Aiyi at a "barber shop".

All kidding aside, for teaching English it depends on where you teach and your personal expectations.

At an accredited international school, teaching is teaching.

Anywhere else (even if it's called an "international school") your job isn't really teaching English, it's "being foreign" and making parents happy to pay for more years of schooling. If the kids actually learn, that's a bonus, but not a requirement. Most "schools" are nothing more than businesses.

Most teachers that I have spoken to either can't accept this or can't comprehend it, so they take their job way to seriously and let the politics of the "schools" drive them crazy because they think they are actually supposed to do things like grade students. This is why schools will often have a foreign teacher for oral English, but grammar will be taught by a Chinese teacher. Native speaker = higher rates to charge for enrollment.

Work in this system while understanding it and it can be quite enjoyable.

I like being a teacher

I think, it's not bad! good pay, apartment, viza provided. if you don't like children, then of course, it's terrible

better job than the guy who picks up kids poo in store

sure math teacher

I think they mean worst job for foreigners.  And no, english teacher is the worst, lowest status job that foreigners can have.  Remember, pretty much no foreigners are unemployed so it's a question of "Do you have an awesome career job that sent you here based on your expertise? Do you own a business here? or Are you just barely scraping by teaching english?
 

I've been in both "classes" of expat and I must say it's a HELL of a lot better once you aren't teaching.  It's not just the money either.  It's the respect you get from others.   You aren't seen as just screwing around and wasting time, you're building a career.  It's amazing too because I've already gotten a couple offers for other "real jobs".  Plenty of people here want to hire young talented professional people.  It's really hard to make that first leap out of teaching but once you do...man it's a whole different china.

I couldn't disagree with the above-poster more.  I get a great deal of respect from the parents of the children that I teach and from some if not many of my colleagues.

This is another one of those overall blatant generalizations that stray from the evident truth.  It's a case-by-case thing, I would venture to say, and some are happy and some are not.  Then again, one needs to consider the source :  were these people happy in their own countries?

Yes shoveling dog poop is also a job. Not sure if they do it here but I know they did it in big cities back home such as New York. Anything that has to deal with shoveling or a job that is more dangerous than teaching to me is considered a worse job. Better safe than sorry! 

Being an English teacher is just like any other job. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. If the OP had made any effort to use the search bar and look up previous questions about the topic she'd see that most of the teachers who frequent this site actually like their jobs overall. 

What a stupid question! Open your eyes see how some of the poor people in this country and other countries live….brainless!

a worse job? I guess being an Wu Mao would be worse, I prefer educating people to harmonizing them

Sure. Posting stupid questions on the internet comes to mind.

Teaching sucks, its boring, repetitive, its a dead end job,

teaching in China? you in the wrong side of the planet....

Depends on whether you're a 'real' teacher - who has the quals and experience and thus, working in a 'real' place for a good wage... or just someone who wants an easy holiday, did a weekend TEFL, and is stuck with the crappier jobs at much lower pay (though, comparitively higher than the local teachers who had to make their way through years and years of study to get where they are... badly). Remember, even that person who did 3 years of a college diploma and an online TEFL course makes more than a local university professor here.

I'm in the former category, and quite enjoying my life!

It doesn't look so bad to me, I never understood why people looked down on English teachers. I wouldn't mind becoming one...

For the most part, I like my job. It definitely beats being a cashier at a grocery store.

I would say that those who enjoy teaching English should stick with it if it makes them happy. They are likely good at it. If you DON'T like it then find something else cause it's a waste to live in a crappy city in China doing something you hate. 

Great job being teaching in China for 5 years of course depends of the school  been in this private school over 2 years wouldnt change...

Look, teaching English here in China gets a bad rap sometimes.  On occasion, it's well deserved.  But many times it's not.

I have met many people here in China that are English teachers.  Some of them are here because it's a decent job and they truly want to "discover China".  More power to them.  Some people are accredited teachers in their home country and they are here to try and make a difference.  They love teaching and they are trying to share that with the kids.  There is of course a small group of people that are just here because they couldn't do anything in their home country, so they're here,  "teaching" simply because they are white or a native speaker of English.

