education has its benefits

There is problem with the education system in Turkey, Many of my students have told me about it. Dear goodness they need to teach critical thinking, and PLANNING! How does this country survive? I have no idea. There are a few smart ones here. Take for example my private student. Granted he is one of the VPs of ING bank he obviously has to have had some smarts, but in our lessons normally i'm the one who is learning, which is incredibly refreshing. Then i go to work, and deal with a bunch of idiots. They are not proactive what so ever, Our head teacher is just like them. I tried to get my tax Id to open a bank account today. She made plans with someone to take me and another girl at 3:30. At 2:30 she confirmed with me, wait, she confirmed with me int eh morning too. (twice she confirmed) When we were waiting at 3:30 i asked, do I need to go find him or are you going (mary and i were on a schedule) SHes like oh i'll go call him. " Oh i'm sorry the general manager called him to do something, He knew he had to take you guys today but management called (managemnt was also the ones who permitted this) Sorry!" We ask, well can we just go and figure it out ourselves.. Ohhh nooo its all in Turkish, someone needs to go with you. ME: hm ok...i peer into the office where 6 turkish people are just sitting at their desks... so you are telling me all of them are busy. SHe says "yep theya re all busy" I say. So the 6 people just sitting there, NOT TALKING TO STUDENTS(which is thier job) are busy and cant take us. Yep they all need to be here, only that one guy can take you.

Seriously.

Had she told me this an hour earlier, I would have had a turkish friend come meet us. Had she even told me 15 mins earlier, I would have had one of the students I was just teaching take us. Had they honored their plans, Mary and I would have our tax id's.

There were about 3 other things that happened in this time too, that would take to long to write. Bottom line. Think, Plan. COMMUNICATE.

I think its very frustrating coming from a background where I studied communication. I think about all the little things that used to bother me in teh workplace before and suddenly they seem so trivial. I honestly think its the education system. They arent talk to think "what if" Its a concept that I stuggle with in class. "Pretend this " My students stare at me blankly, "but teacher thats not true?" Think ahead. Oh we have one box of paper left. maybe I should order more. not wait until the paper has been gone for 3 days then order some.

I like Turkey, I do. English Time is a joke. I will have learned from it, that is for sure. I was talking with Mary as we walked. I'm pretty sure many people would stay in Turkey if they had a different job. Honestly i think many people would stay at English time if iwas run by a foreigner. Things seem to be falling apart from my understanding. Its hard to draw the line, should i be nice and say "oh thats ok" or should i put my foot down and demand things get done? Totally different way of doing things here, the midwestern smile doesnt get you very far. But neither does attitude. Well, actually NOTHING gets you far b/c they dont know what planning is.