Depth or Surface Area?

One thing that I have come to understand about Japan is that it's modern society was forcibly bent into shape by the triumphant US Army circa 1947. There's 2300 years of history and tradition here, but that's become the base material for the bastard child of pre-cold war, market-based-democracy that has become the setting for life here.

"What the hell does that have to do with you?" you may ask. As an assistant teacher hired by a private company and subcontracted out to work at public junior high schools, for me it may as well be the weather to a farmer or astroturf to a pro ball player.

The board of education chooses which company to lease foreign ALTs based on a number of criteria: availabilty, experience, recommendation, staff profiles,

money

and how chummy you are with the board of directors.

As it turned out, my current posting was due to a contract that was recently underbid by a company that specializes in 6-8 person lessons for adults. To supply ALTs for Junior high kids. In classes of 36-42. This company wanted the prestige of supplying ALTs to Saitama prefecture, so they bid below the cost of teacher salaries.

So next month I get to look for another job, or else trust my current bosses to relocate me. Which they claim to be able to do.

In Elementary school and kindergarden.

Realize that I am a 6'4" man with a sense of humor best described as "dark." "twisted" or "malicious." And I will be expected to teach English to tiny humans who can not yet speak their own language.

And how did this come to pass? An inefficient beauracracy installed by an inattentive electorate to try and sort out an atavistic "free market" in which the rules are set by people who make their living bending the law into worse shapes than a Thai sex performer and are then rewarded for squeezing a profit out of any public organ they can get a clammy, scabies ridden hand around.

But maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I'll have a great time teaching animal names and potty training. And maybe companies like AEON, Nova and Interac are actually interested in the education of children.

And maybe I shouldn't read so much Hunter S. Thompson when I'm already casting around for a way to describe an ugly situation.