Letter from a reader- DoSs as a sociological curiosity
“Hi Alex,
I am currently researching the TEFL industry from a sociological perspective, and notice that you seem to be quite prominent in discussing the more social phenomena of the industry on blogs, etc.
As someone who has been involved with the industry for some time, you will probably be aware of the familiar description of the boss given by many posters on such online-groups as the “TEFL Blacklist”. Bosses are consistently described as “Mad” “On drugs” and “Pathalogical liars”. Now, I can understand, from a cynical standpoint, why bosses might appear greedy, or uncaring, etc. But “Mad”? In other words: Why is it that unstable people are so attracted to the job of DOS of manager of language school?
Also, if you can suggest any books/online resources about the setup and sociodynamics of the TEFL industry, I would be grateful if you would pass them on.
Please let me know,
AS”
Hmmmmmm
Anyone else care to comment while I ponder on this?
May 14th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Knowing full well the risk of what I may be stepping into, I think that ‘mad’ DOS syndrome around the world can be easily explained in a few easy ways.
- Where else but in Navalpelar de la Mancha or similarly lost and ‘desirable’ places could this type of person rise to a management position?
- Why would you want to do a lot more work, deal with drunken louts (teachers), bitchy parents, local teachers with a chip etc…all for about 10 dollars more a week than a regular teacher?
- What else can you do when you are stuck abroad and can’t hack it in the classroom?
Of course…I’m only referring to the mad ones…
May 14th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I got the same message, Alex. I’m still clueless for an answer, really – but I am working on it! My ‘Desperate Demented DOS’ theory should be complete, therefore, in about a week or two, after I’ve done a little more research!
May 15th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Well… while it’d be difficult to deny that my life, or almost any in TEFL, qualifies as a sociological curiosity, I’d like to think that I’m one of the non-mad DoSes out there.
Having said that, I’ve worked under a couple!
Some musings:
- TEFL attracts (more than?) its fair share of ‘interesting’ types anyway
- Often school owners, who promote these people, have either
a) Insufficient command of English to spot just how undesirable their new middle-manager may be
b) No qualms about morale, academic standards etc. provided that the bottom line is fine
c) Both of the above
- In fairness, alongside the shining beacons of creativity and professionalism, a fair few TEFL’ers are somewhat dubious or socially-lacking themselves, and hence complaints ought to be taken with a pinch of salt
- It makes little men feel big. A lot of failed DoSes have Napoleon syndrome, from my experience
- Why would any sane person contemplate this job?
May 16th, 2009 at 12:09 am
I’ve only had two bosses who I would define as nutters, and they were both also the school owners, but the secret of my success of putting up with TEFL might be low expectations- care work is much more full of weirdo managers
May 17th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I think Troy made two EXTREMELY accurate observations in his first and third points.
The second point raises more questions, which I’d be inclined to say are answered by point point #3 and some of the themes in this excerpt from an Australian science show called “Catalyst”. The story is entitled “Corporate Psychopaths”:
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1360571.htm
I had a boss some years ago (a DoS in EFL) who fit this profile SOOOOOO precisely it was way beyond scary.
I quit.
This clip runs for 13mins. It’s WELL worth watching.
Hope you like it.
I know it’s slightly off-topic to the original post, but I think it’s relevant to Troy’s first and third point. I’m not saying that all the mad ones are psychopathic; that would be a bit ridiculous.
But… some of the attributes discussed in the clip are, perhaps, how they manage to KEEP their jobs when the subordinates can see the madness, but for whatever reason their superiors cannot.
Enjoy!
Leslie
February 12th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I agree with everything written above, but I think the informality of many TEFL jobs, the young age and lack of worldly/professional work experience of many teachers gives people more scope to label the boss mad.
Once you’ve done a few years work in an uninspiring, mind numbing office environment you might consider that a lot of middle management and top management are also mad, but it’s a lot harder to scream this in their faces, and/or you might find that looking back the old DoS wasn’t mad, just eccentric and thrilled to have escaped the life of an average office employee.
Also, the burden of responsibility placed on new teachers to make the school a success by the DoS and manager can seem mad, especially when it seems that they have no proper plan themselves.