaching practices. the administration has the old boy network on full swing. the parents can be a mixed bag but for every crackhead parent i had in the states, there are plenty of cokehead parents here. for every kid who had never even met the father in the states, there are kids here who are raised by the driver and the nanny. why international schools say they offer an american type education but then expect teachers to "write" curriculum is a mystery to me. i don't have a master's in curriculum development. if i had wanted to do that i would have gotten a master's in that. there is no job security here and for those of us at midlevel international schools, the loss in pay is not outweighed by the free housing. living in a new country is exciting and challenging and i feel it has stretched me in a postive way. traveling is cheaper. there is new food to discover. to save money our school hires mostly locals and only few foreign hires so this makes the friends pool very limited. there is much gossip and back stabbing. it took me a while to get used to this after coming from working with professionals. so again, it is life, some of it is good, some not so hot. here, it is either kiss the administrator's butt or move on. it is difficult to break into top tier schools but i will continue to try.
i don't think that it is an "either/or" thing. there were things about my life in the states (lack of diversity, expensive to travel, mentality of some folks) that spurred me to teach abroad. there are things here that make me yearn for my old school. but there is no perfect school in the perfect place. or if there is, it is different for every person.