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The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing
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 Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 4:58 pm Post subject: |
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| chinanoodles wrote: |
| Exactly what meaning is the population to area ratio supposed to have? I don't see any relation at all. Perhaps I missed it. |
Some people use China's huge population as a reason why it's difficult to develop this or modernize in that. But it is a moot point because proportionately South Korea and Japan and Taiwan also started with a large population of 'poor farmers in the countryside'.
Number is irrelevant it's purely proportional, and that is the point I am making.
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| Yes, salaries are low for many jobs in China, especially entry level positions and no/low skill positions. Groundbreaking this is not. |
Nah.
Waitresses and shop assistants and factory workers can make well over 2k a month, room and board (dorm-style) included.
Entry-level English teachers with a Master's in English?
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| I can pretty much promise you that if the gov't felt the people were getting pissed off about it enough to matter then they would intervene. The last thing this country (and any other) wants is an angry population. It should rightly be the only thing they fear. |
They do interfere, it's called blocking the internet and arresting any complainers.
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| 2k/month is livable. |
My neighbours and students' parents disagree.
Depends on one's description of slavery. No days off, 12+ hours a week in my mind constitutes slavery.
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| Also, that would only be their salary, they also have retirement and healthcare paid for or subsidized by the employer. Not to mention, most Chinese find ways to make 'additional' income. You mentioned the salary of Chinese teachers being low. Maybe. I wonder how some of them afford BMW's.... |
Exactly my point!
The low wages beg people to bend the rules and do 'grey' business.
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| My wife used to work for an English school earning 1.5k/month and not as a teacher. I can assure you she supplemented her income nicely. This has little bearing on anything though. I agree that inflation in China is an issue but I can't agree with most of your statements. |
Sorry for that. We will have to agree to disagree on these issues because all the Chinese friends that I have say the complete opposite.
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| As for the push to educate their students...you's have to be pretty blind to not acknowledge that as a fact. Only the US pushes out more PhD's. Also, you forgot to mention something about the Gao Kao. You must take the test where your Hu Kou Ben lists you as residing. If it does not list her as residing in Beijing she'd have to take the test in her hometown. She can use that test to go to University in Beijing but she'd have to score significantly higher then Beijingren to be considered. I can't say if the test is easier in one province vs another, I simply do not know. Seems likely though. |
Yes, so if you study middle school and high school in Beijing (where the content is much easier for students) you have to go back to your hometown and write an exam that in many cases will not have the same things that you studied.
The Gao Kao is lopsided in favour of those in the major cities. In the countryside it's even more ridiculous. Using terms and words that they are not even taught in school just to keep them out of high education.
And yes, it is well documented. |
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xjgirl
Joined: 02 Feb 2010
Posts: 242
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 3:25 am Post subject: |
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so who are gaokao experts here?
I'm not.
one thing i do know though is when i taught in xinjiang, we had a lot of students who'd come out from shandong to do Gao 3 in xinjiang
the reasoning was that students in shandong need really high points on the exam compared to xinjiang students
how it exactly works, i really have no idea.
is it not one exam for everyone?
do different areas have different papers?
if someone is from the locality of a university and scores lower than
someone from outside that locality can they still get preference for university entry in that locality? |
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chinanoodles
Joined: 13 May 2011
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:51 am Post subject: |
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| xjgirl wrote: |
so who are gaokao experts here?
I'm not.
one thing i do know though is when i taught in xinjiang, we had a lot of students who'd come out from shandong to do Gao 3 in xinjiang
the reasoning was that students in shandong need really high points on the exam compared to xinjiang students
how it exactly works, i really have no idea.
is it not one exam for everyone?
do different areas have different papers?
if someone is from the locality of a university and scores lower than
someone from outside that locality can they still get preference for university entry in that locality? |
Not one exam for everyone.
You must take the exam where your hu kou ben lists you as living.
Students who wish to attend University in the same province they took the test will not need to score as high as somebody from another province who wants to attend the same Uni.
For example. A friend of the family wanted their daughter to attend Uni in Beijing but she was not going to score high enough to be accepted since she is not Beijingren. Her parents managed to have the Hu Kou ben changed to list her residence as Beijing and she was able to score high enough since she was considered a local. As an outsider, she would not have gained admission.
Where you actually live has no bearing on where you can take the exam. It depends on what is stated on your papers and it is not always easy to change it. Others here have said the difficulty of the test varies between provinces, I believe this completely just am too lazy to look into it.
I am not an expert, just relaying what my wife tells me and I have heard elsewhere. |
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wangdaning
Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 3154
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| Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:34 am Post subject: |
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It is odd the things you read here. My wife makes more than 2000 without even leaving the house. She doesn't work 80 hours a week, weekends, holidays, or when she doesn't want to.
She also never took the gaokao and obviously didn't go to uni. Four years of uni means nothing without experience. I can get by on less than 2000 a month, but it is not very fun. |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:39 am Post subject: |
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Oh, please!
