#52 – The Expat Files: Unemployment, Education, and Teaching in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:01] South of the border, down Mexico way That's where I fell in love When the stars above came out to play Hi everybody, I'm Johnny Mueller And you're listening to the Exped Files Living in Latin America The one of a kind show that tells you what it's like To live, work, play and or retire in Latin America So let's get started Before we get to the main topics today I just want to talk about a few points of interest That just popped up Been all the major Latin American newspapers down here Well first of all, you know how every country everywhere Likes to publish its economic news every quarter For example, one of the most important governmental numbers that comes out

[00:49] Are the unemployment figures And we all know that in the last few years At least up in the United States The government says those unemployment figures Are hovering around 10%, right? But if you talk to any real economist I'm talking about economists that don't work in the government And therefore have no bias And have no reason to lie to want to keep their jobs Anyway, those outside economists Will tell you that those government numbers are all lies And that the unemployment figures are at least double that Well over 20% That's because the government found it convenient To change the way that they come up with those unemployment figures Because it just wouldn't look good If the common man knew that those real unemployment figures Were hovering around the same rate that they were During the Great Depression Which only proves the point that you're not allowed to lie to the government

[01:37] I mean, try doing that on your taxes or in court But unfortunately, they're allowed to lie to us all day long So if in the first world, the people in power in government Are nothing but a bunch of chronic liars How do you think third world governments stack up in that department? I mean, how much do you think they lie to their people? Well, to answer that, if you've been paying attention to any of my past shows You'll know that the governments down here in Latin America Are a class of lying thieves unto themselves And if the world gave out prizes Latin American governments would get the Nobel Prize for corruption every single year So let me give you the most recent example I've seen in the paper How governments lie and distort figures for public consumption Now, let's take Mexico for example Very lately in the press

[02:22] They've published their own unemployment figure At around 5.2% Now, if you ask any economist in the world Any country with a 5.2% unemployment Well, that's kind of an economic miracle Especially these days Since the financial bubble burst And even first world European countries Are dropping like dominoes Anyway, when you hear about a 5.2% unemployment rate Economists really like low numbers like that And they consider anything around 5% A goal that every country should strive for Which means Mexico, according to standard economic theory Gets a gold star Now, on the same day I read that news article Another news article appeared in a different part of the newspaper Talking about the percentage of the working population in Mexico

[03:08] That are off the books completely In other words, people that work But they don't pay taxes It's called the informal or underground economy These are the people that work for 100% cash money And when they sell you products or services They'll give you no receipts And report nothing to government And because of that they'll add no sales tax Or value added tax to your purchase at all And you know what? They absolutely prefer it that way The fact is they don't want to be in the formal economy And they want nothing to do with government at all Can you blame them? So according to this study Between 28 and 30% of all working Mexicans Are in that informal economy And that works out anywhere between 12 and 15 million people Now, according to the other article I first talked about Where the government reports 5.2% of Mexicans are unemployed

[03:55] They make absolutely no mention at all Of those 28 to 30% of people Employed off the books in that informal economy In other words, when those officials compile those unemployment statistics They decided to look the other way And not count that one third of the population That economists in other parts of the world Would classify in their studies As either chronically unemployed Or chronically underemployed Because it's well understood by economists That the vast majority of people working off the books In the informal sector are the working poor Who on average make less than half of the country's minimum wage So technically if you apply first world standards To the Mexican economic numbers The real unemployment rate would be between 20 and 30% Which you might have guessed

[04:41] Turn out to be depression era unemployment numbers too So who's the bigger liar? The United States government or the Mexican government? And here's another bit of interesting information That just came out down here in the local news Remember in last week's show I gave you quite a few reasons why it's not a good idea at all To raise children down here in Latin America And I gave you a few examples About the differences between the public and private school systems Specifically kindergarten through 12th grade And I mentioned how they have some very good private schools down here K through 12 that is But that the public school system is in such a shambles That not only are schools missing doors and windows Half of them don't even have running water in the bathrooms Not to mention the fact that they're so short on basic supplies

