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Iowa grandmother doesn't see why grandson shouldn't be 'ikemen' too

NORMAN, Iowa (GTA) - Ninety-one year old Beatrice Fredericks has been expressing her displeasure over AEON Corp's decision to market her grandson merely as "friendly," rather than "ikemen."

"Everyone best get their eyes checked, because my Jonathon is as ikemen as they come," she explained while pouring over a scrapbook full of Jonathon's childhood photos. "I just don't know why they couldn't let 'em do a nicer pose and all. This doesn't look at all like the Jonathon I knew."

She further added that Jonathan was always the "shy type growing up," yet was pleased to hear in an electrical mail that John has now found a female friend.

According to John, grandma fails to realize that part of being an English teacher is staying "in character."

"All I know is they asked me if I'd be interested in making an exta 7,500 yen by coming to the head office on Sunday. The photographer simply told me to 'be funny' and 'do something wierd' so I did a little finger-shooting thing. That's fine with me. When I started at AEON, they already had one ikemen. So, I basically took over as the high-tension, high-energy, guy. Lots of Red Bull and sugar."

Despite the disapproval from one grandmother, AEON says it will continue to highlight the unique differences among foreign teachers in their on-line ads to attract potential students.

"Our objective at AEON is to show students that there’s a variety of teachers on our menu,” explained Eiji Fukugawa, AEON's vice-president of marketing. "Let's pretend I'm an AEON student and I feel like having something handsome - and exective, so perhaps I'll go with some danger, little stranger. Oh but, wait! Recently, I haven't had enough friendly foreigner in my diet, so maybe I should go with the equally exective John. So, hard to choose!"

Still others are concerned with how male teachers continue to be portrayed. Elsa Fuller, a professor of gender studies at Columbia University suggests a double standard held against male teachers who "are typically valued for their good looks, friendliness, and perhaps most of all, their exectiveness."

In contrast, Fuller contends that Asian female co-workers are typically praised for their minds while being regarded as "serious workers" who do "good teaching."

"Basically, the message we're sending to males is just be handsome, perhaps a little goofy, and be to sure to dress exectively. Meanwhile, females are told to use their minds and skills to get ahead."

The Gaba Teachers Association: Serving teachers at Gaba Japan, Nova Japan, Geos Japan, Aeon Japan, ECC Japan, and Berlitz Japan since 2005. The Gaba Teachers Association is dedicated to reporting the latest news from the English school industry. This is a site for that covers all news that impacts those who teach English in Japan. If you are teaching English at NOVA, GEOS, Berlitz, ECC or any other Eikaiwa school, check us out.
The GABA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION is the most provoc-ative name in eikaiwa news today. Since 1994, the Gaba Teachers Association has been dedicated to reporting the latest news from the English school industry in Japan.