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Q: How do you feel about being a teacher in China?
Today I learned I need to start teaching a group of primary school children maths and science during the duration of their summer vacation. At first I thought it would be quite easy, but now I realize it's quite asinine. My job is 'supposed' to be teaching maths and physics to high school/university students that will soon go study abroad. My bachelor and master are both in Biophysics, so its like a slap in the face to be teaching babies 2+2=4.
Do you ever think back to when you were a university student and wonder how the hell you ended up teaching in China?! For myself, I did a 6 month laboratory internship in Shanghai Jiaotong University, shortly after which I got offered a teaching position. At the time the thought of getting 20k a month and a free apartment to teach high school maths to rich kids seemed very cozy (which means I made a choice based purely on being lazy). Now, 3 years later, I don't know why the hell I am still here. It's surely not to be fucking my boss' wife and teaching small children. I think after the summer is over I will go back to the USA. Have a normal life. What about you?
Would anyone else here tell others what field their bachelor/master/doctorate is in and how you decided to work in China? Also, how do you feel about your job? Are you satisfied?
Hmmmm.....if I get to sleep with the boss's hotty wife, I might get to enjoy it more!
Honestly I like my job very much. But I think that also has to do with how much control I have over pretty much everything since I own the schools also. If I was just a teacher and had to listen to my boss telling me what to do and where to be all the time, I wouldn't be very satisfied at all.
Robk:
I agree, good switch and good move to be a part-owner. Just watch out for your Chinese partner as a lot are VERY sneaky. But it is good that you take a chunk of the money made off your back, does wonders for your self-respect right?
WanderingTeacher:
Haha yes it does feel good. Luckily for me though my partner is a really good man. In fact, he's rich. He made all his Money during the 90s and now he doesn't need to work. He only started the school a few years ago so his daughter could learn english, and now that she's older, he only kept the school so he would have something to do, otherwise he would just stay at home every day and be lazy lol. He will retire in a couple of years and then I will run the schools myself.
Well, sounds like you got a good deal where you are now... except for the teaching little kids part. I can't stand them for too long in China, they go bonkers. But kids are kids. Maybe you are wasting your education though and should look for an international school or just head somewhere else.
Came to China on a Business degree, taught ESL, science, math, psychology, physical education and computers. Loved teaching science, PE and computers moved into an education administration position and realized that Chinese don't take foreign suggestions seriously (they barely even listen to other Chinese). Got out, started my own business online, quadrupled my income in a year or so... never looked back.
Still in China, but may leave soon like you. I love my job, but it is tough. I am like a marketer, project manager, UI/UX designer, web developer, HR, accountant etc. all rolled into one. But at least it feels like real work to me and I am rewarded with how much effort I put into it.
Teaching ESL is great, but in many places you feel like a dancing clown that has little to no impact on anything other than the bosses' bank account.
My degrees are in History, Anthropology, and Asian Studies with a China concentration. Came yo China to improve my Chinese and ran low on spendi.g money, so am in the process of switching to a work visa. I love working with children, and did a fair amount of volunteer tutoring in USA.
expatlife26:
Haha who downvoted that??
Fuck you and volunteer work you piece of shit! You think you're better than me????
How the hell, with a master in biotech, you did not found a good job in biotech ?! It's a hot area in Shanghai and nearby Jiangsu....
I got a PhD in Computer Science. I worked as a lecturer in a good public university for 2 years. The pay was ridiculously low compared to what equivalent level of education grants you in the industry (5K vs 20K to 40K RMB/months), I had little time for research (I hoped to have lot of it) and students were mostly hopeless (could not do any research with them, they missed most of the fundamentals, energy and motivation of an arthritic snail). I started to work part-time for a biotech startup one year into my contract, then switched to full time once done with the university. I'm in charge of the Computer Science R&D, designing and implementing our software tools. I'm satisfied....
David, (Vallyntin) have you finally decided to return to the USA? Should your ability still be there, you could probably get in to a good doctoral program after polishing up on the fundamentals of your speciality. No offense to you my friend, but considering the mess your life is as a teacher, if you can follow through on that decision I think you'll be much happier. All these shenanigans you've been involved in lately don't befit a man of your character. Also, I remember you having an inferiority complex (seriously you do) when engaged in intellectual conversation with people that have PhDs. Remember that night the five of us spent at Hooley's? How many times did you say a PhD is unnecessary? Any serious scientist at least has a PhD- that's like a high school diploma among academics- it's the BARE MINIMUM. As the Chinese say 加油！！
Oh, if you do go, let me know. I'll reserve a section at True Color and pay for everything (but you have to give me your word you will do a PhD program). How many teachers get a send-a-way THAT epic???
jetfire9000:
The guy has some problems at work, but let's face it, teaching isn't for everyone. Plus he has to deal with toddlers, meaning they have no base level of English and real communication is most likely impossible. Been there, done that, and I ended up walking out on the first day. (I wasn't roped in by any contracts yet) You sound like a real jackass! As if you have some "PHD" clique you hang out with and seem to characterize people for not having one. You call him over sensitive for having some kind of inferiority complex, yet at the end you "nicely" encourage him to "Go back home and do a PHD program" Gee, I wonder where he gets this negativity from, having such great friends. If I heard somebody saying crap like that I'd tell them to take their PHD and shove it too. Ironically he's realized China isn't such a great place with a "lesser" degree, which seems to be something that a group of PHD's haven't caught on to yet.