[05:28] That lately in countries like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bolivia, and Peru They've actually had ad campaigns in the papers Asking the general public to donate spare paper and pencils So that the kids might have something to write on and write with Since at the time those ads were run The school systems were completely out of supplies Now, begging for pencils and paper from the general public Might seem unbelievable to anyone in the first world But consider this According to the United States Department of Education Statistics It costs the United States Taxpayer between $9,500 and $10,000 a year To send each kid to public school in the US Well, according to World Bank Statistics in Latin America And in this case, let's just talk about Central America

[06:14] Which includes Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, San Salvador, and Belize Well, down there the government spends anywhere from $230 to $500 per year To send each kid to public school So if you use those figures The United States spends more than 20 times the amount of money To send each one of their kids to public school As compared to what a Central American government pays To send one of their kids to a local public school So you wonder why they don't have water, electricity, paper, and pencils And sometimes don't even have windows or doors? And here's another interesting fact that comes from that article It says here that in Central America, the countries I just mentioned Only 66% of all the public school teachers in Panama Have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree

[07:00] 22% of the public school teachers in Nicaragua have a bachelor's degree And the real kicker is Guatemala Where only 10% of the public school teachers have a bachelor's degree at all And though those statistics really sound horrific It's even worse than you think Especially since in the first world You not only have to have a bachelor's degree to teach in a public school You have to take an additional series of courses To get an additional teaching certificate Or you can't teach in a public school But down in Latin America, even if you have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree And in Spanish, a bachelor's degree is called a la sensiatura Now get this The hundreds of Latin American universities That grant these so-called bachelor's degrees Or la sensiaturas Well, in reality, these places are so substandard

[07:47] That if you Google the top 1000 universities in the world You won't find a single Latin American public university on that list So suffice it to say that the Latin American idea of a bachelor's degree Is more like a high school degree when compared to a decent first world university Even the best ones are not even what first worlders might call mediocre And that's just not my opinion, not by any means All you have to do is talk to any expat down here Who works in a multinational corporation And has daily contact with Latins who have bachelor's degrees from down here Well, nearly every expat I know has his or her own opinion About the differences between a first world college education And a so-called university degree from down in Latin America And the comparisons, frankly, aren't good

[08:34] And I'll tell you right now If you want to see some snickering and some eye-rolling Well, just ask that question to any halfway educated expat Who's been working down here for any length of time Anyway, let me give you another statistic concerning education down here According to this article Regarding educational levels for Latin Americans over 25 years of age The average Latin American has only 7 years of formal schooling Let me repeat that The average Latin American has only a 7th grade education And if you count the fact that they go to kindergarten That means in reality it's only a 6th grade education And don't forget, that's a 6th grade education in a very substandard school system And here's some individual country statistics on that Guatemalans have an average educational level of the 5th grade

[09:22] Costa-Rigans, the 7th grade And the average Panamanian has a 9th grade education And you wonder why they call it the 3rd world? Speaking of education down here I have been getting a lot of emails lately asking me about expats coming down And getting English teaching jobs Because as a matter of fact, up in the first world Often you'll see classified ads in newspapers and magazines Promoting English teaching positions all throughout Latin America And I have to admit, it's true There are thousands and thousands of expats in English teaching positions And new schools are popping up every day so there's a big demand for more And the fact is, in most cases you don't even have to know a lick of Spanish Because most of these offers are for teaching in bilingual private schools Where it's considered a full immersion English program

[10:09] And you're actually told not to speak any Spanish to the students at all Which I admit does make it a bit difficult for you, the teacher That is if you come down not knowing a bit of Spanish at all And you're stuck with a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders Who speak nothing but Spanish That's the way most of these private schools wanted And in the end, using that full immersion method Some of these kids learn their English so well That by the time they get to high school they don't have a trace or an accent And you know I've often wondered myself Just how I'd get through to a bunch of kids If I spoke no Spanish at all Well I guess each individual teacher has to deal with that problem himself Because the strange thing is You don't have to be a language specialist at all To get a job in one of these private schools All you really need is a bachelor's degree from a 1st world university

[10:56] And it could be in any career specialty It could be in math It could be in English or nursing or biology In fact, even completely worthless and useless 1st world degrees Like communications and political science And drama and journalism and theater and African American studies All of those will qualify you nicely for an English teaching job down here Even though in the 1st world you'd end up busing tables And you won't need that extra piece of paper called a teaching certificate That qualifies you to teach up north That's not an issue down here and they won't even ask And as far as work permits go I discussed that a little bit on the last show How technically foreigners who work at any job Are required to have a valid work permit And if you're on a normal 90 day tourist visa

