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Q: A gripe about this country's abysmal education system
I'm locked out of commenting on the articles on this site, so I thought I'd take the chance to rant about my experiences "teaching" in this intellectually barren miasma of greed, vanity and stupidity.
I complained once again to a functionary within the school I'm working for that the children have been too loud. Rather fortuitiously, just the week before, I accidentally bumped into my predecessor. He told me it was a nightmare trying to get the kids to be quiet, and the only way he ever achieved quiet in the classroom was to put a video on. He told me all he was expected to do was play games and was compelled to leave because of ringing headaches brought on by incessant screaming and stupid behaviour from the children.
I told this teaching liason person or whatever he was that I had complained at least twice a month about not getting any support in dealing with these children and their completely abhorrent ways and if nothing was done about it I would resign immediately and return to New Zealand.
He hung up, but called back ten minutes later telling me to think it over and then talk with him again in the morning. He said if I leave the job I would be blacklisted from China. He threatens this all of the time. I don't know whether he really believes this, but it's complete nonsense. An employer can't cancel a visa and blacklist a person.
He said he would talk to the school's manager about what I said. I knew he wouldn't so I quietly slipped into the school and saw the manager directly. He told me that each class's head teacher is responsible for their behaviour and that he gave orders that they are to come into the room when requested to deal with the really troublesome ones.
It turns out that this functionary as well as the head teacher had not passed on these instruction due to the derision they would receive from the rest of the teaching staff about how the foreigner has such an easy job to do and we're so busy writing Mao calligraphy, ticking ABC or D correct or incorrect on a six year old's maths test and making paper doves to prove we didn't get our jobs with guanxi to come and help him do what he should be able to do himself. Believe me, I can impose discipline on a group of western teenagers no problem. I use wit, humour and at the last resort threats, humiliation and fear. I'm no pussy. The difference is China has a mob mentality and people go completely nuts when they've got a sense of collective security through belonging to a group.
Anyway, the next day, the functionary calls me and says that previous teachers never had any trouble at all teaching the children. A flat out lie which I immediately called him out on. I said that the previous teacher was not a real teacher and he told me so. I had talked with this former teacher a few times, but it was only during our last encounter that he really opened up on just how awful it was to work at the school. I told him he had to just play videos and games and not actually teach.
I said that education all over China is a complete joke. Children spend all day rote learning and chanting to grow up completely simple minded, impractical and useless. Like when you go to the bank and no-one knows how to send your money to an overseas account quickly, or if their branch doesn't do it, they can't tell you which one does. I used banks rather than hospitals. Hospitals would have been a better example...
I also pointed out the irony of any complaints being directed against the methods I employ in teaching by saying that these parents are prepared to buy a porsche and pay hundreds of thousands, if not millions, to relocate to different countries all over the world to get their child a decent education. The really sweet thing is that if they are successful in getting their child into a western school, the teacher their child will have in front of them is at least 60% - 65% likely to be exactly like me. I left him speechless by saying that I've met people in China who've learned English in excess of ten years and it's still complete shit, whereas I learned German in four years despite never being immersed in a German language environment for more than 4 or 5 hours per week beginning when I was 14 years old.
A typical Chinese home environment is bound to be rife with superstition, pointless and arbitrary tasks and pedantry from the authority figures who lead the family unit so it's fortunate the poor little bastards are at these glorified daycare centres most of their lives or they'd be even more messed up.
If you've read all of this, you deserve a medal. I just wanted to gripe about the latest spate of follies that herd mindedness has yielded for the month.
I just tell them they're stupid now. Every time they approach me with a crackpot idea or half-baked suggestion about changing my lessons - which I do at least every four weeks and they're still oblivious to that. If I have to go home early, it doesn't matter at all to me. I would miss my girlfriend, probably have to sell my dogs to some shangba lao family who will torture them and then eat them, but I would be able to live in a clean environment, make almost three times what I make here, and live in a house with a nice garden where I can read books, drink beer and eat barbeque without cashed up farmers honking their horns right next to the house.
