Hi,
I am curious, why do, after having professional education from excellent Universities, people come to Taiwan for being teachers? What it is that attracts so much about this place that these young grads leave their whole expertise/education behind to teach here?
I would like to clear that I am not trying to offend the teachers or telling that the profession is bad. I am just curious about the career choice they make, which I find (v.) odd.
Thanks.
maybe they don’t want to live at home with their parents and work in 3 different supermarkets per day? 
[quote=“Isha”]Hi,
I am curious, why do, after having professional education from excellent Universities, people come to Taiwan for being teachers? What it is that attracts so much about this place that these young grads leave their whole expertise/education behind to teach here?
I would like to clear that I am not trying to offend the teachers or telling that the profession is bad. I am just curious about the career choice they make, which I find (v.) odd.
Thanks.[/quote]
Why do you find it (v.) odd? If you can tell me that then I can answer your question more easily. What do you do, how much do you earn, and why do you think it’s better than teaching?
[quote=“tomthorne”]
Why do you find it (v.) odd? If you can tell me that then I can answer your question more easily. [/quote]
In my experience earning professional degrees is a great deal of hard work and one do it because they have an aim or something they want to achieve or at least get a good position in related field. That’s where my question comes in.
There are not many jobs for people with degrees in linguistics, or geography, or art history, or Middle ages French literature.
I work 11 hours a week, if you can call it ‘work’ because my ‘job’ is to converse with interesting and educated people. The rest of the time I frolic on the beach and pursue my own goals. Tell me another country where I can do that and I’ll be on the next plane.
If I was back in America I’d be working 40 hours a week and living in suburbia, and not having the experience of living in a different culture or learning Chinese.
My major (Psychology) and minor (Linguistics) would require a higher degree if I wanted to get a job in that field. Right now, a grad degree doesn’t seem like a good investment to me- good jobs teaching and researching at a university are hard to come by, and I’m not even sure if that’s the career path I want to pursue forever, plus if I went to grad school I’d probably end up saddled with loans so I would have to get a serious career right away.
I also find that we’re taught to pursue slightly different goals in western countries. Here, most of what I hear is “I want a good, stable job (preferably government.)” In America it’s “I want a job that fills me with passion, where I’m excited to get out of bed in the morning.” I think the view here is more realistic and less ‘entitled.’ But I do think there’s more to life than a steady paycheck.
There are a million different answers to your question.
I had a well paying, senior position back home, in a large company, with all the perks. However, it played havoc with my family life and personal life.
I was overseas for 2 weeks every month, going to multiple countries, staying in great hotels. All my mates used to tell me what a great job I had, especially during the economic downturn. I am highly specialized and experienced in my field. Even with the huge layoffs companies were going through, I was bulletproof.
People thought I was insane to resign and come to Taiwan with my wife and teach English (I still dabble a bit in my industry).
For me it was a lifestyle choice. I was constantly tired and stressed out. I used to suck down pills to make me sleep, and then suck down a few more to wake me up.
I had no personal life, or time to do the things I enjoy as I was basically working seven days a week. On the weekends and evenings the Blackberry did not stop beeping, and I was expected to answer due to my position. It was f*%ked.
Now, I work 2 hours in the AM, come home have lunch, walk the dogs, do another 2 hours in the afternoon, come home and chill for a few hours, and then go do a few hours work in the evening.
I have weekends free, can spend time with my wife, do my outdoor hobbies on the weekend, chill at home in front of the TV at night, read books. Stress level is down to zero now.
Sure, I make a fraction of what I did at home, but to me it is worth it.
Well, thats my reason. I am sure others have plenty different ones.
Cazart!
In case you have not noticed, it is mostly white males that come to Taiwan to teach English.
