This Is What Insanity Looks Like

Well, they've gone and done it this time.

Today is exam day for my evening class. Students have exactly 90 minutes to come in, sit down, and fill out 5 pages of English. I show up early to arrange the desks in such a configuration that it's less easy to cheat.

Today, just as I was about to distribute the exam, I got a knock on the door. A courrier came in, telling me it was time for student evaluations.

Now, that particular class happens to be a rather weak class, and a low-elementary level. Given that I have 3 other classes, all of which are very advanced, I have real problems remembering to recalibrate my English to a lower level, especially when I'm tired and hungry. I'm a bit peevish in there, too. So, in all, not the class I'd want them to evaluate--especially not during their very limited exam time!

Our argument went something like this:

Me: NO, you can't evaluate my students! They're taking a test! Get out of here!

Him: Teacher, it's from central admin. We have to evaluate the students.

Me: Why didn't you come last Thursday? During March, like the announcement says? What's wrong with you people?

Him: Please, teacher, we just need 10 minutes...

Me: This is completely stupid!

Him: Just 10 minutes!

Me: Fine, you have 10 minutes. Then I'm coming back.

I went out into the hallway. Eleven minutes later, I barged into my classroom. "Your ten minutes is up! Gimme my classroom back."

Him: Please teacher, 5 minutes more. Your students are late.

Me: THEY NEED TO TAKE THE EXAM. Look, I'm not angry at you, but I need to do my job now!

Him: You can just stay 15 minutes late!

Me: Would YOU want to stay 15 minutes late?

Him: ...No, I wouldn't.

So I stood in the doorway, boring my eyes into his back while he finished the evaluation--which, with my presence there, he managed to do in about 90 seconds.

After the exam, I went downstairs where there was a massive uproar in the teachers lounge. This apparently happened to EVERYONE, and we were all exchanging stories.

The guy who had ratted out the other teacher was most upset of all, and was railing off about Cambodian stupidity. I asked the guy him why he thought this was happening. He had no idea, but I cannot shake the suspicion it might actually have originated from his ratting--when admin caught wind of it, they decided to put up a test to see who's really been doing their jobs and who has not.

And THAT, my readers, is what they call "Bullshit".

Social Security--or--the Reality of Teaching in a Third World Country

This Sunday, I spent the afternoon at a benefits-BBQ with my coworkers and my friend Thearea. Ten dollars for a plate of food and you too could be part of a meaningful contribution towards combating the suffering of mankind.

You probably would like to know what benefits we were funding. Food for homeless Cambodians? School supplies for some orphanage? Proceeds for a new church/school/hospital in the provinces?

Nope.

All proceeds went to our co-worker Geoff, who, like me, is a Western expatriate. Geoff had a fall teaching class and badly broke his arm. In the hospital, he managed to contract a spinal infection (drat those unsanitary conditions) and is now lying in hospital bed in a state of abject misery and pain, unable to resume work.

He's been out for over a month. Given that employees are paid hourly, and not according to a salary, he hasn't earned money in over a month. Given that we're paid monthly, even if he resumed tomorrow, he still wouldn't be paid for quite a while. Given that none of us receive benefits of any kind, he's screwed.

Apparently, he's burned through all his savings, and is now unable to pay his rent, food, and especially not the hospital bill. And this is a country where they don't treat you if you can't pay.

The school, of course, won't pay anything, despite the fact that his accident happened on their property, despite the fact that one of the administrators got 3 months paid leave and $3000 to pay for an operation in Singapore when he got sick. (I wish I got 3 months paid leave when I was sick for months. Lord knows I needed it far more than some overpaid bureaucrat whose daddy got him the job). I cannot let another human being suffer as I have done--I was there at the BBQ with as many friends as I could muster (in my case, I only have one friend...that's 100% anyway!). Thanks, [school of employment]...I'm definitely not going to wear my nametag now.

Well, this is the reality of 3rd world countries--there is no social security except for those who have wrested it for themselves through aggression and corruption. The rich get richer, the rest of us have to look out for ourselves. Our only security is family, friends, and savings enough to pay the hospital to treat you.

Maybe now you can understand why I am forever bringing up my paranoid financial issues in my blog.

PS--AMERICAN RIGHT WING, I AM TALKING TO YOU. BENEFITS FOR WORKERS ARE VERY IMPORTANT, AND BE GLAD YOUR TAXES ARE GOING TO THE TREASURY, NOT STRAIGHT INTO SOME CORRUPT OFFICIAL'S POCKET.