I’ve heard from two of my friends, who are Japanese teachers, that the quality of ALTs has eroded. They say the post-COVID crop of ALTs are whinier and needier than before
Maybe they’re unmotivated by shit wages and no benefits.
I imagine many ALTs including veterans left due to COVID so it ends up being luck of the draw since there’s basically no requirement other than a college degree.
Greedy executives and owners
Because 2 opinions define the world lol
Only recently has the border opened back up. For about a year or so they were forced to take non-native speakers and horrible candidates they wouldn’t normally accept.
Why has the quality of trolls gone down?
Why is this?
The opinion of two mates is what we call anecdotal evidence and should not be considered representative of the actual truth of the situation. That being said, let’s pretend that they are right. The supply of alts has never been lower since most of the new recruits that would have usually come in have been unable to do so due to obvious circumstances. Meanwhile, the demand for them as still remained about the same(if not higher since English and its benefits have only become more and more evident) so that leaves employers with fewer choices. They have to fill those seats and they can’t be as picky as they were in b.c.(before.covid) which means that they will accept candidatures that would have otherwise been rejected in the past. Resulting in lower quality of the overall selection of alts.
Ask them.
What utter drivel, this kind of baseless speculation annoys me. ALT’s are always a mixed bag, sometimes you get the genki, hard working ALT and other times you get the lazy boring ALT who does the bare minimum. You can’t make this claim from the view of just two teachers.
edited: not dribble but drivel.
This might get downvoted but fuck it… many of the ALTs are of late Millenial and early Gen Z age. Also, Japanese BOE’s expect more for less salaries/benefits.
Post-COVID?
Where the hell do you live that COVID is over?
JTEs making snide comments about ALTs is pretty hilarious, though.
When they just come over, for the most part, the JTE does more to form what kind of ALT they’ll be than anything else. You may get some people who are experiencing life outside their mother’s basement for the first time ever, but there are shit JTEs who treat their ALTs like they’re not worth anything and hence… said ALT never becomes worth anything unless they have the wherewithall to improve on their own, because the “training” they got is also likely shit.
most JTEs have no idea how little ALTs get paid, and the scummy behavior of the dispatch companies. it really does affect work ethic when a person is treated poorly
This is always hilarious to me. I find my fellow Alts care too much. Like they are always asking questions about how to improve their class rooms how to make their students lives better and care how the kids are progressing. This while making what a McDonald’s worker makes in America.
Anecdotes from your friends aren’t evidence of anything. Like many wrote here, ALTs are always a mixed bag
Same reason that the music the kids listen to these days isn’t as good as what we listened to.
Word is that alt dispatch companies are going to lower wages. I’m surprised any alt gives a shit given the current pay.
Extremely simplified, in any field, there would be 3 categories of people.
The good, the average, and the poor performers.
ALT work has always been low paying, and so the good and capable will always move on to better opportunities (that may, or may not be in the field of education).
Prior to covid, the bottom of the barrel poor performers would be let go, as there would always be a new batch of incoming ALTs to replace them; while there is still a 33.3% chance it would be another poor performer, there is an overwhelming 66.7% chance it could be someone who is good or average.
In the last 2 years, due to covid, none of the dispatch companies have been able to get new ALTs. As such, they have been forced to keep these very poor performers. And, over time, even the average performers would find better opportunities to move into as well.
As such, the bulk of those who remain are the below average, and poor performing ALTs.
It doesn’t help that the “lowest bid” wins the contract every year. This entire situation is on the BOEs. When I take a step back, and try to look at the larger picture, this is what I see:
It’s a zero-sum game, with the BOEs calling the shots, and the ALTs left holding the bag. Each year, the number of ALTs a BOE requires remains somewhat constant – but at the end of the day, it’s the dispatch company that tendered the lowest bid who will win the contract.
If one dispatch company “lost” the contract, it’s only because another company “won” it with a lower bid… but it’s not like that winning company has a supply of ALTs who are ready to deploy at the drop of a hat – they are just going to scramble and hire whoever is looking for a job. Losing company doesn’t extend a new contract, winning company hires, at their new (lower) rate of pay.
Rinse, and repeat. It’s a race to the bottom, at the bidding of the BOEs. The ALTs are expendable, and they’ll keep being paid bottom dollar – up until you’ve reached the lowest that anyone will accept – and when you get to that point, anyone they hire would be scrapped from the bottom of the barrel – because anyone else would be working somewhere else instead.
Further drop in wages in a field that was already based on letting unqualified unskilled foreigners get paid for being white *in Japan*.
Lack of minimum standard beyond a bachelors degree (to keep immigration happy) means ALTs have always been a mixed bag.
don’t blame the ALTs, blame the one hiring and placing them.
This sub is just too easy to troll. Guys, stop feeding them.
