Alex Miller comments

I think the effectiveness of the ALT depends heavily on the JTE and his/her structure of the class. One of my school's I'm just a tape recorder, whereas in the other school I get to run my own weekly culture/natural conversation class. The main difference between these two JTEs is that one actually took the time to apply my skill sets/special abilities into class, and believe me, its way more satisfying by the end of the day. I think JETs have to set, or at least fight for, teaching responsibilities going into the year.

Making a good salary in Japan is great and all, but I think being a part of the JET program and going through the rigorous application process, we owe it to Japan and ourselves to contribute to the classroom/cultural exposure. Like I said, I experience both sides of the "ALT responsibility spectrum", if you will, so I know where the writer is coming from.

Lastly, if there's something that JET does offer is its intangibles. One of the intangibles is that by being a foreigner in Japan we can encourage international traveling/interest meanwhile dissuading foreign cultural presumptions. I told my students from day one, because English is the most used language around the world you could travel and communicate with Canadians, Australians, the English, Americans, even people in Singapore. I worked with international students for four years back in college and every quarter there were hundreds from Japan eager to try new things. Maybe their English wasn't great or anywhere near perfect but they had the right attitude, the right curiosity in learning about a culture, as did their ALT most likely showed by living in their country at one time. They carry those stories to their friends and family, and help promote internationalism in a country where 99% of the population is the same race.