Back in 1968, on acceptance of a quasi part-time position with the Brazil Symphony Orchestra, I was unexpectedly exposed to an extra gig -- my initial opportunity as TOEFL instructor with a small school in Rio de Janeiro. It was, I dare say, my first time in South America, not to mention teaching English. Was I scared? You bet ... and damned curious as well.

So, WHO was the school's director? A 34-year-old balding Ashkenazi type straight from the Bronx. He joined up with a Brazilian buddy from NYU who had come up with a way of making a couple of fast bucks (cruzeiros)... by teaching English to those who could afford it ... that is, by pretending to teach. So, what was the plan? To seek out every US citizen (under 35) knocking around Rio--with or without degree--and offering them a ground-floor opportunity to increase their income--@ $2.50 per hour in those days; 90 cents higher than the US minimum wage. Training, you say? None, really to speak about. Textbooks, you say? Some ultra-cheap edition hardly fit to instruct cats and dogs, let alone humans! But, I participated anyway ... that is for one week, at which time the school was shut down by court order. After only five days of operation, the director was facing at least three major law suits, all charging misrepre-sentation. Did I get reimbursed for my week's participation? HA! The fact is, I never even pursued it, but was truly happy to merely disassociate myself from both the whole ugly mess and its dramatis personae. That was my initial experience in TOEFL, while it would be many moons before my next opportunity. Oh, I did hear that Mendel the Manager, was sent packing back to The Bronx, but only after having sustained considerable financial loss.

That was in 1968 -- 38 years ago --and have attitudes changed since then? Not one iota, at least judging from the preponderance of the complaints filed on this forum. Furthermore, it would appear the extent of human greed and malevolence hath no limit, whilst judging from today's comparatively sophisticated standards, 1968 HAD to be a relatively "simple" time in the affairs of men. Let's see ... we had Johnson and Viet Nam occupying the White House, Mei Lei and Lieutenant Calley hogging the headlines ... and Hawaii Five-0 expertly pursuing crime on the TV. Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon, and an egg cream could be had anywhere in the City of New York for a quarter! Yes-sirree-bobby! ... simple, by any standard.

My friends, just recently some insufferable slob accused Rheno, Raoul, and myself of shoveling the same manure post after post. You've got to admit that there's certainly more than enough of that particular substance floating around the ESL biz these days, while it seems to be increasing with each passing year. But, as instructors, I've often thought about what WE can do about it. Not a hellova lot so long as the financial dealings and overall determination of so many schools is left in the hand of those whose modus operandi is nothing more than to profit through dishonesty. I've often dreamt of a worldwide TOEFL teachers strike--a timely moratorium called on every ESL learning center on earth! But, whom am I trying to kid? The Hispanic community of California tried something like that just recently in order to prove how crucial they were to the State economy. Please forgive me, but I feel it was planned much too carefully and announced much too often in order to deliver the degree of clout which was originally intended. Then, perhaps the idea of a strike is somewhat unrealistic ... yet ... something has to be done -- perhaps best in collaboration with whichever upright schools and agents are out there in The Great Abyss -- in order to make an effective attempt to straighten out a mess which has been tolerated far too long in our profession.

NOW seems an appropriate time to collaborate our ideas and efforts regarding the aforementioned. I look forward to being a part of any definitive plan.

The Arrogant One