Job Discussion Forums

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

I'm teaching English at a decent enough, but ultimately average provincial Chinese university. A third of my teaching schedule concerns a Fresher class of Dentistry students, whose Speaking and Listening skills are being improved for a year spent studying in Glasgow next year. Their English skills are on a par with many of the postgraduates from my other lessons and the class is fairly small. This allows me to follow the occasional tangent and start discussions when interesting points come up, which, when they drop their guard, lends the class an informal atmosphere. The other day, in one such moment, they asked me, a native Scot, about the "very famous university" in Scotland they will be attending. Apparently their study co-ordinaters or the international exchange centre have built it up into some grand ivy league set-up. I had honestly never heard of this "very famous university" and Scotland really isn't that big a country. I was put on the spot and tried to deflect the subject without either parotting the half truths they had been fed or telling them the real truth and risk having the matrix open up for a few seconds. I somehow escaped from the lesson unscathed.....

I duly searched the Internet that night. As I'd suspected, it's a community-based further education college rather than a fully fledged university, with an emphasis on 2-year vocational diplomas (HNDs), part-time study, adult learning, evening classes and so on. That said, it seems to be a well run place and probably one of the better ones in Glasgow for the kind of services it provides. It's conveniently located, seems very pro-active in forging international links, has a Chinese studies department and a well respected school of dental nursing, though not dentistry degrees as such. Though as it will only be the second year of their five year degree though I'd suppose the students will study alongside the dental nursing HND students, get exactly the knowledge they need (as opposed to that which they are given) and have a great time. So why weren't they told this ? Do they really believe that their run-down, underfunded university is able to attract the attention of the top universities in Scotland or indeed any other English (of sorts...) speaking country ? I guess they do.

The subject wasn't brought up again, but as I hope to harness their curiosity and give each situational topic (food, transport, leisure etc) a Scottish/Glaswegian context, it's surely only a matter of time before it is. If it was any other slice of misinformation regarding the outside world, I'd happily correct them, but given their green grassed image of this college, may indeed such a step in this instance jepoardise their undoubted 'intrinsic motivation' for learning English ? Judging from the job adverts posted by Chinese universities, there seems to be a real over-emphasis on league tables here. Do you think the students hold prestige in that high a regard or will they just be happy to be leaving China ? Anyone else been in this situation ?

[Roger]

Don't need to accept a father figure here, man! Let them fend for themselves. They are trying to get out of China by hook and by crook, and Bitain has of late learnt how to recruit well-moneyed Chinese "students".

[burnsie]

Yes, I agree partly with Rodger here. Your not their father figure and also this is for the school to wheel-and-deal not you.

Have you raised the questions with the school? If you haven't then I am sure you will be told it's none of your business and keep out of school affairs.

[Sinobear]

It's futile to try and raise the alarm on this issue. You'll be pegged as "not acting in the school's best interests." My former grads were touted by the "World Famous Pioneer in _________" Uni in the UK which turns out to be nothing more than a declining institution of irrelevent learning. That Uni is now being paired with an even more useless Uni.
Bottom line? The parents of the students want them overseas ASAP. Harvard certainly isn't going to be taking them in the hundreds of thousands. Canada, in times of high demand for student visas, limits its acceptance to those studying for doctorate degrees only. The students will be so disillusioned with life in the West (poor language skills, coupled with ever poorer coping skills) that it wouldn't make a tinkerer's cuss of difference should you try and enlighten them.

Life is a do it yourself project.

Cheers!

[millie]

Hello B-H-N-j,

I have observed this sort of over-selling of programmes that I have been on too. I think that the over-zealous marketing of courses and programmes is quite common in PRC today. The market economy, eh?

I agree there’s not a great deal you can do about it despite the fact that, quite correctly, you feel very uncomfortable with it.

I would add that your culpability in the matter is essentially next to zero and your responsibility is only that of an English teacher.

There are lots of books published in Chinese that give ‘quality ratings’ to various tertiary intuitions overseas; your Ss can seek out information if they wish.

Finally, as you note of course, the Ss will learn something worthwhile at that college and unless they have been promised degrees in dentistry that cannot be had there, it is probably a reasonable arrangement for them.
M

[badtyndale]

It is difficult to ignore the clamour once the students realise that they have in their presence a foreign expert with first hand knowledge of the locations to which they are being shepherded. What you say to them depends upon your own convictions and conscience, which may or may not be modified by your personal situation. As a naive FT in a 'we want the money and we don't care how much we have to lie to the students or their parents' school, I found that the response to my honest evaluations was met with disbelief by the majority. Thus, if the students have been 'indoctrinated' into accepting that there is no other path but the one upon which they currently tread (and that it does indeed lead to the gates of a fragrant rose garden), it will probably not make one iota of difference if you decide to 'come clean' (at least not to the students). The 'special arrangements' that exist between western institutions and Chinese schools are inseparably intertwined with economic considerations that far outweigh 'noble' educational values or meritocratic ideals. In my naivety it took me a little while to realise that providing honest information from which the students could make an informed choice was a complete waste of time. The decisions had already been taken and the plans already made. Whilst not impossible to break out of their 'deals', to do so would render students liable to increased financial burdens and delays in their education because they were, in effect, obligated to finish what they had started.

[Ben H Nevis Jnr.]

I'm not looking to adopt a father figure role for anyone. Hell, I can barely look after myself ! At the same time though, to me it seems like a waste employing someone with first hand experience of the students future host culture who isn't willing to share anything potentially interesting/useful, on the basis that they'll spend the whole year huddled together in their rooms, rocking back and forth drawing doodles of Mao anyway. If we were all unrelenting pessimists, where exactly would you pessimists turn for kicks....unless of course there's an even bleaker outlook out there that hasn't been found yet ???

I'm certainly not going to interfere with the "wheeling and dealing". As someone said, it's really not my responsibility. I don't doubt that economic considerations necessitate a little creative license by both parties.

The question is whether or not I dip my own toe in the murky water.

If I agree with them that their foreign home is this "fragnant rose garden", their enthusiasm will be sustained and my job may be easier. They are not the first students the university have sent across to Glasgow and by most accounts the others loved it (i guess the greasy diet, bad manners, fake sportswear, impenetrable dialect, decaying 1960's housing blocks and high police presence made it a home from home) so presumably they aren't too bothered about the college's lack of prestige once they actually arrive.

Alternatively I could tell them the cold reality and find it doesn't make a blind bit of difference to their classroom motivation. Turns out they don't really want to be dentists anyway and are just looking to get a degree, any degree, with a year abroad. Anywhere. Actually, I remember my own student days being somewhat similar.

We'll see what happens....

[Sinobear]

"No good deed goes unpunished"