[11:41] A work permit is almost impossible to get Well that's true with teaching jobs too But hooray hooray Since everybody wants to learn English in these countries down here The fact that you'll be teaching English gives you a special skill Which instantly allows you to cut through a lot of that red tape So the administration at the school you're going to be teaching at They'll handle all that paperwork and get your permit in order You won't have to worry about a thing and you'll be nice and legal In other words, you won't be in the informal economy and they won't be paying your cash You'll be getting a check or a direct deposit into a local bank And personally I know a lot of expats teaching down here And I hear the same things over and over from them The same good things and the same bad things About the teaching situations especially in the private schools

[12:26] Now first of all you're going to want to know what the pay is of course And every expat teacher down here tells me it simply stinks compared to the first world It's usually in the range from 4 to 700 dollars a month Yes a month you guys So if you know how to live on the cheap And it's very possible to do that down here You can live kind of a middle class lifestyle that way I mean of course middle class latin style Which like I've said before is pretty much rough around the edges Lower middle class style in the first world Picture a double wide unit in a Texas trailer court And some first worlders can handle that just fine And you know the old saying You'll never get rich by teaching So you better love what you do Well if you look at the pay alone That old cliche is even more true down here Now I have to say the large majority of the expat teachers that I know

[13:15] Well the ones that seem to like it a lot Seem to be what you might call the free spirited hippy types You know you go visit their apartments And you walk in There's a lot of health books, organic food, bean bag chairs Incense, candles, and lava lamps You get the idea And the other expat teachers that I've met That really seem to love the teaching lifestyle down here Seem to be the outdoorsy type Spunkers you know You go into the apartment They got all the gear Surfboard European racing bike Maps on the wall with all the good caves and hiking trails marked Anyway Those kind of people Are the ones that really seem to like teaching down here Even if they get paid like crap Because they're really into that low budget lifestyle as it is And they're not trying to live exactly like they live up in the first world

[14:00] And honestly On a teacher's salary down here You couldn't live like a first world person if you tried Why just your gym membership dues And a trip to whole foods once a week Would wipe out your salary But just like up north Teaching down here Does have its pluses and its negatives And in surprisingly different ways As compared to up in the first world So let me explain a little bit Well first of all As compared to the first world The school days down here Are about an hour shorter And what teacher wouldn't love that? And in fact the whole school year Is about a month shorter too And on top of that They get all kinds of extra days off Including all the days off The Catholic schools get for saints and martyrs and stuff Because after all Not only are Latin American countries almost completely Christian They're anywhere from 80 to 90% Catholic to boot

[14:47] And even though some schools are supposed to be secular It doesn't matter They still get those days off Then you get the usual banking holidays Independence day for whatever country you're in And there's always a few birthdays of famous presidents And dictators and despots That somehow became holidays Then they have these odd special days off Called fettiados And I still don't know what a lot of those are for Anyway the bottom line is Teachers get a hell of a lot more days off And time off Than any teacher in the first world ever gets And if you test a Latin school kid's knowledge It really shows And another thing Expat teachers down here tell me that they really like Is that they're given a lot of leeway And are in charge of their own curriculum Basically because you might be the only Expat English teacher in your school

[15:32] You'll be pretty much in charge of your own program and scheduling So if you want to have a real strict and formal lesson plan Go ahead and have one And if you want to play it loose And show historical and documentary films in English all day Like one English teacher told me he's been doing for years and years Well you can do that too Well it seems like as long as the kids learn their English And they don't complain to their parents Or other teachers about your methods You're pretty much on your own And believe me that's every teacher's dream Now if you're an English teacher at one of these schools One thing the administration will do Is they'll put pressure on you To get your kids prepared to take an internationally known test Known as a TOEFL That's TOEFL And that stands for Test of English as a Foreign Language

