Comments for NewPath Recruitment Blog http://www.newpathrecruitment.com/components/com_mojo Teach English in Japan or South Korea Sun, 20 May 2012 06:27:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 Comment on “Must Be A Native English Speaker” - Should This Change? by Carmine De Stefano http://www.newpathrecruitment.com/component/option,com_mojo/Itemid,65/p,2/#comment-4 Fri, 08 May 2009 16:25:26 +0000 http://www.newpathrecruitment.com/component/option,com_mojo/Itemid,65/p,2/#comment-4 As a teacher educator, who prepares emerging teachers to teach EFL abroad, I am dismayed by the age discrimination that exists among NewPath's clients. Not only am I a highly experienced and qualified instructor over the age of 50, many of the over 45 years of age teachers I prepare for overseas teaching are also well-prepared and experienced, however, they have limited opportunities to teach in Japan and Korea, based on their age. This is age discrimination and it should not be tolerated. Companies like NewPath, who do not provide their services to the over 45 age group, should not be included among those from which one is seeking employment. In countries like Japan and Korea, an English teacher is most often not hired because of their skills, but because one looks a certain way or fits a particular profile. When I taught in Japan, the Ministry of Education, circulated a memo, directing universities to terminate all foreign instructors over the age of 40. One well-known professor filed a lawsuit and wrote a book about his experiences with discrimination, while in Japan. His book details discrimination at all levels of government, education and commerce in Japan. To think that these archaic practices still exist in 2009 is disconcerting. As a teacher educator, I urge all prospective teachers desiring to teach abroad, to reconsider teaching in countries that discriminate based on age, sex, national origin or any other form of discrimination. As a teacher educator, who prepares emerging teachers to teach EFL abroad, I am dismayed by the age discrimination that exists among NewPath’s clients. Not only am I a highly experienced and qualified instructor over the age of 50, many of the over 45 years of age teachers I prepare for overseas teaching are also well-prepared and experienced, however, they have limited opportunities to teach in Japan and Korea, based on their age.

This is age discrimination and it should not be tolerated. Companies like NewPath, who do not provide their services to the over 45 age group, should not be included among those from which one is seeking employment. In countries like Japan and Korea, an English teacher is most often not hired because of their skills, but because one looks a certain way or fits a particular profile. When I taught in Japan, the Ministry of Education, circulated a memo, directing universities to terminate all foreign instructors over the age of 40. One well-known professor filed a lawsuit and wrote a book about his experiences with discrimination, while in Japan. His book details discrimination at all levels of government, education and commerce in Japan. To think that these archaic practices still exist in 2009 is disconcerting. As a teacher educator, I urge all prospective teachers desiring to teach abroad, to reconsider teaching in countries that discriminate based on age, sex, national origin or any other form of discrimination.

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