Turino
- 2009-06-23
It would seem that the IQ of this board's participants is quite low. The quote above positively reeks of irony, but the "andiquote" poster believes it...literally!watcheronacastironbalcony,come on now,please be fair.Don't tar all your fellow posters on this board with the same brush.Absolutely! Alas, it seems as though I have caught "sweepinggeneralizationitis" after only
one post. Such an insidious disease!
Ah well,your initial quote would neceesarily have to include you,as you had become one of this board's participants by posting said post.I didn't want you to tar yourself with the same brush inadvertently.That said,said disease is acceptable only if we're not discussing serious matters.I think it depends on the context.No doubt,I too suffer from said disease periodically according to wgheteher the discussuion is of a light-hearted nature,such as this one.
However, your amendment...(It would seem that the IQ of some of this board's participants,certainly excluding you and I,is quite low.In spite of this,or because of this,they've managed to concoct some posts that
are hilarious. ) is not quite to my liking. Perhaps we could simply settle for this..(It would seem that the IQ of some of this board's participants is quite low.)
The qualification re 'you and I' is of course unnecessary - it was meant to be a joke!I'll settle for your amended version.
You also neglected to single out the poster "ditheringsomewhat" who wrote...(Oh please, this is Kevin posting about himself and giving himself a good review at some obscure summer camp)That is so worthy of a mention in your dimly-lit department store.
Ah,well.The damning evidence re "ditheringsomewhat" was not part of your initial post.So I was not prepared to lump him together with that other misreader of posts.But now that the evidence has been provided,I'd be obliged to do so.
It pleases me that you were so quick to point out that you saw the irony in the first place, because subtle irony is very difficult to read, sometimes, and I can understand that not all readers are good readers. Now that the irony has been pointed out, will we have an influx of "me-tooism" posts?
Actually,I wasn't so quick to point it out in the first place as I was posting about issues that I felt were more important at that time.I doubt we'll see an influx of me-tooism posts re irony.I suspect your statements I've quoted directly above are ironic in themselves.
I hope you're still enjoying the board.Certainly,I am.Adios.
watcheronacastironbalcony
- 2009-06-22
watcheronacastironbalcony,come on now,please be fair.Don't tar all your
fellow posters on this board with the same brush.Absolutely! Alas, it
seems as though I have caught "sweepinggeneralizationitis" after only
one post. Such an insidious disease!
However, your amendment...(It would seem that the IQ of some of this
board's participants,certainly excluding you and I,is quite low.In spite
of this,or because of this,they've managed to concoct some posts that
are hilarious. ) is not quite to my liking. Perhaps we could simply
settle for this..(It would seem that the IQ of some of this board's
participants is quite low.)
You also neglected to single out the poster "ditheringsomewhat" who
wrote...(Oh please, this is Kevin posting about himself and giving
himself a good review at some obscure summer camp)
That is so worthy of a mention in your dimly-lit department store.
It pleases me that you were so quick to point out that you saw the irony
in the first place, because subtle irony is very difficult to read,
sometimes, and I can understand that not all readers are good readers.
Now that the irony has been pointed out, will we have an influx of
"me-tooism" posts?
Raoul Duke
- 2009-06-21
Saaaayyyy WHAT?!???!?
You're saying that, if someone is touting a school, it doesn't matter knowing that the person doing the touting is also a manager at that very school and has a direct interest in getting people to come work there? It might not in any way make you question the veracity and objectivity of the opinions being expressed?
Could I interest you in a bargain on a famous bridge in Brooklyn?
As for the "popular" part, I was laying on the irony so thick I needed a trowel. He was in fact roundly loathed by all concerned, and damn lucky to have gotten out of there alive. ;-{)
But I can understand you not seeing that...
StephanieB
- 2009-06-20
Deborah,
Let's examine this calmly. First I agree with you.
Kevin tends to mimimize the venomous damage that he can inflict upon foreign teachers in his school. Yes, he is a manager. All of the Chinese leaders will tell you that he is a manager. He is the Associate Director of Academic Studies, or something like that. Kevin loves to take the Pearl-Harbor approach to doing damage to a foreign teacher most of the time. He is a bully and he only frontally attacks those that he believes he can easily overwhelm. Otherwise he resorts to the tactics that he uses here -- character impersonisation, falsification of emails, fraudulent emails, disgenuous attempts to cover his real role and personality, etc., etc. Just look at the calomny that he has been attempting to do to Raoul, to me, and to every poster who crosses his past. Often, I fear that his posts are sincerely psychiatrically delusional.
Kevin is very well-protected in the school, owing to a certain relationship that he maintains with a senior leader. It is not for me to comment upon that relationship except that it serves him well and undoubtedly brings him pleasure in life.
When Kevin sets his sites upon a foreign teacher, he will attempt to destroy the teacher directly through emails, through verbal abuse, through harassment, through patterns of behaviour that at least in the West are exceptionally illegal. When that modus operandi does not work, he resorts to his special relationship to inflict maximum damage. He is the Lucrezia Borgia of the school.