[16:20] So eventually when your kids get to be seniors in high school They'll be taking that test And they'll have to pass it Because it's an international requirement For them as foreigners If they ever plan on attending a university up in the first world And also a lot of transnational corporations will require That a job applicant pass that test In order to work in a white collar position And also as far as that TOEFL exam is concerned Down here if you look in the phone books Or read the classified ads in the papers You'll see there's a lot of private English teaching schools for adults And some of the international ones have been around for years Like Berlitz The European Academy and Harmon and Palmer And some of these schools have specific curriculums Designed to drill their students hard In order that they do pass that TOEFL exam

[17:07] Because down here in the third world If you do pass that exam and get that diploma You can very quickly get a job at one of the big transnational companies Which is every Latin person's dream Because not only do these transnational companies Have better working conditions That is they're cleaner and brighter And first world in most every way They also pay their white collar employees 20 to 30% more than the average Latin based company does For the same position At any rate if you do have a TOEFL certificate No matter what company you're in It's nearly a guarantee that you'll be raised a pay grade or two So even if you're hired into a company As a lowly bilingual secretary Just having that TOEFL diploma under your belt Can often nearly double your salary Which means instead of getting the normal secretary salary

[17:53] Of maybe $300 a month A girl with a TOEFL diploma can make maybe $500 or $600 a month And believe me if you look in the jobs section Of the classified newspapers down here You're bound to see the occasional job ad That says this is a 100% bilingual position And a TOEFL is required Anyway speaking of teaching at private schools Almost any expat that comes down here With an actual bachelor's degree under his belt Will have no trouble at all getting a job at one of these places In fact every private school Loves to have as many foreign first world people on staff as possible And it's always a supply and demand problem Always more demand than supply And that's why every week The newspaper classified sections down here Are just loaded with ads That say English teacher wanted

[18:39] And you know what? The ad will always be in English and not Spanish Which is highly unusual Because the only other ads you might see in English In the classified ads down here Are the help wanted ads for call center employees Which is another opportunity for expats to be English teachers And I'll talk about that next week Because you see in that business There's a big demand for expat English teachers Not as operators on the telephone But as English teachers To polish out the skills of the call center workers But I'll get into that later So anyway The main reason why these private schools Want expats to work there Is because like I told you many times before Latins in general love everything first world And they believe that most everything that comes from the first world Is superior including education

[19:26] And I have to say without a doubt They're absolutely right about that stereotype So the more foreigners that they have teaching in a private school The more prestige they believe they have And that way they can claim to be exclusive And therefore charge more for tuition And schools down here Like everywhere Are all about reputation And if you can boast a big staff of first world foreigners Rich families will sign their kids up And pay a big deposit Years before the kids even eligible to enter kindergarten So the truth is Just like some of those very expensive private schools up in the first world It's very much the same thing Only private schools down here Are dirt cheap by comparison Which leads me to another big negative That a lot of expat teachers have complained about

[20:12] That is that these schools are just filled With spoiled clannish rich kids Whose parents by virtue of their status and money Can be absolutely intolerable Like one expat teacher friend of mine told me An expat friend by the way Who's always a drink or two ahead of everybody else at the bar Anyway he's been teaching down here At one of these private schools for six or seven years And he said Johnny how would you like to go to work every morning And have the junkiest car in the parking lot And while you're teaching class Half your kids are text messaging each other On their blackberries And you're the teacher and you can't afford a blackberry And how would you like it When you get your ten minute cigarette break And you pop outside And lined up on the road Are a dozen bodyguards in three piece suits Standing next to a fleet of bullet proof SUVs

[20:59] And these guys are waiting out there all day every day Waiting for the final bell to ring So they can bring their little spoiled charges home to their parents And Johnny how would you like to teach A classroom full of tenth grade kids And every one of them has a watch Or a custom cherry colored designer laptop That's worth more than your car Now as irritating as that may sound Teaching kids like that all day That expat friend of mine said there is an advantage To having all rich kids in your class It's that there's always a handful of non achievers in every class And even some pretty dim bulbs And it turns out they're almost always boys Big surprise huh? And every semester after report cards come out My expat friend gets phone calls From disappointed worried mommies

[21:45] Who are expecting big things From their underachieving brats And now these mommies want their kids privately tutored outside of class And that my expat friend said Is when you can pick up some real money if you want to Cause these parents with their bodyguards and mansions And trips to Miami just to go shopping Well they'll spare no expense To try to get their kid back on the right track And he told me there's been quite a few times when he's refused And the more adamant he was The more hundred dollar bills the rich kid's daddy stuffed in his hand Now when you do take a job down here in a private school You will have to sign a year's contract I mean you just can't come down here for three or four months And expect to get a teaching job for a limited time like that You'll have to commit yourself for at least a whole school year