Most English teachers here that I have met are pretty passionate about their work.  They take it seriously and (unfortunately) get bogged down by the politics of the work place.

Now granted, you will find some self-professed "English teachers" here that can't even make a coherent post on a website, but that doesn't mean that the profession does not have merit.

I know a guy that has a PhD in physics from MIT - he is brilliant - and he teaches English to kndergarteners here in Shanghai.  Because he LIKES it.

Not all English teachers here are "failures" in their home countries, so stuff those thoughts up yer @#$$%#.  Some are of course, sure, why not?  But some people are highly skilled individuals (either in teaching or another field) here to explore China and learn about the people and culture.

I have 2 masters degrees in computer science and marketing.  When I came to China the first time, I taught English.

Don't generalize and stereotype.

You will find some retarded dumbasses with a job here teaching, but you will also find the other side of the coin. 

Some of the best and coolest people I have met here are teaching.

And why not?  They're making a good salary - even a western salary - for often working 20 hours a week.

So who's "stupid"?

Hey I didn't mean to put  anybody down saying i'm way happier being out of teaching, but that's how I feel.   There is no question that teaching esl is the "lowest status" job that foreigners have.  That doesn't mean it's a bad job, just relative to the other jobs expats have it has the lowest status.  Just like how if everyone in the room is a VP and you are a departmental director.  Doesn't make your job bad, just not as good as the others.

I found teaching to be very socially limiting. I'm not interested in Chinese girls at all, but most of the prettier european girls simply don't date teachers.  They're either models or have real jobs in foreign trade.  Is that right they scorn americans who teach? absolutely not.  But i could have sit around all day crying about how the prettiest girls won't date teachers, or I could realize that if those are the girls I'm interested in it's my own damn responsibility to be good enough for them.  I've been out of a teaching for a year now and I got to date one of the moonbasa models for a while!

I LOVE MY JOB!  I am employed at EET-Baotou.  80 percent of my time there is great!  Everywhere I have worked has had good and bad points.  If you do not like where you are, LEAVE.  Only a brain dead moron stays in a non-productive, unenjoyable relationship.  If you'd like to join a wonderful company and you want to TEACH (not whine, not get paid for doing nothing and not generally be a bad example) join US.  If you want to do those other things...LEAVE.  What reasonable reason would you possible have for staying.  From a happy LAOWAI.

as a navie speaker, It is a plus that wont put you under of pressure. what's more, salary is higher than the locals. why not enjoy teaching job?

I love teaching here in China- be the pay large or small. I came to China to teach, and unfortunately that's not the case for most foreigners. Most come to waste time, party, find a woman, or even run away- so of course these types aren't going to 'like' teaching...and have no desire to be a teacher. But if you honestly want to teach and experience China- I think it's a great way to go. There is enough flexibility that you don't feel tied down (only one year contracts) and enough structure provided (preset classes and teaching plans) so that new teachers don't feel overwhelmed. If you don't like what you're doing at one job then it's easy to find something that might fit you better.

I've gone from teacher, to class planner, to director- and seen a lot of changes in what it means to be an English teacher in these past 8 plus years...and I still love it. I think it's a lot harder currently then it was before since we've seem to get a lot of people who were struggling in their own countries come in and flood the market with 'white faces'...but even so I think that the pool of teachers will slowly lessen and better opportunities will come back.

Actually I hear that recent numbers show that the percentage of Americans has decreased, owing perhaps to a strengthening job market, and that the percentage of EU applicants has increased, owing to the financial mess in Europe. In any case, I have also noticed a tightening of the rules -- or rather is it an application of the rules concerning the two-year previous work experience and in my province at least, a degree plus TESOL.  Additionally, depending upon how the wind blows, sometimes they admit candidates from the non-Big 5 countries and sometimes they do not.

yes wiping butts 12 hours a day