8 years 51 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
you are not going to change anything there.
Why?
Because the staff don't care what you think.
all they are about is happy parents.
you are the 'edutainment'
how long do you have on your contract?
If only a short time left, just do your time and leave.
If not, check your contract to see if it has been breached in any way by your employer.
Document all interaction by email - keep it civil as you don't want it biting you in the ass,
everyone has a BCD
everyone.
EDIT: except Hadley, but who know's what he's smoking?
laowaigentleman:
Good advice as always.
My contract's up soon and they asked me to re-sign. I told them I would think about it, but I've got two job interviews next week and I'll be taking the one that offers the better salary because working conditions don't mean anything here. There's only shit and shittier.
I'm well aware that I need to lower my expectations, but I didn't choose to study education to cater to the profit motives of people so short-sighted they'd walk in front of an oncoming bus.
sorrel:
see the recent posts about why China can't attract English teachers: it is because they are dysfunctional in their attitude.
They want to be seen to be attracting experienced teachers, hence all the restrictions like they must be from one of the 5 English speaking countries etc:
Then when they get the teachers in, they are not allowed work as teachers, so the professionals leave.
Chinese teachers might be on a lower salary, but with all sorts of bonuses built into their contracts (including a bonus for all students passing exams - (cheating)), they do much better than FT's.
Just accept it and put your feet up on the desk while the kids watch a crappy video and brush up on your german or something.
laowaigentleman:
I'm tempted, but someone will moan. What they want is for me to go in, look the part, get the parents' money and go out again.
you are not going to change anything there.
Why?
Because the staff don't care what you think.
all they are about is happy parents.
you are the 'edutainment'
how long do you have on your contract?
If only a short time left, just do your time and leave.
If not, check your contract to see if it has been breached in any way by your employer.
Document all interaction by email - keep it civil as you don't want it biting you in the ass,
everyone has a BCD
everyone.
EDIT: except Hadley, but who know's what he's smoking?
laowaigentleman:
Good advice as always.
My contract's up soon and they asked me to re-sign. I told them I would think about it, but I've got two job interviews next week and I'll be taking the one that offers the better salary because working conditions don't mean anything here. There's only shit and shittier.
I'm well aware that I need to lower my expectations, but I didn't choose to study education to cater to the profit motives of people so short-sighted they'd walk in front of an oncoming bus.
sorrel:
see the recent posts about why China can't attract English teachers: it is because they are dysfunctional in their attitude.
They want to be seen to be attracting experienced teachers, hence all the restrictions like they must be from one of the 5 English speaking countries etc:
Then when they get the teachers in, they are not allowed work as teachers, so the professionals leave.
Chinese teachers might be on a lower salary, but with all sorts of bonuses built into their contracts (including a bonus for all students passing exams - (cheating)), they do much better than FT's.
Good rant. There must be better schools out there.
laowaigentleman:
I think my experiences in teaching in China are ubiquitous.
It's just a matter of degree.
ScotsAlan:
It must be really fustrating.
I get fustrated in my job too, but I don't have to put up with the BS you guys do.
I remember a bit of advice given to me many years ago when I was a draughtsman in Scotland. I used to get fustrated at having to redraw and redraw again the same component because the technical manager kept changing his mind about what he wanted.
An old draughtsman in the office said to me " Calm down son. Remember, you get paid the same for rubbing out as you do for drawing"
Best advice I have ever heard. I still use it from time to time when a boss wants something stupid done that I know will not work.
If they are daft enough to pay people to do stupid things, then more fool them .
Haha, I just had a flashback to the time I worked at a primary school in Beijing. Chinese kids are BRATs...and their parents are frequently worse. You could not make me teach children here if you put a gun to my head.
I work at one of the top ten unis in China.
I am expected to be a clown.
The Chinese teachers (who's 'lesson plans' involve typing passages from the shitty book on a power point and reading it to the class) act butthurt that foreigners may or may not receive a higher paycheck (we could make 3x what the university pays us in our home countries).