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| so who are gaokao experts here? |
That's probably our biggest problem teaching English on mainland China. Maybe, 'cause we can't be utilized well enough our salaries will not go up. |
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Johnny_Utah
Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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| do a little research on gaokao english, there are some books on it. Then make up some flyers that say you are an expert on teaching gaokao enlish, tutoring starts at 200 yuan an hour, let them talk you down to 150 if they won't pay 200. Or send notes home with your students for their parents suggesting the student needs some extra "help" with his english, and that they should contact you regarding tutoring him. The point is, think more like Chinese teachers, and do not be afraid to wade into the "grey" area of Chinese economy. |
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Silent Shadow
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
Posts: 380
Location: A stones throw past the back of beyond
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:27 am Post subject: |
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| Johnny_Utah wrote: |
| do a little research on gaokao english, there are some books on it. Then make up some flyers that say you are an expert on teaching gaokao enlish, tutoring starts at 200 yuan an hour, let them talk you down to 150 if they won't pay 200. Or send notes home with your students for their parents suggesting the student needs some extra "help" with his english, and that they should contact you regarding tutoring him. The point is, think more like Chinese teachers, and do not be afraid to wade into the "grey" area of Chinese economy. |
...and then catch a lot of flak from parents when their little emperor/ empress fails their gaokao.
"huan gei wo wode qian!"  |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| Don't you guys have any pride? Teaching gao what..? Come on! Are you experts or gold diggers? |
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chinanoodles
Joined: 13 May 2011
Posts: 74
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:53 am Post subject: |
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| Johnny_Utah wrote: |
| do a little research on gaokao english, there are some books on it. Then make up some flyers that say you are an expert on teaching gaokao enlish, tutoring starts at 200 yuan an hour, let them talk you down to 150 if they won't pay 200. Or send notes home with your students for their parents suggesting the student needs some extra "help" with his english, and that they should contact you regarding tutoring him. The point is, think more like Chinese teachers, and do not be afraid to wade into the "grey" area of Chinese economy. |
Is this the fast track guide for losing your job or something?
I've seen FT's who are brazen enough to print up flyers and also to try and siphon students from schools where they work. It rarely ends well for the FT.
If you are teaching here legally, your sponsoring school likely won't be thrilled with your entrepreneurship. If you are working illegally, you may as well print up T-shirts that say "Please Deport Me!!111!" |
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igorG
Joined: 10 Aug 2010
Posts: 1473
Location: asia
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:12 am Post subject: |
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| Oh, fast track my arse. Is this about the legality of teaching or professionalism? Many of us know what gaokao is or stands for. Hasn't it destroyed the local poorly English speaking population on mainland China? And, it's not just about the poor English language test and prep but some other subjects as well, isn't it? I bet you know some locals that've worked so hard to pass it well. |
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kev7161
Joined: 06 Feb 2004
Posts: 5880
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a news article that ties in nicely with this thread/theme:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43600432/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/
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It's China's turn to wrestle with a pile of bad debt
Massive infrastructure spending has created a mountain of bad loans
�There a lot of dry tinder on the ground,� said James Rickards, head of market intelligence at the research firm Omnis. �What's the match? The match is inflation. The inflation rate is 5.5 percent. But food inflation is 10 percent.� |
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Happy Everyday
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
Posts: 268
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samhouston
Joined: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 418
Location: LA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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Chinese women buy three times more Maseratis and twice as many Ferraris than Western women, according to a blog article published on Forbes.com on July 4.
As female enjoy greater freedom and opportunities in the world's fastest economy, the number of wealthy women is also on the increase. In fact, a third of China�s millionaires are women, and "they buy a disproportionately large share of high-performance sports cars". |
From the above posted link. Sounds like a load of crap to me. The women/girls you see in Shanghai (the ones needing two people to direct them how to parallel park their Maseratis) look suspiciously like they do a lot of whiny gimme-gimme. Yes, maybe they enjoy more "freedom and opportunities," and maybe they actually went to the car dealership themselves, but I seriously doubt they paid with money they made.
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| In China, women are ambitious...so they will buy more 'high powered' products than women in the US or Europe |
I think the word he's looking for is pretentious. |
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Zero
Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 1402
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| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:11 pm Post subject: |
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| but I seriously doubt they paid with money they made. |
Totally agree. |
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Happy Everyday
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
Posts: 268
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| Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 11:19 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.1000plan.org/
That plan finally got implemented. There is the link. In just a few years, it has lead to more foreigners being employed in the private sector of China than Education. I'm very impressed by that. I'm familiar with some other sectors that are opening. Hiring foreigners is a requirement due to maintaining trade agreements. I hate to say it, but China did not appear to want to open other jobs but had to do so in compliance with WTO regulations. Other countries complained, and there was much discussion on the matter. Be that as it may be, after getting around to implementing the hiring plan and shifting it from "Chinese only" to including foreigners, it has lead to more foreigners than ever and the overshadowing of FTs. This shift happened within two to three years time.
I'm also highly impressed to know of Chinese workers in the countryside who own cars. The changes are rapid. I have yet to see foreigners get rich per se even though some companies do quite well with their minority share of joint venture profits. I've read of instances of foreigners getting green cards to stay, but it appears that a long life in China remains rare. But I don't know, things change fast in China. The working conditions for FTs appear to have worsened each year unless you can negotiate. I've recently talked with a variety of schools, and, so far, none were open to negotiations. That's a new twist in recent years, but I don't believe it's like that for all schools. Starting out, my Chinese friends do endure some hard working conditions in China, worse than most foreigners have, but they seem to negotiate their way into better working situations over time-- the same as they're able to do in USA. So, I'm happy to see that improvement too. |
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