Chinese Proverb: He who returns from a journey is not the same as he who left.
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My Taiwan Adventure
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
304 A culture of lies
It is a culture of lies, or at the very least, misdirection and misinformation. The three most often heard phrazes include:
"Things change."
"Let me get back to you on that."
Really? I understand perfectly. Here they lie, thinking themselves clever. An outsider, like me or any other Westerner, looks at the situation and says things like:
"What? But yesterday, you said...."
"When did that happen?"
"It's ridiculous."
"You really don't know, do you?"
And then you find yourself engaged in a battle of endless phone calls, emails and text messages to "find out what happened." When reality is that only the person who lied really knows what happened, and they're not liable to tell.
My tactic in the beginning was to rail and cry, shaking the bars of my cage loudly. No more, I say. No more. The rattling, the complaining, and the trying to get it "worked out" has only resulted in more painfully frustrating telephone conversations than I can count. It results in only more lies from more people. More misinformation. More so-called miscommunications. I refuse to play that game.
Instead I am becoming something I don't like. I am becoming one of the teachers who hates getting up in the morning. I am becoming one of the Western Teachers who don't take action but complain about their school, the lack of discipline, the snotty kids, the endless lies and deciet to friends and family. I don't complain to the people who should solve the problems. The people I PAY to listen to me are a vast part of the problem, so I avoid complaining to them. There's shooting yourself in the foot... to clarify again, in the PAST I have complained. (See above paragraph.)
I find myself staring at this post, wondering "Do I post it?" Can I take this heaping of critisicm aimed at myself and eat it? I am the only one who can pull the cord. Time and again I have had to remind myself that it isn't the kids fault that the school is a mess. It isn't the kids fault that the management is hopeless. It isn't their fault, and if I leave, THEY are the ones that will pay the price.
I don't enjoy moral dilemas.
Teacher Destiny?
"Things change."
"You undersand don't you?"
"Let me get back to you on that."
Really? I understand perfectly. Here they lie, thinking themselves clever. An outsider, like me or any other Westerner, looks at the situation and says things like:
"What? But yesterday, you said...."
"When did that happen?"
"It's ridiculous."
"You really don't know, do you?"
And then you find yourself engaged in a battle of endless phone calls, emails and text messages to "find out what happened." When reality is that only the person who lied really knows what happened, and they're not liable to tell.
My tactic in the beginning was to rail and cry, shaking the bars of my cage loudly. No more, I say. No more. The rattling, the complaining, and the trying to get it "worked out" has only resulted in more painfully frustrating telephone conversations than I can count. It results in only more lies from more people. More misinformation. More so-called miscommunications. I refuse to play that game.
Instead I am becoming something I don't like. I am becoming one of the teachers who hates getting up in the morning. I am becoming one of the Western Teachers who don't take action but complain about their school, the lack of discipline, the snotty kids, the endless lies and deciet to friends and family. I don't complain to the people who should solve the problems. The people I PAY to listen to me are a vast part of the problem, so I avoid complaining to them. There's shooting yourself in the foot... to clarify again, in the PAST I have complained. (See above paragraph.)
I find myself staring at this post, wondering "Do I post it?" Can I take this heaping of critisicm aimed at myself and eat it? I am the only one who can pull the cord. Time and again I have had to remind myself that it isn't the kids fault that the school is a mess. It isn't the kids fault that the management is hopeless. It isn't their fault, and if I leave, THEY are the ones that will pay the price.
I don't enjoy moral dilemas.
Teacher Destiny?
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 3:42 PM 
