Job Discussion Forums

[papuadn]

[Dream_Seller]

We are different. For now, I want to invest in my financial future and I have not found how degrees (buying a job) pays higher than buying houses. Let my coins be slaves for me, let their backs ache, working day and night ...for me. The world is yours.

[Modernist]

[papuadn]

[Modernist]

Low pay is low pay. You get what you pay for. Paying 1000 USD or less per month, guess what? You'll get, majority of the time, people with little or no qualifications, and the attitude of 'why bother' or 'whatever, just let me stand here and talk for 50 minutes'. God knows I have met a number of those sorts here, and so has anyone living here for more than 2 weeks. They might even be the majority of FTs in this country.

Who would come all the way here and deal with all the issues, all the tormented ways of doing simple things, the loss of any kind of familiarity, the difficulty connecting with Chinese in any sort of meaningful way, the Internet blocks and expensive stuff that should be cheap and the long waits to receive goods from abroad, and all the other stuff that a look on this forum will easily show you, and then also make a salary that is literally poverty wages in your home country, and then ALSO make a serious effort at being a serious instructor? There are only 2 kinds of people that would do that, which are the weird China cultural enthusiasts (they want to study Buddhism, or get permanent residency, or believe TCM is real, whatever), and then semi-retired people with external income from property and investments who just want something to do with themselves instead of playing golf and watching Fox News all day.

People who are working age want to be paid sufficiently to live decently and save. 1000 USD isn't going to cut it. You pay the minimum, you get the minimum. If Chinese Unis want better teachers, they should offer more money. If they get people who are crappy but still want big salaries, fire them. They can avoid that problem by actually interviewing people seriously, which would require some effort on the part of the FAOs, for a change. Both of my jobs here have had interviews lasting less than 10 minutes. And they wonder how lazy instructors get hired. Find me a professional American job that will hire you after 10 minutes or less of conversation.

[papuadn]

[Dream_Seller]

If thats how those teachers serve, their rewards (salary) will catch up to them to reflect what they contribute in time.

I want to improve also and can also learn from experienced teachers too. I have learned things from those with over 10 years experience with MATESOLS and they made things look more like an artform. I can save tons of money just learning from them.


There are recruiters even within the forum posing as teachers. Headhunters I guess.Or perhaps just practing English.

[Modernist]

[rioux]

[thechangling]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

[nimadecaomei]

I would say this is a lack of clarification on the schools part. The school I work for now and my previous job both had prearranged to get the teachers bank accounts. We go in and there is a window just for this to be done because it was organized. About 10 minutes a teacher and the teller speaks at least some English.

I also noticed a new trend this year in China. Previously, all important transactions had to be done through the local branch where you opened your account or the main branch in the city it was opened (even for Chinese citizens). Now, any branch will do any transaction in any city.

[rioux]

[OhBudPowellWhereArtThou]

In the U.S., one cannot teach in a university (or any other post-secondary institute) with a BA or BS degree. Those who work in colleges and universities in China should be glad that they have the job. They may not be getting paid enough for them to buy a luxury condo in Dalian, but they have a job in China that they wouldn't have in the U.S. (or probably anywhere else in the English-speaking west).

Those who hold a masters degree and teach in Chinese universities in colleges for the monetary equivalent of $1000.00 USD per month actually have it much better than their counterparts in the U.S.. First of all, it is very difficult to get a teaching position at a university with no prior college-level teaching experience. It has become increasingly difficult for English teachers to get a full-time job in a university or college even with previous college or university teaching experience. The trend in the United States is to hire adjunct (or part-time) lecturers to save on insurance and other benefits.

If a holder of an MA or MSc degree is fortunate to land a job in a U.S. college or university, the best that he may get is a three-year contract which is not automatically renewable. Worse, Masters levels lecturers (if they are lucky enough to teach full-time) work 25 class hours of freshman level writing which is almost as big a burn-out as its counterpart in China. For that, they are usually paid bottom scale of of roughly $25,000.00 USD per year to start. They may get pay increases every contract, but only if they manage to be re-hired year after year. They do not get any housing, housing stipend, or any such benefit. They are usually allowed to pay into a state insurance fund. That's the big benefit.

Ph.Ds? Guess what? Most Ph.Ds at universities nowadays are adjunct professors who may work only 3-6 hours per week. No benefits whatsoever.

So if you're working a typical public university job in China, consider yourself lucky, especially if you're a BA or BS level teacher. That rmb 6000 per month job is really not equivalent to a $1,000.00 job in the states.

Really.

[papuadn]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/adjunct-professors-homeless-sex-work-academia-poverty?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

Facing poverty, academics turn to sex work and sleeping in cars
Adjunct professors in America face low pay and long hours without the security of full-time faculty. Some, on the brink of homelessness, take desperate measures