Job Discussion Forums

[hesterprynne]

Jizzo T. Clown
Thanks for the reviewer comments- I would like to see more of these.

[cj750]

[Brian Caulfield]

Best reading I have had this year . Thanks Roger . I too must offer an apology for my caustic remarks . You really are a lady's man

[friedrich nietzsche]

You have met some really strange women; I, in my own generalization-prone mind, can only put this down to the fact that you hang out down South. Whenever I visited places like Shenzhen and Guangzhou for any decent length of time, the girls I met had the same enterprising spirit as some of the ones you mentioned. I was based in the North, Beijing and Shandong, and the women, while they could certainly be calculating, had nothing on the ladies I met down South. As for the males you mentioned, I too have met the idealists, the unhappily married and the downright pathetic. One of the downsides of living here was the sheer quantity of foreign fools; I couldn't help but pity most of them and pray that I would not turn out like that. My conclusion on the overwhelming majority of foreigners I met in China is that they should never be let anywhere near a classroom. Having said that, I did have the luck to meet a few excellent professionals and I really learned a lot from them.
(A) The Good;
Mike was a huge black guy and he was more educated than the lovechild of Stephen Hawking and Germaine Greer. He's the only guy I know who has more letters after his name than in his name, and he was sent over by his university to help run a course (basically to prepare Chinese students to enter a foreign university) with a Chinese school linked to his place back home. His Chinese university treated him with the usual patronizing politeness and were totally obstructionist regarding his work. In the end, the only way that the situation could be worked out was that he was given one group to teach as he saw fit. He could work according to the syllabus he designed, and the other group was to be tutored by some pretty boy from Canada. The Chinese students, who had some strange ideas about black people, were far more interested in the pretty boy's class; the Chinese teachers seemed to be of a similar mind as black people were "lazy" and "colour-wolves". Of a group of 30 or so, about 10 chose Mike's class. After the academic year had finished, the students were examined and Mike's group wiped the floor with the kid's. It transpired that all ten of Mike's students had made it, but the kid could only get 7 out of 20 through- I never felt more justified in sneering at anyone or anything in my life, and I most certainly did sneer. In fact, I am still sneering.
The thing I liked about him most was his merciless treatment of Chinese racists. One time, in a bar, he was being teased by some newly-monied peasant; he, with the aid of my translation, went up to him and said "ok, its simple...we'll take them out and measure....whoever is smaller leaves the bar". For some reason, the guy shut up and went back to his wine and sprite. Another redeeming feature was his refusal to give into the pernicious doctrines of Political Correctness- you know that kind of rubbish spouted by affluent white people who are blissfully unaware that most of the rest of the world finds them absurd. He was particularly harsh on all those western fools who, because they are treated like local celebrities, cozy up to the CPC and become, as Lenin would have said, "useful idiots". He had no time for morons.

(B) The Bad;
I usually like Australians but Bill(mid-40ish)was a nasty character. Bill slept with one of his high-school students and expected me to pat him on the back. This quite a difficult situation because I wasn't sure how the administration would react if I chose to bring the issue to their attention. Luckily I was on exceptionally good terms with the vice-principal, and we worked out what to do. The VP was well in with the local PSB and the matter was handled quietly. He was called in and dismissed without delay. Within the week, he had left the PRC. I don't know where he is now; my more optimistic side hopes that he is sharing a cell with Gary Glitter.

(C) The Ugly;
Frank was in love with another foreign teacher called Monica. Monica had followed Frank to China so that they could be together. After about a year, they broke up when Monica had incorrectly accused Frank of sleeping with some local translator. After about 8 months Monica called me and said that she wanted to talk to me; she realized that she was totally wrong and wanted Frank back. The problem was that 8 months had passed and Frank had just started a realtionship with a Chinese teacher. This realtionship was a private one because the girl feared some sort of reaction from the Communists, so I couldn't really tell Monica what was happening. I told her that I would talk to Frank and see what he had to say. After telling Frank of what Monica had said, Frank made it clear that he was in no mood for a reconcilliation. Its hard to keep a secret in China, and Frank's relationship with the teacher (Tian) was soon a public thing. Her bosses had no problems with it but Monica sure did. So what did Monica do?
She let it be known that Ms Tian had come between the two of them but embellished it to a terrible degree. Now the story was that they had been about to reconcile, but that Tian had lured her man away. She began to organize social events for the other FTs and neglected to invite Frank; she began to call Frank late at night when she knew his girlfriend was staying over; she often visited him with some excuse and tried to seduce him; she tried to fix it so that the other FTs would not associacte with Miss Tian; she even started a story about seeing them going into the STD clinic.
The mood turned ugly and the other FTs finally saw that she was driven more by bitterness than righteous anger. This woman was an ugly character and I tend to think that Frank was lucky to escape. Frank has since married Tian and they are working on kid number two.

[Roger]

Thanks to all for participating in this thread, and to Friedrich in particular for his instructive contribution!

[pc-pocket]

Could you advise on what would be the value of these friends of yours to us in the teaching profession?

I guess you are not going to suggest that your acquaintances are supposed to enlighten us?

[cj750]

[pc-pocket]

[friedrich nietzsche]

I think there is some value to this topic. The kind of people that a place attracts says a lot about that place. From a professional point of view, I would want to know about the kind of peers I might have before I move to another country to teach. From the quality of teachers who go to a country, we can deduce much about teaching conditions in this country. In the case of China, we can see that conditions are not the best. If I get reports that some place attracts lots of qualified and stable people, I would assume I would be happier there than in a country that attracts losers. I might also assume that I would be paid more and given more in the way of personal development.

[shenyanggerry]

Friedrich, don't be too concerned. Only the unusual ones got mentioned. Remember, only 'the frogs that jumped out of the pond' wind up in China. The 'two kids and a house in suburbia' types never make it here in the first place.

Sure there's some interesting characters here. There are also some excellent teachers.

[jg]

I like the personal stories and I hope more people contribute. I have no colorful stories, or at least none about China come to mind. The truly personal about my relationships: I don't dare. But I do admire the bravery of others.

[hesterprynne]

"Think of truckers or bureaucrats: both are relatively lonely while doing their chores; and if they quit their posts they won't get a new position in the same field abroad!" Not trying to nit pick, but are truckers different in South Africa?

[Roger]

[hesterprynne]

Ah, not so different after all. Except in the U.S., the prostitutes walk through the parking lot of the truck stop and are called "lot lizards". Interesting about the roads- that would be one major difference. But about the labor turnover, it is quite easy and common to leave one company and go to another if one's driving record permits.

[pc-pocket]

Roger has for colleague at his HS a truck driver that is carrying loads of AIDS...