The JET Program Survey - Out of order

Question: Have you ever been told something (or seen an action) by a JET related employer/supervisor that you think is completely out of order (blackmail, lies, unacceptable, unreasonable etc)?

Responses...

being told not to drive or buy a car/motorbike

Fuckin me around with times and dates and then blaming me cause I'm not a mind reader. Not telling me that they had changed the meeting time of things and then making snide remarks to the effect that all gaijin were slack with time. This is in a town that seems to think it is the height of good manners to turn up to everything 15 mins late.

I have been lied to on numerous times by my BOE.

The most significant one was when there was a party for the Senior High School where I worked. The BOE was planning an after party right in front of me. Then my supervisor said in front of me to another BOE member "LET'S NOT INVITE HIM (referring to me)". I was deliberately not invited and
I later confronted the BOE about this and they lied about it again to my face.

I also have been told on one instance, when I was sick, that I would not get into trouble if I left early. The next day I arrive to find out that these same people took the amount of time I had left out of my nenkyu.

In my country, if people did this at work, they would be convicted of workplace bullying and serve some jail time. It is not a matter of Japan being a different culture, as most of the Japanese people I have talked to outside of work also believe that this is not acceptable standards of behaviour.

I have unacceptable and unreasonable working conditions.

I have been to three schools in different parts of the town on numerous occasions. On one occasion, I did not have lunch until 3pm. Even then I only had 20 minutes to consume it.

The conditions of my contract are conveniently ignored when the BOE wants me to do something, but if I ask for some concessions, they do not budge at all.

someone who was genuinely sick but the time she took off was counted as nekyu. This person was told that they wou8ld change that but that they still couldn't take any time off until the end of teaching-ie after 19th July, despite having nenkyu left.

a new jet coming in to a city near me, will have a car provided by the boe, but will not be able to drive it after school hours, and will have to pay her own insurance for school hours, just because her two predecessors got into a few minor accidents, and one major one. mostly due to the snow and ice around here in winter. whats more, she has to live in my city for the first three months because they are moving her to a new house that is not built yet, so she will be 15 kilometers from her school and boe, and city, and can't drive anywhere. boo.

I have been lied to (and lies have been spread about me) by my supervisor, and they were then perpetuated by other teachers in the school!

That we are supposed to take public transport to school even if the times offered are outrageously early or late compared to our school schedules. They pay us local transport fees to our bank accounts for what it would cost to take public transports, however, they said we could "nod nod wink wink" drive our cars that we bought from the last JET's to our schools but they would "pretend" not to know. If we got in an accident, even if it wasn't our fault, they in no way can be held responsible. I live in a rural rural area and i can't believe that we can't take our own cars officially.

One of the members of the BOE who was working on another AET plane ticket home. Lied about being contacted by the Travel agency with a price quote difference between a round trip ticket and a one way ticket. The travel agency had contacted the AET asking if it was okay for them to give out said information to the BOE man. AET agree.

now that your father is dead, will you be recontracting?

Yes, I have heard some terrible stuff, but I think worst things go on in America.

I have a friend who lives nearby who has no airconditioning in her apartment because the BOE believe she should have to buy it, despite already paying $600 for the furniture her predecessor left. Seeing as the temperature didn't drop below 36 C for the first 4 weeks we were here, I thought that was fairly unreasonable

There's a Texan hothead, not to name names who can sometimes fly off the handle and be quite rude when ALTs ask questions (or ask for help.)

The general non-transperency of business matters involving the ALT at the school. Were there blackmail, lies and unreasonble actions, probaly, but I can never really know because the supervisor did not help to make these matters transparent.

Again only repeated stories on internet.

drink driving after an enkai

I suppose this stuff is relatively minor but 1) no, you can't go on holiday to that overseas destination, its too dangerous 2) if you go away for the weekend you must leave the contact details of the place you're going to and the names of the people you're going with on your desk for your supervisor 3) my Japanese is getting good enough to realise that when teachers talk about me in the staffroom and talk about me to the students, what they're saying is not usually very flattering.

only things that are seen as good policy here. Hitting kids, Principles yelling at ALT's, stuff like that...

