I know another guy that is also conpletely kooky and I think he runs a school down South still. These guys mostly setup ten or twenty years ago.
edit - his school is in Taipei.
Parents dont care as long as they get the English product they want for the right price.
Someone’s gotta interview this guy
Wow man. I just came across this and you have had a 2 year vendetta against him? Aren’t there more pressing issues in your life?
It is very clear that he is simply trying to carve out a niche in the saturated English school market and as for the rent dispute with a “chemo patient”… he is probably trying to keep his head out of the water.
I’m not agreeing with his content but I do think it offers a different interesting perspective and gives the kids a rare chance to critically think about the topic.
Also… never fully discount a conspiracy theory…
Remember when we had the “conspiracy” about the Wuhan Pneumonia coming from a lab?
If you said hinted at the possibility, you were banned from social media or (if lucky) your posts removed and warned.
If you were a scientist… you would also be heckled in the science community.
Now… it is something that is actually taken seriously and more and more high ranking scientists believe it to be true.
It’s not a vendetta, it’s just a story too odd not to tell. This seems to be the end of the story, at least until masks are gone.
I think he’s just teaching what he believes. And believing in a conspiracy, or many, is one thing, but have a look at his magazine. That is next-level delusion and hatred.
Jesus, you really read this wrong
I just read this from his magazine. https://www.ilearn.tw/issue1/ISSUE_1_files/Page%204-5_1.jpg
To be honest it made me chuckle. But still, I see no need to try to slander him or his business. I think just move on with life and find your own niche. Clearly he’s doing something successful. I see his school has been around for over 4 years and mostly has good reviews.
Ross, is it you?
Thanks for keeping us updated.
It’s interesting that he didn’t release a new iThink “magazine” in 2021, because he could have shared his views on COVID.
But then I realized he did - open at your own peril:
https://ilearn.tw/rona/COVID-19_is_BULLSHIT.html
Its like when my computer has a glitch and runs through all the programs before shutting down.
Or when it gets infected with a virus from a dodgy site and starts flashing stuff all over your screen …
But this is his brain we are peering into.
What a mess.
He has students it seems… He does seem a little crazy but he’s not harming anyone.
I think the conspiracy theory stuff and the iLearn school shouldn’t be lumped together.
I met Ross almost ten years ago when I first landed in Taiwan and saw his school. He was personable and his school was professional. In fact, I remember being impressed by his hustle. He put my name on a list of potential subs and asked about my experience and what ages I liked to teach. He had students that stuck around after class to chat in English. The school had classes that appealed to his students. It wasn’t a brand new school so it must have lasted at least ten years.
I don’t agree with his views on a lot of topics but I’m not going to deny that his business was, by all appearances, successful and that he had dedicated students. So take what you will from that, and I suppose in Taiwan anyone who puts in the work can do reasonably well for themselves, no matter what they believe or do in their free time.
I know you’re still fairly new here, but that’s kind of a lot of what people do on Forumosa. There’s a years-long thread dedicated to one foreign reporter’s poor reporting.
This guy has Jewish-domination theories in those magazines. I think that deservers a measure of ridicule. Slander is making false statements, which I haven’t.
And, the school is closed in Taiwan, so not so successful anymore. It may have been due to events randomly sorted here.
https://ilearn.tw/landlord
His last entry on his Apple document said mediation wasn’t working out and he would be charged for posting the landlord’s private information, though he removed it later.
I don’t know what he actually taught or what he taught when you knew him, but the conspiracy stuff was what he was actively promoting on all his media as part of his business, so it was more than a free time thing. I don’t know how much got into the classroom.
That’s interesting. I was only able to find record of it for the past six years. I really thought he was some trust fund kid who just wanted to have his own business. He didn’t seem incredibly successful, at least not towards the end. He was living in an upstairs room of the school and seemed unhappy with his situation. Some expats seem to degrade emotionally the longer they stay abroad. Some find their way and others stay in a rut. He wasn’t married, may have never been. I haven’t many long-timers who were single and stable. I have known of several who were married and unstable, so it goes both ways. It looks like he’s moved to a beautiful part of Canada so maybe he’ll keep hustling and make a good life for himself.
I just don’t see the point in being outraged at what he says. Perhaps stoking this outrage is what feeds him?
Going through his emails with the landlord I was triggered with how the landlord kept leveraging the fact that he’s a foreigner even going so far as to say that he doesn’t understand Taiwan rule of law etc…
Such a statement from him to a Taiwanese in Canada would be met with immediate outrage.
Anyhow… if he has gone to Canada then I guess that’s a good thing for him. A fresh start.
The school was around “since 2009”, according to his publicity material.
Read the full thread and check this YouTube channel. He views went beyond being outrageous or trolling, to the point where it appeared he was having a mental health crisis. Some of the things in his magazine or in videos are very offensive.
People can have their own views; it actually makes Taiwan more interesting to have these people around, like that UFO magazine guy. The problem was that he taught middle and high school age kids - who lack the ability to think critically and might believe his bullshit.
Example: Dinosaurs are a fake conspiracy: https://ilearn.tw/dino. This, along with the flat earth stuff, is not being presented by the school as something to get students thinking. It’s presented as fact.
Another thing: I think the landlord page is creepy. Although he’s probably in the right, making multiple videos about the landlord and posting their negotiations online gives off a weird stalkerish vibe. It’s also incredibly unprofessional; who’s going to rent to him after that? Clearly no one as he had to leave town.
You want a stable? I can get you a stable, believe me. Hell I can get you a stable by three o’clock this afternoon.
I don’t know how you come up with words like “outrage” and “slander”. It’s just an amusing story. Or a tragedy in process, like a very slow train wreck you can’t look away from.
Nah, most kids are able to think critically by high school at least. They’re more impressionable, but you have to at least present information reasonably to them to change beliefs already held.
After re-reading the thread, I saw he was teaching kids as young as 8.
He had pictures on FB of him and a young kid walking around with something like signboards on their backs. I forget if he was promoting the school or promoting conspiracies, but it was creepy.
But was he really teaching these things to kids as young as 8? I doubt that. I bet those materials were for the older kids (junior/senior high) and adults. Otherwise his lessons would be incredibly difficult to teach.
I can imagine him pushing his views on masks and COVID vaccines onto kids (though no clear evidence he did that).