I did not get a summer because the stupid cow in our FAO planned a vacation instead of processing our papers.
I returned after a paltry 3 weeks home...only to overstay my 30 day Z visa because the aforementioned cow was allowed to call out 'sick' for five working days in a row before a national holiday.
I never get my paycheck on time.
And if China wants the world to laugh at its education system, I've realized that it is no skin off my nose. They are the ones who have to drive on the bridges built by Chinese 'engineers'. I'm the one who gets to leave in 2 months. I just wish my country stopped devaluing its universities by taking so many Chinese students with fake grades.
Breathe in, breathe out and wait out your contract like someone who doesn't give a damn. If someone complains, tell them they are making too much trouble for you. If you want to leave early, go for it--there are way nicer countries than this one in the world. Do you even care about exit papers?
laowaigentleman:
No, I don't care about exit papers, it's just that my girlfriend is Chinese and is studying a masters at the local university. In my opinion the study is worthless, but it means so much for her family to complete the study. We've been a couple for 3 years now and we have two dogs, which we're hoping to take to NZ with us once she's completed her study.
I would have left the country two years' ago and gone to Vietnam, Korea or even the middle east, so I'm certainly not here for the money. China can't pay shit and I've had precisely the same issues you've dealt with with your university. I used to teach in a level two one. They are the equivalent of teaching middle school in a developed country. My view is that I just want a contract to stay here until we're free to leave, so I've no illusions about possibly falling into a great job. Those don't exist here. Certainly not in the field of Chinese fugazi bums on seats education.
I went over to primary because I thought the kids would be more responsive to teaching because they'd be under less pressure. Instead they're just loud, uncivilized brutes with no manners and no hope of ever acquiring them unless they're smuggled away to a civilized country inside of a burlap sack in the middle of the night.
The teachers I work with a losers. They don't factor in the loss of income I'm making just by being here and the fact that the measly pittance I'm paid when send home is hardly worth anything. I might be able to save most of it, but that's more attributable to the fact that there are no businesses worth patronizing here.
Couple all of these with this one factor which I use to keep me sane: online study. Many of my online courses feature videos streamed through content providers which are blocked here, and this new jizz cannon or whatever it is that ol' flatface has erected after the New York Times revealed his family's ties with granpa Wen and Wang Jianlin places China square in the tinhorn category of countries to live in.
You're in way over you're head . Give the necessary notice and find a new job teaching students and class sizes you are more comfortable with.
Great to see you back laowaigentleman. This was a nice rant to read and a lot of the points ring true. Chinese administrators and students are mostly imbeciles but there are nice ones but it takes sifting through a lot of dung to find those pearls.
"An employer can't cancel a visa" - technically no, but they can fire you, and the PSB can cancel your RP - and then you've got 30 days to get out. (sorry, I can be a pedant like that).
In relation to the rant - yeah, that's why I don't teach (or pretend to teach) kids. However, the only benefit in teaching the older ones is that they're not so noisy. Still not overly interested in learning anything I have to say. Even started a yelling match between 2 students because I decided to do an IELTS writing class instead of the non-existent IELTS Speaking they never do... because, obviously, I'd expect them to actually do something rather than just sit there and play on their phone!
I, too, would like to get myself down to NZ for a real teaching job... if I can find one that pays as well as the ones in Melbourne I've heard about... (ie, $70+/hour)
laowaigentleman:
You won't get that much there, and it costs more to live in Auckland than in Melbourne. Auckland is completely unaffordable. I'm from Wellington originally, but I am looking at heading to the south island. You could probably get about $40 to 65 per hour in a city like Christchurch, but the rebuilding going on there has resulted in a real estate bubble.
So there are bubbles in Auckland and Christchurch, Wellington's just dying and the rest is much cheaper but is vibrant if you're prepared to have a go at tapping it.
There is a saying, NZ is a country of 30 million sheep, 4 million of whom think they're human beings. Run against the grain and you'll do well there.