To complicated and was a different JET who should bring it up themselves.

I was "interviewed" by the press. My supervisor mistranslated me. Not just a little, the whole thing was a complete fabrication, which could have had very deep ramifications for myself, particularly as the subject was very political.

Lies, sexual harassment, touching OLs and students etc.

I don't think this is as strong as this survey implies but:

Being told flatly that something cannot be done like driving the council cars to do my job. Other towns do it, my HO's insurance covers me, I have an international licence. I haven't heard a good reason for it and think them stupid for making other people waste their time driving me from A to B. But I accept the decision. I just see stupidity and pity it. (I also have no desire to drive so it doesn't matter that much)

One main thing I mentioned above is the hipocracy of having little input for my work from my supervisor and having my proposals or offers from other orgs to do work for them, rejected by him. Beats me! I feel like a kept man sometimes! Ha ha.

Nothing that I haven't seen done in the US in several different businesses. Lies, unreasonable assumptions, etc. This is not a perfect world.

When I asked about a student, who seem to be possibly dangerous, my JTE replied : "This does not concern you!" I find that the never tell precious info about the kids, for instance, if a kid is known to have violent behavior, I think I should be told, same goes for kids with disabilities, which aren't always noticeable.

"Why are you taking three hours of nenkyu? You should save your nenkyu" - from supervisor, after I had been at work for 2 months and not taken any nenkyu previously and just wanted to go to the airport to get my re-entry visa. The necessary office isn't open on weekends.

sleep with me

teachers hitting students

this is a little off topic but it disturbs me that teachers sleeping with students is apparently rampant in Japan and is common knowledge among teacherss

racism...unclear whether real animosity or simply their idea of a joke, but the person on the recieving end certainly didn't see it as that.

Allegations that my BOE was lying about my personal past to other staff, assuming that I would never find out, to make it look like I was leaving due to my lack of coping abilities. Not due to their inadequate actions and the problems of the school itself. I have previous experience living abroad in Japan and elsewhere, but little experience with completely inadequate stff.

Not notifying anyone of my departure. Hoping I would slip away into the night so that they wouldn't have to deal with the problems at hand. On my last day, I said good bye to people that were visually shocked when they heard I was going. They didn't know anything about my problems and probably still don't.

It's part of his job, but a friend is the -gun Jet, and has to travel to many schools. His workload is light, but he's supposed to do this by public transport. In our area this can mean 6.30 am buses, and three hour waits by roadsides. He's talked to his BoE and it's a reasonable matter of insurance liability. He's said he'll use either his or their car, but they won't consider changing the rules, even though it would mean less stress, fewer bills, and he could cover more schools. However, he's signed down for a second year.

That if my friend had the principal investigated by the kencho then she would be given a hard time by the school. That was the advice she was given when she contacted someone about the sexual harassment. Apparently her nenkyu may have been affected.

My Kacho blackmailed me in a sexual harrassment complaint I made in my second year as a JET. One of my JHS Principles repeatedly invited me out to have sushi with he and other teachers in the area. After considering it for some time, upon the suggestion of who had worked with him earlier, I decided to accept the invitation. When I arrived, the Principle was alone at the restaurant. I stayed after he told me others would be coming shortly. One female teacher came 30 minutes later. He was aggressive and rude most of the meal when he was not flattering us overtly. As we left the restaurant, he asked the two of us if we would come back with him to his hotel room. Before I could answer, the other teacher dashed away hurridly and left me to deal with the Principle. I told him "no" empatically. A few days later I made a complaint to one of my office co-workers. Steps were made in my BoE to handle the situation. As the next day of inquiry passed, my Kacho ph!
oned the Principle to warn him of my claim. Consequently, the Principle came to the office to speak with my Kyoikukacho and deny my claims, saying I was blatantly lying. The issue was dropped, I was made the guilty fool and nothing was ever done. I resumed working at this school in close contact with this Principle the following week.

but not my supervisor, someone else's

i was originally told that if i applied for my transfer i would have to go back to my home country if i didn`t get it because my current employer wouldn@t want me. they also told me no one would want an alt with any kind of medical p@roblem. this is obviously not true as i did get my transfer - they were trying to pressure me out of applying as it was something they didn@t want.