[22:31] And that's true of teaching English at the university level too And if you want to teach in a private university down here There are a limited amount of jobs like that too And of course on the university level the pay will be a lot better Usually double what they pay at the private high school and grade school level In other words it's not unheard of for you to make a thousand dollars a month Which of course is absolute poverty wages up in the first world But down here that's sitting pretty And here's another thing Sure you'll be teaching snobbish stuck up wealthy rich kids too I'm talking about when you're teaching at the private university level But at least university kids are adults So thankfully you won't have to deal with their pain in the ass parents And usually at the university level Most of these spoiled rich kids will have pretty much ditched their bodyguards

[23:19] Because you can't drink booze, do cocaine, smoke dope Or take designer drugs with an uncool bodyguard hanging around all the time Besides he might tell the parents Because after all they're the ones paying his salary But even without those bodyguards hanging around Those kids will be driving some cars believe me And as a lowly teacher you can be sure their cars are going to be ten times better than yours And another thing At the private university level You'll notice that unlike the private grade schools The extremely rich kids somehow are gone And that's because the parents with the really big money Have sent their kids off to private first world universities In hopes of giving their kids a proper first world education So at the private university level in Latin America There'll be some wealthy kids there

[24:05] But not the extremely wealthy Like you'll find in a high class private elementary school And to get a teaching job at one of those universities Personally I wouldn't go for a teaching job like that Unless I had the right bachelors or master's degree Because unlike a private grade school or high school Where you'll be teaching all subjects in English Whether it's history, biology, math, English, whatever On the university level you'll be teaching in your specialty And your specialty might be one of the ones they teach specifically in Spanish For example if you have a degree in political science A Latin university will not offer that class in English Why should they? But if you teach biology Or let's say pharmacology They could teach that class in English as well as Spanish Because so many of the science and medical books are written in English

[24:52] And the students in the hard sciences Like engineering and physics They often prefer to take their classes in English Because let's face it English is the language of science And there's a world of reference material out there In English So the bottom line is there are English speaking university jobs available But the real goldmine of English language teaching jobs Is in the private K through 12 schools And just one more thing If you're thinking about being an English teacher In one of the public universities down here And these schools like I said before are extremely substandard Well you should know that getting a job there In a government school like that Is all politics It's all about who you know and what your last name is And who you're connected with And down here there's a word for it

[25:39] It's called Cuyo So even if you're super qualified And no matter how many Pulitzer Prizes you've won Just the reams of red tape it'll take for you to apply for that job Will give you a double migraine headache So just forget about it But there is one very interesting irony About working as a college professor In a public university down here Once you're in Well you're in for life It's like tenure on steroids And they actually pay about three to four times as much As they pay the teachers in the public grade schools Which means that everybody just love to be teaching in the public universities But like I said before It's about nepotism being connected Who you know and what your last name is So as you might imagine Since you can never get fired Well maybe you could If you did something really drastic

[26:25] Like screw the department head's wife Killer and then eater Now that might be enough to get you in front of the disciplinary board But I don't know I guess it really depends on how much the department head liked his wife And I'm exaggerating a little of course But you can't even get fired as a teacher For getting caught red handed stealing school property Or absconding with funds Not in the public school system anyway Because there have been hundreds and hundreds of cases down here Where teachers and administrators have been caught dipping into the till And stealing equipment like computers and plasma TVs and cameras And yet they still don't get fired And as far as the educational quality itself Public universities are so top heavy and bloated That the educational level of the students they put out is just pathetic

[27:12] And because of that I don't know a single expat Who's ever worked in a public university Or for that matter ever wanted to So you can scratch that one off your list Well I'm near the end of the program again And I have a lot more to say about teaching English down in Latin America And there are a lot more teaching options than the ones I've just mentioned So stay tuned You've been listening to The Expat Files Living in Latin America And don't forget you can email me On anything at all about Latin America Theexpatfiles at gmail.com That's theexpatfiles at gmail.com See you next time Nos vemos