She ́s taught everything from English to Spanish and French in an array of countries that include India, China, France, Mexico, Kazakhstan, and the United States just to name a few. The wealth of experience that accompanies those teaching experiences have not left her short of stories to tell. Falin Lipincott is a woman who hasn’t let adversity stand in the way of her dreams and has seen every opportunity in her profession as a chance to experience adventure.
The New Jersey Native originally studied English Literature and Business Communications in her home state before she began her teaching career. She has lived and worked in eight different countries –from the small village of Malin in India to the more urban Beijing, China– and tought an array of ages from elementrary school kids to higher education teachers. She managed to accomplish all of this and still have time to raise her two sons Johnathan and Justin, now 26 and 40.
“Don ́t give up things you ́re entitled to and make an effort to talk to women especially, highly educated women. Everyone should have choices: the choice of time, your partner, ect. Our biggest advancement [as women] is being allowed to make a choice and say no”.
In the course of just one career Falin has seen a substantial improvement to women ́s rights and access to position in power, especially in administration departments. However, as things get easier for women in some respects, she also believes that the modern career woman is confronted with a variety of new hardships that will take a different type of strength to overcome.
“In education administration if the boss man is angry he is just being a boss, but if a women is angry she is being a bitch”.
This type of mindset is slowly improving with the exposure of more women to positions of power, never the less this archaic form of thinking is still prevalent in countries such as India and China where culture power structures prefer patriarchy.
One of the many problems that arise for world travelers looking to work in foreign countries is the “visa issue”. Moving to a different country (especially those exclusive European countries) can be as daunting a task as any, but Falin has found that as useful as education can be in its applied uses, it also can form a brilliant excuse to use when you want to stay and work a little more than you had originally planned.
This and the other shop- ping list of problems that international students face inspired the creation of the International baccalaureate, an organization dedicated to International education founded in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland offers four educational programs for children aged 3–19. Mrs. Lippincott has been heavily involved with this organization for the past 40 years and applauds its efforts to create a stable framework on which education and the credits that students acquire can be easily transferable across borders, cultures, and time zones.
“Education helps you question things“ For Falin the ability to follow your dreams is only limited to how much risk you are wi- lling to take and education can be used as an amazing gateway to see the world.
Naomi Spence G. naomi.spencegz@udlap.mx