Teaching other than English - Brain gain

ari says on Sep 11, 2004, 23:26:

Well..... that's an old story actually. It seems that teaching English always sounds like the perfect brain trip for a crazy expat wanting to make his way to Colombia or to most places outside the "Western" soap bubble (don't assume I'm left wing, even when I am, ok? yet mind the difference between left-wing and communist!) and it works perfectly for many, I know economists teaching English in Taiwan, accountants teaching English in Brazil and even agricultural engineers teaching English in Colombia, I thought about the possibility myself being the only chance to live a relatively decent life for my potential 6-month trip to Colombia in 2005.

It would be nice indeed to have some knowledge going to Colombia instead of constantly leaving, but it seems that the trend is going the opposite direction for the rich countries do take advantage of the most highly qualified and talented members of societies like Colombia's and exploit them for their own benefit. How many Colombians do you find researching in American or British universities? The numbers are impressive.

Unfortunately science doesn't seem to pay in Colombia and how many sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, mathematicians and physicians are just plain starving or unable to do anything with their degrees and end up working in simple unskilled jobs?

My experience in Colombia taught me it also depends on your network of contacts and other sweet delicacies of that kind, so that you can skip bureaucracy a little bit but most people is too busy thinking about food and bills as to waste their time building up a network of contacts from scratch, obvious no?

In the other hand there's a certain number of foreigners with a growing interest in Colombia but it's not that simple... most of them got to know Colombia because of their husbands, boyfriends, friends, etc. so it's more like a I-know-you-then-I-know-Colombia situation than a professional interest. It doesn't mean they can't contribute professionally to the country but it doesn't appear as their main aim.

Once I read a short book about the "Colombianists" or "Colombianologos" and there you found the profiles of around 20 foreigners (most of them already back to their home countries) who constituted the core of academic and intellectual experts on Colombian affairs, I was very surprised to find out about the research and publications of this people like a certain guy from Germany who was pursuing his doctoral work in comparative grammar of our aboriginal languages with a highly descriptive and ethnographic approach, the guy had been in Colombia a few times and had a degree in Pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations. I feel a it ashamed actually as in the meantime I was too busy studying Latin and Greek.

The security situation also makes it very difficult for people who could immensely contribute to the country such as agronomists and biologists. Non-professional people also contributes a lot I think, like I know a group of Swiss girls who teach theatre to children from deprived backgrounds or some German guy who organized some history learning group in his neighborhood.

I strongly believe those stories aren't unique, there must be many others out there.

Cheers

Ari

http://ikcenda.tripod.com/philologist

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FrankLeal says on Sep 13, 2004, 21:29:

That's right Ari I completely agree with you Ari, all you said is true. Colombia is now investing a lot of money in war and everyday less in education, health and of course in research. We don't deny that Uribe has been the best president in the last years and has given safety to the country but unfortunately there are so many topics that remain secondary for the government and education is one of them.

Best regards,

Francisco
Bucaramanga - Colombia

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