My guess is that they have “yellow fever”. :roflmao:
[quote=“Isha”][quote=“tomthorne”]
Why do you find it (v.) odd? If you can tell me that then I can answer your question more easily. [/quote]
In my experience earning professional degrees is a great deal of hard work and one do it because they have an aim or something they want to achieve or at least get a good position in related field. That’s where my question comes in.[/quote]
So exactly WHAT is your area of expertise? And why are you here in Taiwan making monkey wages (less than NT$200k per month is monkey wages in my book, and TRUST me, if you put Taiwan on your resume, no matter WHICH job you’re in, you’re getting a “buggered off to the sun when he could have been contributing to society” note) when you could be in wherever else making MUCH better coin? Me, I came for a laugh. Here I am, 25 years on, STILL having a laugh and making NICE dosh, house, summer house, Holidays in the sun, cars, bikes, the lot. SaWEEEET!
Sure, my mates ask me back home what the hell I’m doing out there in the third world. I just buy them a pint (they can’t afford more than two, generally) and say: “Livin’ large, my friend. Livin’ LARGE!”)
Got a 1 mth bonus on CNY, Ford Cortina on bricks, holidays in sunny Pingdong, the summer house is the in-laws rooftop in Taichung county, majesty 150cc (upgraded from the 15 year old Kymco) , the other bike is a Giant iguana.
Living large my friend, living large.
；）
[quote=“PapaAzucar”]In case you have not noticed, it is mostly white males that come to Taiwan to teach English.
My guess is that they have “yellow fever”. :roflmao:[/quote]
BINGO!!!
Blah blah blah. The question is why they want to stay rather than want to go somewhere else.
I think I can answer this question: Taiwan is a place where you can survive even with really low wages.
Granted, there’s not a lot of govt welfare in this country but one can have a decent abode, edible meals, decent clothing, and fair transportation with only $20k NT/mo (or even less). Furthermore, with NHI, you can’t go wrong when you’re sick.
All that for a place that’s not really a 3rd world country per se.
$20k NT/mo might be debatable but generally doable.
OP, life is easy in TW, Girls are easy, you get foreigner status, most importantly you get the feeling of being like a missionary, that you are doing good in the world, TEACHING, world’s most noblest profession, and not having to work on weekends and 15 hours a day. Life is easy peasy, you can get into hobbies, curse the TW spoilt brats, talk about how ill mannered the people of TW are, roll eyes at the mangement of your buxiban and then still get paid to live large.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]Got a 1 mth bonus on CNY, Ford Cortina on bricks, holidays in sunny Pingdong, the summer house is the in-laws rooftop in Taichung county, majesty 150cc (upgraded from the 15 year old Kymco) , the other bike is a Giant iguana.
Living large my friend, living large.
；）[/quote]
Ok, OK, I admit it. Some of you people didn’t quite manage it. Still. Keep on keeping on. There’s hope for you yet! 
[quote=“bigduke6”]There are a million different answers to your question.
I had a well paying, senior position back home, in a large company, with all the perks. However, it played havoc with my family life and personal life.
…
I had no personal life, or time to do the things I enjoy as I was basically working seven days a week. On the weekends and evenings the Blackberry did not stop beeping, and I was expected to answer due to my position. It was f*%ked.
…
Sure, I make a fraction of what I did at home, but to me it is worth it.
[/quote]
So basically, you made buckets of money, but couldn’t spend most of it because you were so busy on the job.
And now you’re semi-retired, doing some English teaching job because you find it interesting. Plus having a little extra income per month is nice even though you don’t need the money. 
Okay, let’s spell it out.
If the foreigner guy teacher is not getting laid regularly or gets tired of the local girls, then that is when the foreigner guy teacher goes “somewhere else”. :discodance:
Semi retired? Ha ha, from your mouth to Gods ears.
I also spent shitloads, or wasted shitloads in hindsight. Earning big usually equates to spending big.
A quick business lesson. If you want to be semi retired at 37 you need to own the company, not work for it.
I have a few investments and a little nest egg, but definitely not enough to think of semi retiring.
It was a simple lifestyle choice for me.
Work like a dog for 20 years, make big bucks and have a heart attack in the process, or choose a simple, relaxed and relative stress free life. To me it was a no brainer.
I have been headhunted in the last few years, to go back home or work in Hong Kong for example.
No way. I have had enough of the rat race, keeping up with the Jones’ lifestyle.