Well, I posted a message critical of the local professional development on Facebook yesterday, and one of my "friends" felt it necessary to tattle to our supervisor. I felt bad for the supervisor, as he realized that my post made no mention of JET or Kobe and was somewhat lead astray by the whistle blower as to the severity and specificity of my commentary.
This leads me to the JET microcosm; the community is so small that every one is in every one else's business. Many of the foreigners on JET are easily aware of what's happening with other foreigners whether they want to be or not, and gossip can spread quite easily within the community. Furthermore, those who have been here longer often see themselves as being superior to those who are new, sometimes going so far as to treat other adults like complete children.
In all honesty, my commentary on today's professional development was fairly benign and relatively tame. In all truthfulness, the training was woefully inadequate and highly impractical: Planning a Budget? Really? Unless you're a financial planner giving me investment advice, I think I can manage my day-to-day living expenses, thank you very much. I needn't go further, as the purpose here isn't to bash anyone, but to shed light on the fact that those who are leading a room of adults in a professional development workshop should clearly know who their audience is, what they'll actually need, and how to deliver the material in an appropriate manner. Fair enough, one would think.
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