JET Programme on the chopping block?
Steven Horowitz, founder of JetWit.com, brings us this important message about the uncertain future of the JET Programme. It seems that the JET Programme is in danger of being cut back or even eliminated. Please read and let’s discuss what we can do!
Important message:
In case you haven’t heard, the JET Program and JETAA are on the chopping block.
The Japanese government is in budget cutting mode and poised to make major cuts and changes to the JET Program. To learn more, read Jim Gannon’s piece on JetWit.com (which I asked him to write after having lunch with him the other day and getting his well-informed explanation as to what’s going on in Japan):
JET ROI: “JET on the Chopping Block”
http://jetwit.com/wordpress/2010/07/03/jet-roi-jet-program-on-the-chopping-block-by-james-gannon/
It doesn’t have to proceed as currently planned, however. Perhaps the biggest challenge faced is that Japanese taxpayers and Japanese budget cutters have a very limited understanding of all of the ways that JETs and JET alumni have provided significant economic, diplomatic and other benefits to Japan. As far as they know, we just taught a little English and drank a lot of beer. If you’ve been a member of this group for a while or a JetWit reader, however, you know there’s a heck of a lot more going on.
There’s an army of JET alum translators/interpreters. There are JET alums who have written books, made films, written for Japanese and Japan-related publications. There are JET alums working for Japanese companies, in Consulates, in Japan-America Societies. JET alums who have started new businesses that increase Japan’s business with the rest of the world. Tour guides. JET alums in politics and influential government positions. Manga/anime distributors. New York Yankee translators. And I’m just scratching the surface.
It’s up to the JET alumni community to make its voice heard and make the case. So if you have a good example or way of demonstrating Japan’s return on investment, feel free to submit it to JetWit (via me). Or if you have a good idea for a way to gather other examples and help the cause, let me know and I can post a request on JetWit (i.e., crowd-sourcing).
My hope is that JetWit can serve as a clearing house for info and ideas to get picked up by JETAA Chapters and JET alums and used by Japanese govt officials who need help making the case as well as by journalists and media in need of additional information about the benefits accruing from Japan’s investment in the JET Program.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Steven Horowitz (Aichi-ken, 1992-94)
stevenwaseda (at) jetwit (dot) com
Gail Meadows
Gail, a Hiroshima-ken JET based in Hiroshima city, is Editor of the Wide Island View. Besides managing the Wide Island, she blogs about her various exploits in Japan and contributes regularly to JetWit.
Now I can see the government cutting back on a whole lot of JET perks such as the Tokyo Conference for new JETs. A few years back they canceled the mid-year conference to save money (plus it was a major waste of time and ¥). But I’d be surprised if they canceled the entire program. So many small inaka towns/ villages/ islands need the JET program to attract ALTs. Otherwise they’d never attract ALTs.
I can completely see the JET program being scaled back to just a pure ALT placement program, no conferences or language programs. But as it’s the only way to place ALTs in the deep inaka, I doubt we’ll see it completely cut.
In response to Joshua – I dont think JET is the only way to attract ALTs in the deep inaka. Dispatch companies such as Interac are forever closing in on JET and suuply ALTs to many deep inaka places. The only people to lose out are the ALTs – they’ll have less support and less money. Dispatch companies are also notorious for employing people with a tendency to quit half way through the contract – this will effect Japanese schools and Japanese relations with the west. Its only downhill if JET is completely scrapped.
But, I agree that something needs to be done about JET. The insane amount of pay in comparison to other ALTs and teachers needed to be cut. There are a lot of JETs out there who are merely ‘human tape recorders’. Why should they be paid so much for that privilege? Also, the 5* hotels were unnecessary and I think it would be much more beneficial to the ALTs and to the ommunity if they used ryokan or Japanese-style hotels instead.
We have started a petition to the Japanese government to save the JET Program:
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/save_the_jet_program
I hear something like this every year, and my predecessor said he used to hear it, too. Not saying it isn’t true, but I’ll believe it when it comes to pass.
@Karen- Yes, there are dispatch companies, and maybe five or six years ago they were as good as JET… but let me tell you about them now….
For one they’re now paying new ALTs between 200-230,000 a month. Before taxes. None of them provide any help with air fair coming or going. They usually don’t’ provide health coverage (as on paper their ALTs only work 30 hours a week) and many will try and get money out of their ALTs by “providing” housing at jacked up rates.
What you say? Those be violations of Japanese Labor Laws! That hasn’t stopped every dispatch company from doing it, and from every school system who hires these companies to turn a blind eye. Several teachers unions are suing their prefectures because of it, out of fear that soon part time teaching jobs will also go over to the dispatch companies.
I know this for a fact as someone who went through this after JET. From what I’ve heard from other private ALTs such practices are common.
The problem is that every company is trying to out compete the others, which means lowering the pay of the ALT. Just look at the website gaijinpot and you’ll even find the occasional full time ALT job for under 200,000 a month.
With such horrible pay and benefits, it’s going to be hard to convince someone to go into the deep innaka as well. As it is they have a horrible turnover rate compared to JET.
