Frank, it sounds like those guys took off. Nice post, btw.

When I started at my TESOL mill, I was immediately pelted with propaganda. I only suspected at that time it WAS indeed just that, but I figured out in a hurry there are certain "mindsets" in TESOL that the industry pushes hard for teachers to adopt. The propaganda we see is the "pushing". Lots of industries use these mindsets to establish a certain standard and even maintain stability. The only problem is if one thinks outside the mindset, he'll be cast as a charlatan and pressured to get out.

One mindset I was/am expected to fall into line and accept is the "doing a runner is BAD, and anyone doing a runner is worse than SATAN" bullshit. You know what I'm talking about. This mindset makes us more dependent on recruiters.

Another is the "clowning is an acceptable education technique, and those who don't keep smiles on faces are BAD teachers". Whatever. Maybe clowning works for some, but I don't use it and do just fine. This mindset keeps teachers in classrooms and off airplanes going back home. Their students fool them into believing they're learning, so the teachers believe their efforts are worth it.

And of course there is the trusty ol' "a TESOL cert makes one a teacher. One teaching without a TESOL cert or (especially) one teaching on a FAKE cert is an individual who should be burned at the stake" horseshit. Yeah, you know some of the TESOL powers that be want us to view users of fakes as something far more evil than a Hitler-Stalin-Vlad the impaler hybrid. Same with runners.