My Bad

In my previous posts I think I've been a little unfair to English teachers. I need to apologize to people like Nick, who've made a serious investment in education and have probably had quite a significant impact on their chosen Chinese community. He pointed out that it can certainly be a difficult job, and that there are a number of people who genuinely are motivated to help. It's hard not to teach English in this country, the people are so eager to learn that on some level you end up doing it in one way or another. Like I said, both my job and my friends are partly based on my English, something I would love to move beyond, as Nick did. My disparaging remarks about teaching English were not directed at people like Nick though, and I'm proud that he could represent our little college (HMC) so well. There are plenty of foreigners doing it well and doing it poorly, but if you're looking for a way to get away, it remains one of the easiest ways to go work abroad. If you want to get creative, be like Nick, and go somewhere far away from Beijing - where nobody speaks English. Or, if you want to study abroad, try a program like SIT, where cultural integration is the basis for the whole program. My bad dude.

My "derision" was more directed at the rubber-stamp volunteers and party-loving foreigners who travel abroad expecting to make an impact in two weeks, or who simply import their foreign ways to wherever they go. These folks don't usually seem to have much interest in where they live, or only insofar as it benefits them (girls, shopping, or massaging their guilty conscience). These people often leave the country worse than when they came, by imprinting their culture on the people (instead of the reverse). I believe that it should be an equal exchange of culture and ideas, otherwise you're just a tourist. There's nothing wrong with being a tourist, let's just call it what it is though. Of course, I won't pretend that I'm benefiting Beijing greatly, but I do intend to become more than a just another foreigner to them. That's just my opinion though, based on some very limited experience, and more than a little frustration. Any thoughts?