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Q: Does it worry you that people lie so they can work in Chinese schools?
I think all of us that have spent some time in China know that it has the world's worst reputation for attracting sexual predators from other countries. Many of these are working in schools.
In most countries, there are checks and balances to limit such occurrences. However, in China, schools seem to encourage foreigners to lie about their skills and qualifications, and allow anybody to work there.
More disturbing is the huge number of people lying about their skills and qualifications to get jobs working in schools.
This obviously affects the ability of the students to learn anything, but the predators are more worrying.
Is there a connection between the high number of sexual predators, and the ease with which people can lie their way into school jobs?
Should foreigners working in China try to stop these practices, or just turn a blind eye?
China needs teachers and the supply well is not enough to keep up. But the problem comes from the employers they are not the ones enforcing the rules for example visas. Joe from anywhere in the world has no idea aboutt he rules of China and whatever the employer tells him is what they are going to believe in. Background checks it is hard to do background checks cause laws limit this in China and the word given by the teacher or others to say is the truth even though it could be lies.
Sexual Predators is always a big problem and if you see someone acting like a perv stop him/her as you would do in your country and report it.
And overall and to this day I have never met a truly honest person everybody including myself bend the truth from time to time it is a human instinct of ours to impress your future bossess or staff.
ironman510:
I think the supply and demand is starting to cool down as more teachers tell them selves: Hey I better stick with this job because others are too.
Well, I would hope if you discovered someone is a pedo you'd turn them in.
mArtiAn:
I did exactly that when I was working for EF. Turned the guy in to head office in Shanghai. Warned him I was going to do so to after I found him with a 12 year old sitting on his lap. This was the most innocent sounding of his offenses, but still crosses the boundaries of appropriate behaviour. He ignored the warning so I turned him in. My boss was furious.
the part they dont tell you is many schools alter your resume without your permission and agents and recruiters, you might be surprised what your expert foreign certificate actually says.
I myself haven't seen or heard about any "sexual predators" in Chinese schools and I've worked with them for a number of years. However, I've heard many stories about very young male teachers either chasing or being chased by young Chinese girls/students. I think simply increasing the requirements for getting a teaching job, including making sure the teacher is at least say 25 and has a degree (and somehow checking its authentic) would go pretty far for fixing that kind of thing. And of course if we are working with someone who appears to be crossing the line I think we as foreigners do have a responsibility to help nip it in the bud.
When it comes to your degree, it's not hard to track your college & to get info on you. If you never attended the college or if it doesn't exist, it will come out in the wash. As for your qualification, all the teachers, native & non-native alike, should be subjected to tests. There should be a test that checks not only your English proficiency but also you general knowledge of the Western history & culture, ESL teaching tips & (feel free to disagree) basic knowledge of the Chinese language & culture. The latter is to make sure you can independently function in China.
A probation period is also a good idea. If you state in your resume you have experience but your teaching shows you didn't, well, it's fishy.
But the interviewers should be qualified teachers /educators, not Chinese teachers whose English is worse than mine.
Cheers.
bill8899:
Which ESL teaching tips should they test?
Good idea, reduce the supply of English teachers.
Traveler:
Western culture is broadly based around Christianity, and the values and beliefs associated with it. This varies greatly between, and even within, different countries, referred to collectively as "the west."
Other broad cultures, generally within a geographic region, are centred around other religions. In societies where religion is absent, culture tends to be less defined.
ElenaDob:
By Western culture i don't mean that you should know the history & literature of all the English-speaking countries but you should be familiar with the basics. E.g I often fail to communicate my ideas because Chinese students (& sometimes teachers) don't know what I think everyone learns at school. Chinese students can be excused for not knowing who Julius Caesar was but ESL teachers cannot.
Western culture also means a set of rules of behavior (respect others' privacy, don't stare, don't look down while talking to the teacher, table manners, etc.) which a foreign teachers is supposed to introduce to the students upon their request.
I knew a teacher who was particularly fond of the F -word. He used it in the class. When I heard it, I couldn't believe my own ears. I asked the students why they hadn't blown the whistle on him, they said they assumed it was OK to use that word.
sometimes youve gotta bullshit your way in life! thats just how it is
Do I care that other people lie......
No, I get on with my job and expect them to do the same, if they do, great, if not it's the school's problem, if it affects my ability to do my job then we'll have a problem. Up until now that hasn't happened.
Don't know why you got four thumbs down for this question, I think it's a valuable one. Personally I find the ease at which just anyone can walk into positions of such responsibility worrying, but I understand that there is such a demand for teachers that it's hard for schools to be choosy. What does bother me is the complete lack of guidelines to what is and what is not appropriate behaviour, particularly when dealing with young children. Teachers are told not to talk about politics and the like, but it seems little is said about a teachers responsibility with regards to enforcing the boundaries of appropriate physical contact between children and people outside their immediate family circles. I've argued with long time teachers about this, one guy telling me that he hugs the kids all the time because their parents don't give them enough effection. I wanted to knock his head off. Knew another guy who was the DOS in EF and that bloke actually let young girls wrap their legs around his waist while he bounced them around the school. I reported him and got stick for it off the head of the school. Then of course there are the people who just don't know how to manage a class of children and do awful things like scream in their faces. I've known one guy who hung a kid out a window till he wet himself. Heard of another who punched a student square in the face. Yeh, there should be serious thought and strict guidelines to who is allowed to enter classrooms. It will of course change as more and more foreigners enter China and schools learn more how to deal with these problems. Eventually it will be impossible to get work anywhere without a degree. Haha, then i'll be out of a job.
Obviously any half-decent person from any Anglophone country would do their best to get a pedo in jail. But the problem with the question is... what the Hell could us English teachers do to stop poor hiring practices? Schools would rather make cash than ensure proper education or safety- reversing that as one single English teacher would require more cultural imperialism than even my country is capable of.
The basic problem is that the quality of life, although cheap, is too low to appeal to most experienced educators. Demand for teachers will consistently outstrip demand, until salaries are raised significantly and China is a more appealing place to stay. It's great, and I love the place I'm at, but most of my peers from the US consider me to really be 'roughing it'.
Ask an average teacher in the US how they would feel about raising a family in a place where you cannot buy property or even live in a house, food and water being contaminated is the rule rather than the exception, civil rights are treated 'differently', and the education system is... well, expats put their kids in international schools. You aren't going to find the sort of job applicants you want when they can so easily get better elsewhere. Not being a creepy perv is a basic requirement of employment in the west, but as the wumaos tell us so often: we are not in the west.
Good post, best post of the year, so true.
China should do something about these empty minded people.
To be seen with foreign english teachers is really no face! 
, either he is a sexual predator, a drug addict or a no brainer. <-- low status, worse than a honest toilet cleaner.
This of course don´t appeal to foreign girls english teacher.
Amonk:
Are you a troll or a puppet for our friends in red? Your terribad English suggests the latter, but the excessive stupidity to the point of hilarity indicates the former...
Is there a website that's like echinacities' Answers section, but based in a developed country that bans government lackeys like this? I would really like to take my page views there instead.
By the way, "no brainer" doesn't work like that. That's just one of many mistakes to be used as evidence for why native English teachers are desperately needed in your country. Try to treat the profession with a bit more respect (and better salary/standard of living) and you might be pleasantly surprised by the improvement in Chinese English education.
Edit: Oh, sorry, after checking through your past posts I understand. Still, the fact that I can't tell on this site worries me.