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
I wonder actually if it’s connected to the whole Great Resignation thing in America in 2020-2021; everyone is more willing to quit their job and (they hope) take something better. The new crop of JETs finished school or were in jobs while that was happening and so were directly around to experience it all.
Almost all the new JETs who came to my area this past year are much more willing to go against the grain than everyone who was here back pre-COVID. They’re also running harder into the usual cultural barriers than I’ve ever seen before, and it feels a lot more heightened and drama-filled sometimes. That part definitely affects the overall perception of ALTs among teachers.
Also, there’s other factors like, the fact that for almost 2 years there was nobody to hire except people already in the country, so the quality eroded naturally just as people started to leave. And I have no idea of the statistics of this, but it might be that there are just fewer university graduates in general of quality who are applying due to COVID? People who did half their entire education online in bad circumstances are going to be less likely to apply in general, is my hypothesis.
That’s a really small sample size of opinions to say the quality of ALTs have gone down 😂
To be completely honest I think having an ALT is super imposing on many JTE.
Math teachers don’t get mathmaticians Science teachers don’t get Scientist assistants History teachers don’t get historians
In many cases its super easy to throw the ALT under the bus to combat the stigma of having an assistant others don’t to make the job easier…. But considering most JTE don’t even know how to use an ALT because we aren’t the text book and we aren’t the enterance exam – we aren’t super useful to them.
The situation around the world is shit. Environmental issues.. economic hardships… pandemic.. war.. etc. makes sense that ALTs complain. Didn’t salaries take a dip?
Please don’t downvote me to hell for saying this but when was it up?
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
Is that the exact phrasing they used? 🤔
Because you get paid next to nothing and usually get treated like dirt/the lowest tier staff member by all the other teachers? Of course every ALT’s mileage may vary, but even if you’re treated well and given freedom, it’s VERY clear you’re on the bottom of the totem pole. I also think (because this was the case for me early on), a lot of ALTs expect their work to involve a lot more teaching… and if you have a controlling, micro-managing JTE, sometimes it really doesn’t. It can be a shock.
Is there scientific evidence that the quality has gone down? Just a general impression?
Funnily enough the same thing has been the case for new hires at my school too (non ALT, regular classroom teachers). It might be a symptom of the pandemic *sigh*
The dispatch companies are scraping the bottom of the barrel
Because the working conditions have gone down.
> the post-COVID crop of ALTs
I read some of the replies, but this is what sticks: Covid is over?!?
Don’t expect people to be proud of their job and do it with pride when they dance for peanuts.
34 comments
Maybe they’re unmotivated by shit wages and no benefits.
I imagine many ALTs including veterans left due to COVID so it ends up being luck of the draw since there’s basically no requirement other than a college degree.
Greedy executives and owners
Because 2 opinions define the world lol
Only recently has the border opened back up. For about a year or so they were forced to take non-native speakers and horrible candidates they wouldn’t normally accept.
Why has the quality of trolls gone down?
Why is this?
The opinion of two mates is what we call anecdotal evidence and should not be considered representative of the actual truth of the situation. That being said, let’s pretend that they are right. The supply of alts has never been lower since most of the new recruits that would have usually come in have been unable to do so due to obvious circumstances. Meanwhile, the demand for them as still remained about the same(if not higher since English and its benefits have only become more and more evident) so that leaves employers with fewer choices. They have to fill those seats and they can’t be as picky as they were in b.c.(before.covid) which means that they will accept candidatures that would have otherwise been rejected in the past. Resulting in lower quality of the overall selection of alts.
Ask them.
What utter drivel, this kind of baseless speculation annoys me. ALT’s are always a mixed bag, sometimes you get the genki, hard working ALT and other times you get the lazy boring ALT who does the bare minimum. You can’t make this claim from the view of just two teachers.
edited: not dribble but drivel.
This might get downvoted but fuck it… many of the ALTs are of late Millenial and early Gen Z age. Also, Japanese BOE’s expect more for less salaries/benefits.
Post-COVID?
Where the hell do you live that COVID is over?
JTEs making snide comments about ALTs is pretty hilarious, though.
When they just come over, for the most part, the JTE does more to form what kind of ALT they’ll be than anything else. You may get some people who are experiencing life outside their mother’s basement for the first time ever, but there are shit JTEs who treat their ALTs like they’re not worth anything and hence… said ALT never becomes worth anything unless they have the wherewithall to improve on their own, because the “training” they got is also likely shit.
most JTEs have no idea how little ALTs get paid, and the scummy behavior of the dispatch companies. it really does affect work ethic when a person is treated poorly
This is always hilarious to me. I find my fellow Alts care too much. Like they are always asking questions about how to improve their class rooms how to make their students lives better and care how the kids are progressing. This while making what a McDonald’s worker makes in America.