One of my friend's schools will not let him take his vacation time if he is vacationing outside of Japan, he must use nenkyu.

Mainly at my school, teachers lying to me about what I'm allowed to do and not do. I know they are lying, because after I press it, they admit they were lying. And they way the do things so sneakily i just know they are trying to make a profit out of having an ALT, and that some of this money is going into someone's pocket.

Damn, the Japanese lie all the time. The JET program lies. They don't even know they're doing it, because "tatemae" isn't considered a lie. They paper over the truth with the "socially acceptable version" and then proceed to do something totally different and untenable. My supervisors insisted that I wasn't "flexible," in spite of the fact that I've already worked in other foreign countries and put up with kids hooting and hollering at me on my way to school, fights in class, being ignored by my teachers, given last-minute lesson plans, never being asked for input...the usual complaints.

You don't have to be a qualified teacher, you can huge amounts of money, lengthy holidays not comparable to those around you and you don't really have to do any work at all.

as noted above....one of the teachers that was violent in class was one of my JTES : the problem was with violece against students...when i approached my JTEs about bringing this problem to the principil and BOE ...i was told not to...i did however....the kencho was amazing and helped a great deal... but it , in my opinion, led to my BOE attempting to not renew my contract...however the kencho came to my aid and to make a long story short i am to be transferred..

No, never

play along

A teacher hit a student in our class. I told him it was unacceptable and he said he wouldn't do it again.

A school in Ibaragi (about 2 years ago) had a JETer from Georgetown, Washington D.C. She spent the ENTIRE term sitting on her butt and did nothing to contribute to her classes. She never attended any of her assignments...when she did come into the school she wore her walkman the entire time...spoke nor acknowledged anyone...used the (free) internet connection to chat with her friends (for hours and hours). For 2 years the students had no chance to learn English as she almost never taught the classes she was supposed to. Meanwhile she's collecting her pay cheque on a regular basis.

The purpose for my writing this is that the individual responsible for this (apparently Japanese) did NOTHING to call her to task. The students suffered...the school suffered...the Japanese teachers directly related to her suffered and nothing was done to remove that piece of dead work from the situation.

How can JALT allow this appalling environment to exist where useless individuals are able to abuse the system and leave an embarrassing impression behind them.

By the way...she left the country with a slew of unpaid bills behind her which the school was expected to pay. I'm not sure if the school did but the unpaid companies were making it extremely uncomfortable in the meantime.

Another JETer in Inzai shi was a miserable individual with the word b*tch written on her face on a 24 hour basis.

Do you people do any research on the Jetter that you bring over here?

Teachers physically abusing students

A fellow JET in the ken has seen some unruly students physically assaulted by one of their teachers and is uncertain how to approach the situation without losing her job.

Asking where you slept one night because it was rumoured that it wasn't at your own apartment.

Told 'Shut- up' in a meeting

Made up stories and lies of being rude to other ALTs at conferences and english camps

All of the above by the supervisors at the Saga Prefectural Board of Education.

My old supervisor had a habit of telling the girls that they looked 'pretty' in a very smarmy way. I've seen so much that it really isn't worth discussing. At this point, i'd be willing to believe almost ay far fetched story about this backward country.

Students being lied too by the JTE about the AET.

I have been constantly lied to by either my teachers or BOE or both. I still don't know what is what.

Geez, the list is too long for me to even get into. You've got my e-mail address.

