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John v.d.Brook,

Hmmm. So while you were living in Germany you found some Germans that were having a problem with other Europeans. I can't quite put my finger on it but that somehow sounds familiar.

Biff

Look, I don't like cheap shots at 'Poland' (in quotes, even). Heck, my wife is Polish! But I'm also detecting the PC police out in force. Biff, your comments to John are ad hominem in the extreme. In my book they are moderator bait.

Groups can have characteristics. A flood of people moving into new circumstances can indeed cause some turmoil if the behavioral norms of the two groups differ. I don't know the facts here, but John does indeed have personal experience of behavior that most of us 'Americans' would find over the line. Cruising the recitals of other teachers would qualify, in my book. I would not blithely categorize all eastern Europeans as unethical poachers because of this, but I would be prepared to believe that it might (accent on might) be a more frequent approach in a new group moving into new territory. To say that this is simply impossible smacks of political ideology more than anything else.

How many people from this group of people have been known to cruise recitals for this purpose? Considering it said 'a teacher' I'm guessing the answer is one. Hardly a basis for such a sweeping generalisation. Some trends are indeed born out by statistics. But one recorded instance is hardly much of a pool of data. Are we going to make the same generalisations about others who are also male, those who have similar dress sense and those who have the same penis length as the particular offender?

Piano*Dad,

John v.d.Brook said that Eastern Europeans have lower ethical standards and backgrounds that are relatively OK with stealing. Give me a break. I'm not remotely PC.

My subsequent attacks on him were absolutely personal. He is ******* offensive.

That's an IQ test. What's more offensive? Me insinuating swearing or him defaming Eastern Europeans?

Biff

+1. And I'm not going to apologize this time. I have seen enough. What happens to respectful disagreements? I admire John for taking the bullet and yet remain calm and collected; not bring himself down to your degrading, name calling level.

Biff,

Back off. You are putting words in John's mouth.

Ken

Momentary teaching break -

Biff, if you reread my post, you'll note I said different, not lower. Those are your words, not mine.

Swearing in public, even vobally isn't civil, much less written. Now I know who's offensive to this entire thread if not the whole teacher forum.

"Different" enough to accomodate stealing? I don't think that's a much less weighty slur against Eastern Europeans. Perhaps a "different" slur, rather than a lesser one?

Dark Dragon,
You were smart to wait before reacting impulsively. It's better to avoid burning bridges when we can. I had a previous teacher who was very angry when I transferred to a new one and impulsively said very negative things about my new teacher. However, circumstances came up in such a way that it would not be in his best interests to alienate her. He called my parents to ask them not to reveal anything he had said about her and to mend bridges if we had. Luckily for him, we are not the gossiping type and nothing had been said. Since you have a good rapport with your student, it may be possible to keep her if you handle the situation correctly.

Perhaps you can start by addressing some reasonable concerns with the parent (e.g. I don't want to confuse her having her hear conflicting methods because every teacher has an individual way of teaching piano) and asking whether you could have the new teacher's contact information. It's within your rights to refuse to teach the student if they don't comply, but you don't own the student and you cannot force her to take lessons exclusively from you. Her dad may well choose the other teacher. In that case, cut your losses and move on.

Indeed. How would all the male teachers in this group feel if they were put out of work, as a result of the fact that virtually all paedophiles are male? That's certainly easy to prove with statistics. So, would you like to be judged by such a generalisation about male teachers being overwhelmingly more likely to be paedophiles than any female alternatives (probably at least 100 to 1000 times more so. heck, I'm actually just guessing, but this is a generalisation- so who cares about something as unimportant as accuracy!)? If not, I certainly don't see any place for judging Eastern Europeans on equivalent generalisations or speculating along the lines of "yeah, if he's one of them Polish lot then I bet he approached the Dad to nick your student- after all that's what them lot do". I didn't exaggerate that vastly beyond the original comment...

"Different" in that they do not view it as stealing. It may be the way they naturally do business and would think nothing of someone else doing it to them.

But in our culture we view it as stealing. I would venture a guess that if they saw it through our eyes they would not engage in the practice.

You say potAto and I say potAHto.

Ken

"But in our culture we view it as stealing."


Then if it really is "stealing" why not demand police protection? -the word "Stealing" has an actual meaning.No one is describing anything that fits that meaning being perpetrated.

Because you and I both know that there is a difference between ethics and criminal acts.

You know. we can debate all night on what someone's definition of is is. We can mince words until they are mush.

But we're not going to. This topic is closed.

Ken