Anecdotes from your friends aren’t evidence of anything. Like many wrote here, ALTs are always a mixed bag
Same reason that the music the kids listen to these days isn’t as good as what we listened to.
Word is that alt dispatch companies are going to lower wages. I’m surprised any alt gives a shit given the current pay.
Extremely simplified, in any field, there would be 3 categories of people.
The good, the average, and the poor performers.
ALT work has always been low paying, and so the good and capable will always move on to better opportunities (that may, or may not be in the field of education).
Prior to covid, the bottom of the barrel poor performers would be let go, as there would always be a new batch of incoming ALTs to replace them; while there is still a 33.3% chance it would be another poor performer, there is an overwhelming 66.7% chance it could be someone who is good or average.
In the last 2 years, due to covid, none of the dispatch companies have been able to get new ALTs. As such, they have been forced to keep these very poor performers. And, over time, even the average performers would find better opportunities to move into as well.
As such, the bulk of those who remain are the below average, and poor performing ALTs.
It doesn’t help that the “lowest bid” wins the contract every year. This entire situation is on the BOEs. When I take a step back, and try to look at the larger picture, this is what I see:
It’s a zero-sum game, with the BOEs calling the shots, and the ALTs left holding the bag. Each year, the number of ALTs a BOE requires remains somewhat constant – but at the end of the day, it’s the dispatch company that tendered the lowest bid who will win the contract.
If one dispatch company “lost” the contract, it’s only because another company “won” it with a lower bid… but it’s not like that winning company has a supply of ALTs who are ready to deploy at the drop of a hat – they are just going to scramble and hire whoever is looking for a job. Losing company doesn’t extend a new contract, winning company hires, at their new (lower) rate of pay.
Rinse, and repeat. It’s a race to the bottom, at the bidding of the BOEs. The ALTs are expendable, and they’ll keep being paid bottom dollar – up until you’ve reached the lowest that anyone will accept – and when you get to that point, anyone they hire would be scrapped from the bottom of the barrel – because anyone else would be working somewhere else instead.
Further drop in wages in a field that was already based on letting unqualified unskilled foreigners get paid for being white *in Japan*.
Lack of minimum standard beyond a bachelors degree (to keep immigration happy) means ALTs have always been a mixed bag.
don’t blame the ALTs, blame the one hiring and placing them.
This sub is just too easy to troll. Guys, stop feeding them.
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
I wonder actually if it’s connected to the whole Great Resignation thing in America in 2020-2021; everyone is more willing to quit their job and (they hope) take something better. The new crop of JETs finished school or were in jobs while that was happening and so were directly around to experience it all.
Almost all the new JETs who came to my area this past year are much more willing to go against the grain than everyone who was here back pre-COVID. They’re also running harder into the usual cultural barriers than I’ve ever seen before, and it feels a lot more heightened and drama-filled sometimes. That part definitely affects the overall perception of ALTs among teachers.
Also, there’s other factors like, the fact that for almost 2 years there was nobody to hire except people already in the country, so the quality eroded naturally just as people started to leave. And I have no idea of the statistics of this, but it might be that there are just fewer university graduates in general of quality who are applying due to COVID? People who did half their entire education online in bad circumstances are going to be less likely to apply in general, is my hypothesis.
That’s a really small sample size of opinions to say the quality of ALTs have gone down 😂
To be completely honest I think having an ALT is super imposing on many JTE.
Math teachers don’t get mathmaticians
Science teachers don’t get Scientist assistants
History teachers don’t get historians
In many cases its super easy to throw the ALT under the bus to combat the stigma of having an assistant others don’t to make the job easier…. But considering most JTE don’t even know how to use an ALT because we aren’t the text book and we aren’t the enterance exam – we aren’t super useful to them.
The situation around the world is shit. Environmental issues.. economic hardships… pandemic.. war.. etc. makes sense that ALTs complain. Didn’t salaries take a dip?
Please don’t downvote me to hell for saying this but when was it up?
You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
Is that the exact phrasing they used? 🤔
Because you get paid next to nothing and usually get treated like dirt/the lowest tier staff member by all the other teachers? Of course every ALT’s mileage may vary, but even if you’re treated well and given freedom, it’s VERY clear you’re on the bottom of the totem pole. I also think (because this was the case for me early on), a lot of ALTs expect their work to involve a lot more teaching… and if you have a controlling, micro-managing JTE, sometimes it really doesn’t. It can be a shock.
Is there scientific evidence that the quality has gone down? Just a general impression?
Funnily enough the same thing has been the case for new hires at my school too (non ALT, regular classroom teachers). It might be a symptom of the pandemic *sigh*
The dispatch companies are scraping the bottom of the barrel
Because the working conditions have gone down.
> the post-COVID crop of ALTs
I read some of the replies, but this is what sticks: Covid is over?!?
Don’t expect people to be proud of their job and do it with pride when they dance for peanuts.