In Response To: An English School Owner`s Experience in Japan Link (Kevin Burns) on the "Travel in Japan" board

While its true that some owners/managers of English schools care about the teachers and the students, they are in the minority in Japan, and are hard to find.

I agree that its important to have a BLACLIST of bad schools for teachers and parents to be aware of.
I was also promised everything by American School and AEIS when I went for an interview and viewed their web page.

It looked so professional and they seemed so caring but it fact it was a carefully planned interview that I later learned was used on all applicants.

They turned out to be liars and cheats and would do anything to take money from workers and parents.
They have no curriculum, no qualifications and will abuse teachers and their rights because they know that the teachers will leave after one year and they have a plethora of applicants waiting at the door.

The truth is schools like American school and AIES are typical of private juyku's and English schools through out Japan. American school is owned and run but a husband and wife. He is American and she is Japanese, but you dont know this till later.
They have both kept their family names and act innocent but in fact they play one person of against the other, so they never resolve any issues.

They continually fine you $1,000 yen for clocking in 1 minute late for work, but refuse to pay you overtime when you are forced to stay and work ten and fifteen minutes late every evening because they have the final class ending right on the hour.

They cheat in English exams by changing students answering sheets so that parents believe their children are achieving great results. They refuse to abide by Japanese law by refusing to enroll workers in health insurance and retirement pension.

When a parent wishes to take their child out of school they threaten to sue them.
And if you speak to a parent without the owners permission they fine you 10% of your pay.

The contracts of American school and AIES are written to support only them but they are full of illegal rules and cannot be enforced in a court of law.

For example. If you have to take time off work and they have to get another teacher at the school to do over time to cover your classes, they pay them 2,500 yen and hour but take 3,500 yen an hour from your pay.
Is this a supportive caring school? No they are corrupt and people need to know about them

That is why in the last 3 years on 2 teachers have finished their contracts with each school.

Should the public and potential teachers be warned about this school of course?
Why?
To stop the abuse of these types of school in Japan and allow professionally run schools to operate and succeed in teaching English and to treat workers as human beings and not a source of disposable income to abuse and then get rid of them.