"Arrogant" One (and Others of Seasoned Wit):

Being a bit across the bridge myself, and perhaps prejudiced in that direction, I happen to think that your experience in teaching and life must be of great benefit to your students. Judging by how well you express yourself, the depth of your thought and the excellence of your English, I can only think that employers not recognizing those qualities are perhaps running institutions not worthy of your talents anyway. I bet your students are happy, and that should be enough for the employers, one would think.

Ageism is for those who have not yet developed the wisdom to see past exteriors. One would hope that wouldn't include principals of schools.

In Japan, where ageism is rampant, but there's a downturn in the number of students and competetion for students and indeed for teaching jobs is getting greater, employers are gradually hiring teachers with better qualifications. These tend to be somewhat older teachers. There are still those who are insisting on the stereotypical good-looking young white American, but I think those people are quite old-fashioned in their thinking and hopefully will soon go the way of the dinosaurs.

In some respects it's up to us to create a demand for better qualified teachers by educating our students and being competent at our jobs, and whenever possible, exploding myths about older workers. Open minds are ageless.

Gambatte!

OnceWritten