China, on the other hand, is a nation of lemmings on a trip to the seaside.
Shining_brow:
Thanks LWG - I didn't know/think Auck would be more expensive than Melbourne! That sucks! Not that I was really looking at Auckland itself - maybe Hamilton, maybe Well.
CHCH was a thought, cos I know someone there. Last time I checked, there was no way I'd get $40-$65 per hour... not enough students, too many teachers. And yeah, I'm fully aware of the housing prices there :(
Wellington seemed nice (but damned windy!) Not sure at all what the market is like...
laowaigentleman:
Consider Blenheim or Nelson perhaps. Napier and Tauranga are also nice places. Stay away from Gisborne. Maori kids from the bush are just as bad, if not worse than the spoilt little tuhao brats in China.
Dunedin might be ok, but it's cold as hell.
My plan is to go somewhere rural and work in financial services. It's easy enough to get a job as an accounting technician (an accountant without an accounting degree) in the wop wops because there's such a demand for them.
I'm from the city, but after living in China, even a place like Invercargill or Gore would be Shangri-la
Shining_brow:
I'm an IELTS examiner, and doing my M.Ed. in TESOL. Probably onto the doctorate next year.
So, sort of focused on that area of specialisation... hence Hamilton.
Thanks for the input! :)
The students don't care.
The parents don't care.
The other teachers don't care.
The administration doesn't care.
So why should you care?
laowaigentleman:
Sorry to reply to you both simultaneously.
I care because I chose to go into teaching to make a difference but I take your point, which Gouxiong, Spiderboenz is making rhetorically from what you could call a broader point of view. Many Chinese aren't very good at critical and lateral thinking, but he is demonstrating the consequences of inadvertently creating poor incentives to work hard. These result from a lack of introspection, which is so strange because I hear all the time in Chinese media about the Chinese loved to engage in self-criticism.
It isn't just cash that creates incentives, a bad working cultural environment is completely deleterious to the mission of education and this bad working environment is rife throughout China. Chinese people who actually care about improving the lives of their fellow citizens should at least be in accord with my sentiments on this matter.
From the perspective spider has presented, I shouldn't care at all, and many days when the kids' manners combined with the bullshit criticisms I'm offered (which show just how much they know about actual teaching), undermine any loyalty I might have to the noble mission of helping to develop the country. If I wanted money, I'd have gone into finance or banking.
Gouxiong: if it's a profit motive that's needed, they've got to improve their payments. Get it to me on the date written on the contract and improve the remuneration because it's an absolute joke how any enterprise can even get off the ground if it can't put peoples' pay into the bank on time. I thought this place was supposed to be the next superpower. How can a small, pipsqueak, undeveloped country like Vietnam pay its teachers better than such a great country like China?
andy74rc:
No. Probably because it's the education background we generally carry. Care for things, care for others = be considerate. Oh yes, such an alien concept.....
gouxiong:
Laowaigentleman, My recommendation towards improving teaching of English in China would not be increase the payroll of expat teachers. My recommendation would be to invest into educating local English teachers properly. Subsequently select highly qualified expats teachers with long, proven, successful experience who would maintain the quality of local English teachers and teach advanced English classes. These guys would be paid Western salaries but high efficiency would be required and tested. For the rest of expats I would cancel any limitation and put the responsibility for the education quality onto schools shoulders. Most probably these guys salaries would come to a bit over local teachers level. I think in 10 years from now we could probably see less young "native speakers" here but the overall English level would go up.
Oh, wow. Does this take me back. It wouldn't happen to have been Dongbei Yucai in Shenyang? What a wasted year that was. Shit pay, too. Only good thing about it was that its schedule was opposite that of the cram schools and didn't require office hours. But it did teach me a valuable lesson: never let a public school hold your visa. If you want to make some extra cash, they're great. Even then, stick to a mid-tier HS. Nobody ever says anything at those places because its usually the functionaries reinvesting some of the money they take in in enrollment fees to stand out while keeping the graft down to an acceptable level.