MasqueX:
Your assumptions are terribly baseless sir. I speak to him in this way because I know him- we worked together at Columbia University in 2010. He and several former classmates (including myself) meet regularly. I believe this gives me the right to speak to him in such a manner.
Furthermore, in relation to my comments on the need to obtain a PhD. You are welcome to look around for people doing serious scientific research in our modern day with a bachelor's degree or master's degree. There are a few diamonds in the rough that do not possess a PhD. However the vast majority of serious researchers that work in laboratories (like myself) are required to have a PhD. It's not a clique mentality, it's a necessary level of education and experience that culminate in a dissertation. If you find some part of my statements invalid, I would insist that you seek out serious academics that currently work in the sciences and ask them what level education requirements are considered standard for their profession.
Lastly, China is a wonderful place to perform scientific research. Why should I or my colleagues realize that this is the wrong place to be? Don't make the mistake of assuming you are so wise a man. You can refer to me as a 'jackass' to your hearts content. It is your ignorance of the subject matter which reveal your own idiocy. Learn to think before you communicate.
Hey Vallyntin...you are the one who took that job as a teacher for little kids. Nobody put a gun to your head.
If you say it's a slap in the face to be working there, than it's your own glove doing the slapping.
You want something else? you gotta fight for it. I knew I could do something more intellectually challenging than ESL, so I busted my ass to get out of it.
Nobody is too good for ESL, but we can be good enough to do something that gives us more life satisfaction. Prove that you are good enough to get where you want to be.
I proved that I could successfully do more and no one can take that away from me...if you think you can too than get your ass in gear. If you want to work in Biotech...you should be living in fucking Boston not China!
Get a basic job doing whatever and network your way into some contacts at Genzyme or Amgen. It's hell of a lot easier to get a professional job in the US where there are no visa/language issues.
YOU took a job you feel is beneath you. Stop whining and prove you are good enough to do better...or become a bitter old asshole whining about how you didn't do anything with your life.
I feel pretty good about being a teacher in China. I'm a graduate from the School of Hard Knocks and managed Honours in my major (sport and beer drinking associated with honesty and reliability). Would surely have gone on to a PhD but bailed out on the whole idea due to an attack of the reals. You know....Work all day just to pay my way.... Nah, bugger that.....
So I did the Harold Holt and came to China before the last soccer World Cup.
Now I get some satisfaction from teaching and my schedule is great.
I do tend to drink too much and, being Catholic, I sometimes get the feeling I should cut back on the masturbation but, all in all, I feel pretty good.
I believe that if I continue riding my bike to work on days of 5-7 wind factor (like today and as I'm about to do), instead of taking the soft option of jumping into a taxi, I may yet achieve that PhD from Hard Knocks University.
And, If I could achieve that, then all those years of drunken debauchery and wastefulness will not have been in vein (vane?) and I'll be able to straighten my shoulders and look the next cobber squarely in the eye.
So, for now... I RIDE!
Wish me Luck!
royceH:
Hahaha... Yep, as in Vain, the racehorse. How could I have forgotten to spell Vain..what a silly bunt! We studied him back in the day...over 25 schooners down at the local Hard Knocks joint.
Love it!
I don't like teaching kids, but will work at a uni next year! Spent a decade in England working my guts out for very little reward, the economic crash ruined what little I had scrapped together. So I though Fcku it, I'm sick of this and sold up and came here! It has been just what I needed, a few years of leisure, no worries about bills and taxes and permits and all the other hundred pieces of bullstit that one neeeds to go through to get anything done!
I am not looking at China through rose tinted glasses, I see it for what it is, and for now and perhaps one or two more years I will enjoy it, when I get bored I will move on!
Robk:
Good outlook. Life is too short to be stressed out about buying stupid stuff you don't need working in a job that slowly kills your soul.
Better to find your own path and your own place in the world.
I came here as a student and never really intended to teach. It was supposed to be something that would look good on my resume when applying to Medical School. "Oh, he studied abroad! Bonus points! And what's this?! He speaks two languages! Ultra bonus! Oh, he even volunteered at orphanages? Okay, let him in."
When in Changsha, I tried teaching English as a volunteer (though they offered to pay me), but it wasn't interesting to me at all. I hated it. Not only was I trying to teach the same way that they taught us back home, but the assistants thought the alphabet was "too advanced" for the children. Finally, they couldn't get me permission to teach from the PSB, so I bounced. I thought "Man, there's no way I could teach English in China."
Then I ended up getting married to my friend of 5+ years, she got pregnant a couple months afterwards and some crazy shit happened, so I took a job in another city to protect my wife and child. The other city was awesome, the school was awesome (except for 3 nutbags), and I actually really enjoyed teaching. I loved teaching English there.
But then we went home, had a baby, and I decided that med school wasn't worth my time. If I hadn't gone to China, I might've been in Medical School by now and hating it. I have good memories of teaching English, and it helped me realize what I needed to do with my life. Nothing wrong with it as a job.
I feel good, I earn a lot more than senior professional expats while working half of the time. I teach German, there are quite a number of Chinese who want to learn German but not many Germans who are willing to teach them, I get many more requests than I can teach thus I choose only the hot girls and make them pay sky-high fees.
When I first came to China I was teaching in a school then I began to give private lessons which is a lot more interesting financially, now I only give private lessons and get a Z through a Chinese relation of mine who owns a school, I pay him a good fee for it but that's nothing compared to what I earn teaching by myself.
Kool Ranch Dressing (or cool and stressing)
What kind of school do you work at? Is the boss's wife some kind of reward, or is it part of your duties? I am confused. Why doesn't he do his own wife?