A supervisor who sought to limit who I could talk to in the village and who used two successive ALTs as pawns in a chess game of local politics. The interference resulted in the premature departure of the first ALT. However the supervisor has since been replaced and the interference stopped. Nothing could be done at the time however other than to bear it out unbtil the time arrived for an overdue administrative change. From day one ALTs were told not to speak to certain people in the small village as these people were "trouble-makers" and dangerous. These people have become my good friends despite this. I feel the reason this person was able to abuse the ALTs in this manner was the amount of leeway afforded these people in the "contract" of employment. So much more needs to be done to standardise and officially legitimaise the positions of ALTs within their individual contracting authorities.

My supervisor agreed in February to a couple of demands like travel time to far away AJET meetings and kenshu for the summer. In April she left and I got a new supervisor. Of course I was told that whatever we agreed upon earlier is null and void since that was an agreement with the old supervisor. Now that is a big fat lie.

Lies ... lots of lies. Nothing earth-shattering in importance, but important to daily life and functioning as an effective teacher/employee.

the aforementioned problems seem rather unreasonable to me: They could not give me a reason for why I could not drive to work, except that "it is difficult". I was the only town emplyee who was not allowed to drive to work. When I told them i was buying a car, they made me sign another contract saying that i would
1) buy insurance.
2) not get into an accident [1 and 2 would seem to cancel each other out, but never mind]
3) not abandon my car illegally.
4) not drive to work
5) not drink and drive

the first three are reasonable conditions, but i was offended that they assumed they had to take these precautions with me, as if I was planning on getting loaded, crashing into everything and abandoning my car, as if common sense and basic integrity didnt apply in my home country.

The tratment of my Japanese english speaking friend by my supervisor was terrible.

A ton of stories about serioius sexual harrassment... so many I can't specifiy

My supervisor is a bitch. She was condescending and rude to everyone who was younger/lower in ranking, and puts on a different face when speaking to the principal/VP/anyone significantly older. (I never brought this problem up formally with my employers, so they cannot be blamed for not doing anything. Although it was very stressful for me, it wasn't their fault that she was totally unstable.)

She told me that I (and ALTs in general) was a burden, and I got paid too much for what I do (she knew how much I got paid, but refused to tell me what she was paid). She would tell me that I was not special, and try to refuse me things that the principal/VP allowed me to do (like, leaving school at regular time once, when I had an important phone call that needed to be made before an overseas office was closed--it happened to be the day of monthly meeting, which I wasn't required to go to because it was after work hours, but I have always gone to be polite, and even asked permission to be absent from, though I didn't really have to.)

She had mood swings and pretends that nothing whatsoever was wrong after them. Made me look incompetent during the class when the principal/VP and other teachers came to see by going against the lesson plan that we had discussed.

She was a good teacher, but totally rigid. Because she was a good student in school, she expected all her students to be as well, and never slowed down the pace for any of the students. I gave next to no imput in our team-taught courses, she was always telling me what to do, that I'm useless, etc..

BOE and school tried to do something about it, they really tried, but the teacher couldn't really be made to stop. In this case, it was just masochistic comments that were directed to the female ALT, of a non-threatenign nature, so nothing much could be done besides talk. However, everyone was made aware, and many were very sympathetic. The ALT has decided against staying int he program this year for this reason.

There is much hearsay, some of which I cannot doubt did happen--unreasonable supervisors and team-teachers mostly--there is also unreasonable expectations on the part of the ALTs sometimes, but those are less frequent.

lying-my supervisor told me I had no nenkyu left when I actully did, the office also forgetting to take out my monthly unemployment payments for one year and then doing it all at once at the end of may contract so I7d have no recourse; also refusing to honor byokyu for three broken ribs and insisting I take nenkyu; poor treatment and ignoring me (silent treatment) if I didn't stay late for English club

I'm always lied to. Or at least what i would called 'lied to' but they see it as keeping the peace.

I was told not to use the Internet because a previous
JET had downloaded a computer virus.

I have been lied to on numerous times by my BOE.

I have unacceptable and unreasonable working conditions.

I have been to three schools in different parts of the town on numerous occasions. On one occasion, I did not have lunch until 3pm. Even then I only had 20 minutes to consume it.

The conditions of my contract are conveniently ignored when the BOE wants me to do something, but if I ask for some concessions, they do not budge at all.