48.2/3
where I work the people in power do not give a crap about education or the childrens needs or teachers needs.
all they care about is money
I work for Manha kindergarten,Manha is a company,the kindergarten is treated like a company.
I have given 13 years to Manha Kindergarten and Just the other day I was told Iam a shit teacher by one of the principles.
working at this place is my nightmare as I cant leave this place until I get a degree.I feel like I am about to explode.that is how you get treated here.
Iam not respected as a teacher,they world rather hire a teacher that is very cheap than keep a good teacher on.
the people in charge do not speak English and yet they decide on everything to do with English.I could be used in a positive way and give ideas on how to make things better .but they are not interested.
gouxiong:
What stops you to get the degree and leave?
Teaching the foreign language is frequently just about earning money. Nothing wrong with this. It's a fair business concept as long as they do not cheat on anyone.
If you really want to study and manage foreign language well so finding the proper school is not easy at all. But still there are such schools.
laowaigentleman:
You're a kiwi, aren't you?
I have a degree in English and philosophy from Victoria as well as a certificate in history from Massey to meet the qualifications to teach high school. I taught disadvantaged kids in Gisborne for a year and a half as a sole trader (just my car and my text books) and was paid for contracts mostly by the Ngati Porou blood suckers up there. It was a good way to get used to the concept of guanxi. The maoris up there are hard into their nepotism. I don't have the one year post graduate teaching diploma yet because I couldn't get a place on any of the registered programs in the country. It doesn't help that I had a stalker on my tail at the time, hence my abrupt decision to come to this country.
Anyway, I've been teaching since 2012 and finally have decided that getting this diploma isn't worth it given the other career options I have available.
Perhaps you know about EFTS points. These were introduced by the National government around 2009. They're to curb the practice of lifetime study that many people in NZ had practiced prior to me first entering university in 2008.
If you want to get a degree while you're in China, there are a lot of options. Personally I am using the Open Polytechnic to get an accounting degree. This is a Bachelor of Business. It is much better than doing it in a university because no Asian crammers take the courses, so they aren't dumbed down and they're considerably more respected by employers as a result.
I don't think you'd be able to study arts courses online, but I'm sure if you want to do history or some other subject that TECOL requires as a pre-requisite, one of the institutions can help you.
I chose accounting after visiting NZICA and they gave me a huge list of providers. There are career support services in NZ now which operate on a not for profit basis. I think the best one is careers.org. Write to them. They employ people who genuinely care about helping you out. You can yammer on to them for half an hour and they'll yammer right back at you.
I understand your point of view. Many will say things like:
- Why should you care? Nobody else does.
- Just put up with it and get paid.
- It's all like that.
But I know that doesn't change the fact that nobody should live their life doing something they utterly hate. Why contribute to the broken system more just because it is broken?
Can you alone fix it? No. But every teacher that does protest and complain does contribute to the idea that there is possibly a better way. Chinese may not want to hear it but being exposed to it and seeing the results is unavoidable (hence all the Chinese sending their kids abroad).
There are Chinese people that DO know the difference and are looking for GOOD educators. But they are so hard to find. My wife prepares students to study abroad in courses like IELTS. She also teaches them how to behave properly, think through problems and express their personality.
The children actually ask to be part of her programs and tell their parents. The parents see the changes in the children and are very happy.
It can be done, but Chinese have to start with themselves first cause they very seldom listen to foreigners... but quite happy to steal out methods.
“intellectually barren miasma of greed, vanity and stupidity” - haha
I'm sure that if I truly reflected on how much I am wasting my time here as an English teacher I would become depressed.
And I don't want that, so I don't.
I also, along with Robk, welcome you back.
laowaigentleman:
Thanks mate. Nice to hear from both of you. I'm working on staying cheery, and cutting back on the booze (china medicine).
royceH:
Life is good, and we're lucky to be sharing in it.
I'm on my Chinese medicine right now, and if I feel the need to up the dosage I simply go to the fridge! Hahahaha
