Job Discussion Forums

ChrisRose · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 427 Location: Hong Kong

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14155896/

Shakespeara · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 18

That's fairly frightening, yes, though one has to wonder, even if complaints against institutions have risen, they don't say any percentanges of people who are happy/unhappy with their jobs. A rise from 2% to 5% would be different from a rise of 10% to like 30% even.

I'm just sometimes quite skeptical of American media, and I'm certain that those people listed truly did have a horrible time. I'm positive that there are bad companies and very, very bad experiences for some people coming over to teach in China, but the article makes it sound like the moment you go to teach in China, you're going to get screwed. I find that to be wrong. So far, my experience has been wonderful, and my few other friends who went and taught on Mainland and not in Hong Kong all had great experiences also. Maybe we just got lucky, but it's not all bad. I'd like to see an article highlighting the great experiences teachers and people have in going to teach aboard also.

ChrisRose · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 427 Location: Hong Kong

The have been a number of horror stories on Daves in teh past.

My reason for posting this is simply to enourage would be teachers to do some background cheaks before boarding a plane to China.

I have heard even worse stories about would be female teachers forced into vice.

The main point is that China, isn't Japan, South Korea ut a still developing country, with little recourse to legal action.

Any teacher going anywhere is advised to conduct basic background checks.

With regards to your post and pointin gto statistics, I find that rather odd.

Chris

adamsmith · Joined: 27 Jan 2006 Posts: 259 Location: wuhan

Chris, you make a valid point, but I must disagree on a technicality. This story could relate to any of the countries in Asia that ESL teachers come to. Having taught in SKorea, I can say that conditions and situations do not differ much and the average ESL teacher also has very little legal recourse when there are problems. I think you will find that there are just as many midnight runs made in Korea as there are in China. The main difference is the pay.
As to female teachers being lured into working vice?? That is a new one on me - although there used to be many situations in Japan in the 70s and 80s - but those people were brought over to work in the entertainment industry usually - not as teachers. I have never heard of that happening in China or even South Korea.
The horror stories do abound here in China - but I think that any one anywhere that is applying for a job needs to check out who they are working for. The biggest problem newbies face is that they are usually responding to positions while they are out of the country making job/school verification much harder to do. The new teacher must rely on photos and possibly fake email communication to check on the school making it difficult to get an accurate picture of what they are getting into.
The biggest problem facing a new teacher is finding the way to do accurate research on schools in China (or other countries) before embarking on thier wonderful ESL adventure.

once again · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 815

It seems to me to be a blown up story about nothing. Two teachers worked in poor conditions and did a runner. A mixture of fear of the yellow peril and a slow news day.

ChrisRose · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Posts: 427 Location: Hong Kong

Good point Once,

Alas, it is not really an isolated case. The story has been carried by syndicated newspapers.

I even saw a copy in the HK Standard.

The reason I posted it here was two fold.

Personally, I would assume being marooned in China, to a newbie would probably be scarier than being marooned in say South Korea of Japan.

I can add value judgement to that both geographically, e.g. the distance to the nearest consulate, and the level of law / justice available in such disputes.

once again · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Posts: 815

I am sure it is not an isolated case....and I am sure their problems were very real. And anyone in a situation of fear and despondancy has my empathy. But the presentation of the article left a lot to be desired. It mentioned that the couple had to leave behind two hundred DVDs. Call me a cynic..but I guess it would have been more accurate to say that they left behind 200 pirate DVDs. The article was written with a particular audience in mind. I guess it would have been damaging for the sympathy, shock and awe horror vote if the fact the DVDs were pirated was mentioned. Of course, tlhey may not have been..and two young people going to teach English in China carried along with them 200 legal DVDs from their own country and hoped for the fact that they would find a multi region player on which to watch them.