Blue Shoe, I have to respectfully disagree. I have been on JET for three years now and while there is always debate about whether the program is wasteful and speculation that it will be cut, this is the first time I have heard about there being a true government review of the program with a decision to be made about its future. Another commenter above gave a link to a petition urging the government to keep the program. Normally I’d think a petition such as this wouldn’t make a difference, though what I’m hearing is that the Japanese government does give weight to these kind of things. The description on this petition summarizes the situation pretty well with the following:
As part of Japan’s efforts to grapple with its massive public debt, the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program may be cut. Soon after coming into power, the new government launched a high profile effort to expose and cut wasteful spending. In May 2010, the JET Program and CLAIR came up for review, and during the course of an hourlong hearing, the 11-member panel criticized the JET scheme, ruling unanimously that a comprehensive examination should be undertaken to see if it should be pared back or eliminated altogether. The number of JET participants has already been cut back by almost 30 percent from the peak in 2002, but this is the most direct threat that the program has faced in its 23-year history.
@Karen and @Joshua: It is not only ALTs who will be disadvantaged by private companies (though they most certainly do), but it is the students as well! There are many things that set JET apart from the private companies in Japan, but benefits are only one of them. JET provides a support network and much more training than the private companies do. Many ALTs who come to Japan as part of a private company don’t stay as long as JET participates, and the longer an ALT stays that they can provide more benefit and more positive intercultural interactions. TO many of these private companies the bottom line is the most important thing, not the quality of the education or the quality of life as an ALT.
@Bahia:
I don’t know that I would say that many of the non-JET ALTs don’t stay long. I think a lot of them move between companies because of the working conditions, or because their company forces them to move. But there are plenty who stay in one place for a long time, building relationships with the school, students and community. I know in my town one school has had three different teachers from JET in three years, while one non-JET stayed for 5 years or so (until he had to return home due to a family emergency in the middle of the year).
Some dispatch companies do have training and regular meetings for their employees. Some provide their employees with all sorts of teaching materials – flashcards, sample lessons, worksheets, game ideas. It just depends on the company, and who is in charge at the time an ALT starts.
Also, some of these dispatch people are former JETs, thus they have teaching experience. I also know more dispatch employees with teacher training, licenses, experience than I do people on the JET program, so I think it is unfair to make that comment as well.
Yes, many of these companies tend to be out for money and don’t care about the ALTs at all, but some of these ALTs do as much work, if not more, than their JET counter parts. The best way to look at is that every situation is different.
Josh said: “Just look at the website gaijinpot and you’ll even find the occasional full time ALT job for under 200,000 a month.”
If that is a private full time position being offered by a BOE, I would be tempted to take it. On top of health care, and the possibility of cheap teacher housing, you’d get two bonus’s a year and end up making AT LEAST the same as a JET alt.
Also, don’t forget JET is not mainly about teaching English. This is a huge point the 事業分わけ people ignored. Japanese Exchange and Teaching – including CIRs (not just from English speaking countries) and SEAs, who are few, but awesome. JET plays a crucial role in exposing Japan, especially their youth, to different cultures and perceptions of PEOPLE; this is a rare and precious opportunity in a country with barely more than 1% foreign population, and the majority of them coming from the same corner of the globe.
oh, and i was really excited to sign the petition until i realized “Change.org” requires i submit all of my private contact info. Good luck getting signatures that way…
@Alys: You are right, there are some really good private dispatch companies, but many others unfortunately don’t think about the ALTs. The ALTs that I knew often had very good experiences if they were able to get hired directly by a BOE, rather than with a dispatch. Another thing I found was that for ALTs who wanted to stay in Japan long term, but were with dispatch companies they had to move yearly or at least every two years because contract situations changed so often, or because they were looking for a company that provided a better situation, and this is a disservice to the students. I think I inaccurately generalized in my comment above. Some dispatch companies do hire from a pool of people within Japan, including ex-JETs, and while the quality of those teachers is better than those who are brought straight into Japan from abroad, many of the same issues exits (illegal contracts, low pay, lack of support). Of course, there are some great companies out there (my husband used to work for a really good one that hired experienced ALTs and really supported them), but from what I have seen in Japan the companies like that are far fewer.
@beck: You only need to put in the info you feel comfortable. While the form on the front page asks your for everything, I believe it is not required information. I did not put in my address for the same concerns you have.
@greg
Housing? Bonuses? Health Care? Oh Greg. You’ve been on JET too long. You’ll be hard pressed to find any company or BOE offering those to an ALT.
Plus Health Care…. ha. The usual “scam” that is run on ALTs is that on paper they only work 20-30 hours a week, which means that the BOE or Dispatch company doesn’t need to pay for any health care.
In my case, and from what I heard many other ALT cases, the English half of my contract said I was working 40 hours a week. The Japanese half said I was only working 20, even though I was told I HAD to be at school more than eight hours a day. As with all dual language contracts in Japan the Japanese half is the only half that counts.
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