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Touché

There was a time when I questioned the impact of teaching English. This was when many of my friends had worked or currently were working for NGOs and other small development organizations around the world. In a bit of snobbery, I didn't think teaching English could be that meaningful, and although I was partly right, I've recently realized that the work my friends did probably wasn't any more meaningful.
I don't mean to say that they didn't make positive changes for the world, or that the people they helped were insignificant. I mean to say that the work they did probably had little impact on the macro-level problems that those people were victims of. I'm talking about rampant poverty, institutionalized corruption, wide-spread hunger, and a whole slew of other issues. I applaud their good intentions, but good intentions alone never solved the world's problems. If you want to read more about my rant, I suggest this article.


I know now that the English teaching industry can be quite a curious thing. On one hand, it's filled with knuckle heads who are in it for all the wrong reasons, like just to travel, or to escape their home countries, or to live in another country to play around. On the other hand, others realize that being a good teacher requires hard work and commitment, and although their time is limited in every place they visit, they put a lot of effort into being better teachers each day. I respect those people, and I can only hope that I'll be worthy enough to count myself among them one day.

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