Silvery or Tunoi have described him as suffering from NPD. That may be very true. I am more concerned, however, with his Adolf-Hitler like fits of rage and madness, which, once they are over, he wipes away from his memory as if they never occurred. Freud himself would be concerned.
Furthermore, I am acutely concerned by what I view as his lawlessness -- attempts at fraud, calomnious attacks, libel, slander, workplace bullying, harrassment, and the like. He has placed him above the law, in China, in the United States and on the world forum.
I would rate Kevin's intelligence level as very mid-level, very provincial and exceptionally lower middle class. In his global and widepsread irrational anger at persons whose innate abilities far exceed his, he reacts with instinct -- what he cannot posses, he must destroy. It is exceptionally primeavel. One is always limited by one's background and genetic predispostion.
Now, in terms of the school, there seems to be a near-universal agreement, on this board, and on nearly every other board on the Internet, that this school is an "absolute avoid".
In this line, it has come to my attention that there are serious financial problems present in the school and that the school has indeed been afflicted, perhaps mortally, by the financial crisis that is roiling China. It is the second major private institution in the Suzhou area to be experiencing cash flow problems these days. It has been having serious conversations with its bankers over its financial stability. This has been widely reported. I surely would not want to work in a school that could vanish overnight, so to speak, or that may end up being taken over by the government. It is just not financially solid.
Turino
- 2009-06-20
watcheronacastironbalcony
Date: 19 June 2009 In Response To: Re: Suzzhou Foreign Language "School" and Kevin, the manager (andiquote)
''(He's also, of course, the Kev7161 who's such a ray of sunshine at Dave's ESL Cafe, and the Kevin who was so wildly popular at a Dongguan summer camp a few years ago...) ''
"andiquote:"
It seems that you do not like individuals who are popular....probably, that is because you are unable to get along with others,
It would seem that the IQ of this board's participants is quite low. The quote above positively reeks of irony, but the "andiquote" poster believes it...literally!
watcheronacastironbalcony,come on now,please be fair.Don't tar all your fellow posters on this board with the same brush.I for one understood that the post that had incorporated the expressions 'ray of sunshine' and 'wildly popular' was very ironic.I'd reckon you and I wouldn't be the only two posters on this board with at least a modicum of savvy.Judging by his (or her) comprehension ability,'andiquote' is certainly not the brightest bulb in the department store.
Please allow me to take the liberty to amend your post on behalf of this board's posters,right?
It would seem that the IQ of some of this board's participants,certainly excluding you and I,is quite low.In spite of this,or because of this,they've managed to concoct some posts that are hilarious.
watcheronacastironbalcony
- 2009-06-19
''(He's also, of course, the Kev7161 who's such a ray of sunshine at Dave's ESL Cafe, and the Kevin who was so wildly popular at a Dongguan summer camp a few years ago...) ''It seems that you do not like individuals who are popular....probably, that is because you are unable to get along with others,
It would seem that the IQ of this board's participants is quite low. The quote above positively reeks of irony, but the "andiquote" poster believes it...literally! And so does the poster "ditherpiddlepaddle".
I've been reading the posts here for a few days now, with much enjoyment. The rhetoric is amazing, the jokes are amusing, and the logic displayed is mind-boggling. It becomes blindingly obvious after a while that some posters are outright playground bullies, in that they revert to name-calling and threats, as soon as another poster bests them. Wild generalisations are used as facts to make dubious accusations. I would include quotes to illustrate my points, but the machinery of this system makes this too difficult to bother with. Needless to say, there are many quotes that could be used.
Sme poster likened other posters to the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. I prefer to think of them as Don Quixote, Sancho Panza and Rocinante. Much more amusing picture. I'll leave it to yourselves to decide who is what!
Keep posting, people, keep me informed, and amused. Teaching in China sounds like fun.
Kevin
- 2009-06-19
But he should say that he is a manager.
Okay, I'll say it . . . I am not a manager. Someone, somewhere says I'm a "manager" and 12 people suddenly believe it? I'm a full time teacher in a department in a school. I get paid for teaching a variety of language arts (Spelling, Phonics, Reading, Reading comprehension, writing, grammar, oral English, etc.), Math, Science, Art, Computer word processing, Dramatics and Music . . . to one group of students all day, every day. In my "free" time, I create and keep organized the yearly order for all the textbooks our department needs every year. As we are growing by two classes each year, that is certainly a daunting task, but I do it happily. I also order other teaching and art supplies to last us for the next school term. My only "managerial" chore is to help the department director observe and offer feedback, mentoring, and advice to new teachers. Believe me, the school recognizes good teachers, average teachers, and totally "oh-my-god-we-hired-that?!?" teachers. They don't need much help from me. I do set the curriculum for our department and the school ultimately has to approve it. For example, our 5th grade next term will do away with their twice a week "Spoken English" class because most of the students are quite fluent now. We are switching to World Geography, physical and cultural.
Here's what I don't do: I don't hire new teachers and I certainly don't fire teachers. If you want to know the truth, most "angry" teachers that have been talked about here are USUALLY given the opportunity to finish their contracts in whole. Some decide not to return on their own accord, some are not asked to return based on their performance. There have been a few in my time there that do leave in mid-contract either of their own volition or the school asks them to go (usually after they've been "sick/hungover" for the 12th or 13th time or after they've slapped a school official in the face - - oh, well that 98 pound woman must have been asking it from that 6'2" man, right?). One REALLY has to be a major screw-up for the school to ask them to leave before the end of a contract. (PS: Not all our teachers are "angry" teachers - - we have/had many, MANY contented teachers who have actually posted their thoughts here and elsewhere. Really? How did we miss those? Oh, they must have all been from me under an alias! As if I actually have the time to run from computer to computer, IP address to IP address and post the massive amounts of positive posts in all these many threads! See below.)
I don't write contracts. I don't help the school decide what to put into a contract. I don't negotiate salaries. Wait, I lied - - I do negotiate one salary and one contract . . . mine. I don't deal with housing or housing issues. I've recommended exactly one teacher to this school and have passed along a contact email to maybe three others. I don't set school rules or policies. I don't plan the menu in the school cafeteria. I don't suffer fools gladly. I don't drink and I don't do drugs. I only have one name on this and one other EFL forum (Dave's ESLcafe if you want to check me out). I have asked for one post to be put at Raoul's China Saloon and it's ALSO under the name kev7161 (see, my name is Kevin and my birthday is 7-1-1961 - clever, eh?). I have the same name at Wizard Magazine's website forum as well (a website for those into comic books and comic-book related items, like movies). I'm not Jerome, or teacher@sfls.com (or whatever) or any of the other dozen or more posters that support me and/or my posts. But I do appreciate their comments. I would think the names "Turino" and "Turnoi" would be much more highly suspicious than anything else. I don't pretend I'm a woman posting with a woman's name. I don't pretend I'm French when I come from New York City (I don't come from NYC, I'm from Kansas). I no longer run a Pizza Hut but I still eat there from time to time (have you seen their menu lately here in China? It's really diversified these days!).
I do get small monthly and larger twice yearly bonuses from my school if they feel I do my job well. I get awards from my school honoring my teaching skills and work ethics. I get a good salary from my school and I seem to be appreciated by most parents whose children I have taught. I do get squeals of joy when I run into any of my students out in the world: "Mr. Kevin!" and then a run up and hug.
I am not a perfect teacher. I am not the best teacher. I feel I am a good, solid, dependable teacher working for a good, solid, dependable school. I get angry at my students but I also laugh with my students and have a good time with them. We sing, we have parties, we have good student-centered activities and group work. In this final week of school my students are giving puppet shows based on Aesop's fables. Also, they had a take-home Science project based on classifying groups of animals within the vertebrates or invertebrates groups.
If you will notice, I have listed my email address link on most all of my posts here. Not one person has bothered to email me and say, "so, what's the REAL skinny on all of this hoopla?" and that's fine. Form your opinions, believe what you think you know and then state them as if they're facts. Slam me and "my" school and the other positive posters here and elsewhere and then slap each other on the backs for "job well done!". I'm guessing that most who have followed these absurd little posts have been shaking their heads in wonderment that there are some real lunkheads out in the internet world. My final thought is that some of these mean-spirited people are just a little envious with those of us that are making a good living in this difficult EFL/ESL world. Now, if anyone REALLY wants to communicate with me, shoot me an email and I'll be happy to get to know you one-on-one. Good day and good-bye.
Kevin
Deborah
- 2009-06-19
Hardly matters whether or not he's a manager. He still has the right to express himself in this forum.
No, it doesnt matter. But he should say that he is a manager. His not mentioning it is what matters.
Turino
- 2009-06-19
The purpose of this post is to correct the heading of this thread so that future postings,be they negative or positive re Suzhou Foreign language School will show up in a search engine search.
Nice try,but I'm no muppet!
andiquote
- 2009-06-18
Hardly matters whether or not he's a manager. He still has the right to express himself in this forum.
''(He's also, of course, the Kev7161 who's such a ray of sunshine at Dave's ESL Cafe, and the Kevin who was so wildly popular at a Dongguan summer camp a few years ago...) ''
It seems that you do not like individuals who are popular....probably, that is because you are unable to get along with others, especially associates in the workplace environment. Ho Hum. More BS.
GOOD TRY, DEB.
isaidso
- 2009-06-18
How about a little proof, dearie. As things stand presently, this is just more B.S.
This is a quote from a post in Raouls China Saloon. Please pay attention to the sentence marked in red below.
But I'm sure Kev is squealing something awful.
You see, it turns out that he's not just a Teacher Who Cares (urp), he's a manager at the place and has some interest in/responsibility for keeping the place well-supplied in White Monkeys...and the lower end of such folks have been known to say pretty much anything and everything in order to make that happen.
(He's also, of course, the Kev7161 who's such a ray of sunshine at Dave's ESL Cafe, and the Kevin who was so wildly popular at a Dongguan summer camp a few years ago...)
Kev's omission of this little detail (his status as a manager) did nothing to endear himself with me. I knew it all along, of course, but have been in a mood to let some folks get enough ropes to hang themselves if they're gonna here lately.
Quote from:
http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=326.msg73293#msg73293