Job Discussion Forums

jeffinflorida · Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject:

Gee this thread sounds so familure.

Oh this is so similar to the one I posted at my last university where they changed all these class times, never let me know, and then expected me to make up classes on Saturdays and Sundays and I never answered the knock at the door. Or showed up for their make up classes that they never told me about.

I stood my ground and refused to yield to their incompetence - I hope 7696 holds his own as well.

At one university I was supposed to give a Saturday class for some odd reason. Only a few students showed up because they had scheduled one of these exams the students always seem to take - a CET 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 - so I thanked those who showed up - and said class is over have a good weekend!

Sonnet · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 235 Location: South of the river

If you want to be treated professionally, then act professionally. I'm sure it's good fun not showing up to class & posting online about how exciting it is, but I'd be very surprised if it makes your situation any better.

I didn't go to class for one weekend. That was when my school didn't get me a residence permit & Z visa in time, hence leaving me illegal. I figured that was worth striking over. I guess we all have our own different limits.

Anyhow, 's your life & I guess you're keeping a few people on here entertained Wink

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

thepreferrednomenclature · Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 80 Location: Beijing, Chaoyang

I would recommend other new teachers follow the best advice Sina offered, subsequently ignored:

If you have an entire week to clarify a schedule issue, do it.

Less drama. Less primadonna.

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

Malsol · Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 1976 Location: Lanzhou

Sinko · Joined: 21 Apr 2005 Posts: 349

7969, my advice to you was simply, my advice. What stand you take is your decision. And I certainly admire you for that. It took a lot of guts to do what you did. You obviously had been contemplating this for a week and, as you have been teaching here for quite some time, it wasn't easy. My concern is what will happen to you from now on. I fear that you may have stepped on someone's toes and could pay for it ultimately. I have been around for quite a while (yes, I'm older than Kev!!!) and from my experience in China, it appears to me that "guanxi" goes a long way in this country. Your attitude is important to them as it rubs off onto the kids you teach. By all means have your say. Be firm, if necessary. But be careful of how you express your frustration. Don't go to extremes. It's easy to say this in hindsight, isn't it, but you must contain yourself. At times you may have to bite your pride (Lord knows how many times I've done this) but it will always work out for the good.
There is no right or wrong answer here. It depends on your attitude and the level of Administrative incompetence you encounter. Some places may have people who just forget things, some places may have complete idiots. You have to use your discretion on how you vent your frustration. Just remember to be very careful and professional on how you display yourself. (Thank you Dr. Joyce Brothers............)
Kev, Kev, Kev. Thank you for referring to me as "young". I'm sorry but I'm a tad older than you. In fact, I know a lot more about you than you realise. Why?? Because I was just at the school you mentioned. In fact, I was in your old room!!! Hey, what happened to all the crockery and cutlery (just joking, LOL Laughing

)?? When you decide to write accurate information, I will decide to give you accurate answers!!
Roger. Please read my text again. You will notice I used the word "regularly" not "DAILY". And the fact you highlighted "DAILY" by using capitals shows how confused you really are.
JIF, did you pay back the money???

jeffinflorida · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 3:48 am Post subject:

7969 · Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 5782 Location: Coastal Guangdong

sinko, thanks for your post once again.

in hindsight perhaps i should have included more information in my original post as i did take a some flak here for what i did. at any rate, i want to say again for the benefit of those who dont read all the posts in threads, i didnt take this action based on one isolated incident. it just so happened that this was my first chance to give back a bit of what i've gotten.

i do realize guanxi is important here. but i dont (maybe to my own detriment as you say sinko) put much stock in it. i come to class, do my job and i'm on my way. i dont choose to get too involved with school admin or the chinese staff outside of work and i prefer to lead my own life away from the school. some may take that as offensive but thats the way it is. i have a lot of time for students, i enjoy going to classes, and they enjoy seeing me (most of them), however admin people are another issue. i'm not here for career advancement, or wads of money (altho that would be nice), and if i lost the job tomorrow, i'd just move on to something else, somewhere else.

to be fair, the school has done some things right. however, they seem to counteract those rights by almost immediately committing another wrong. and perhaps i see school admin in a light different than others here, as i have a black african colleague who isnt always treated as well as he should be. at any rate, i think the dean who questioned my absence last week got the message as i was apologized to (in a roundabout way). noone else has approached me so far so perhaps its all in the past now.

if not, then come what may.... Very Happy

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

I pm-ed you Sinko, hope you can respond. Publically here I'd like to say that, seeing that you are working at my previous school and you are getting satisfaction when it comes to this particular issue, then I must've left some sort of legacy behind, yes? (okay, don't answer that - - it's probably not such a good legacy!) Cool

Maybe the two years of my (and others) complaining may have gotten them to be a little more responsible towards their "valued" FTs!

adventuramust · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 126

7969, Kev, and Roger are all right on the money. Months of asking for the dates of Spring Fest I would be told by my FAO 'I don't know', 'it is too early etc...

Spring Fest arrived and I repeated told him I would depart for a couple of weeks. I notify him of the departure date and return date. I returned to find an email from him (never would respond to my emails about plumbing problems etc) three days after I left asking when I would return and another saying school had started earlier by choice of parents. He didn't realize I didn't have class on that day.

Anyway, repeated attempts for any kind of information are a joke. I am notified hours before classes I am suppose to cover as well as sports events.

The afore mentioned gentlemen are absolutely correct!

jeffinflorida · Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject:

Adventuramust:

What you have described is an all to common problem with many Chinese schools. The concerns of the FT are typically not an issue with the FAO or school but their decision to leave you out of the loop when it comes to announcing class schedule changes is a well-documented issue.

So many FTs generalize that "Well that is the way the Chinese do business" is such a lame excuse. Exrything is rush-rush when they need to have something done but when your heater or air conditioner is broken it can take them weeks to fix it.

At a school I worked at another FT had his microwave stop working. The Dumb FAO chick told him it would take 4-5 weeks to send it for repair! I told her just buy him a new one - the loyalty you will get from him will be worth the price. Her response was, "No, we must try and get it fixed...� On top of that his hot plate was also broken.

It took them 1 week to fix my Air Conditioner during the hottest week of Summer.

the only thing you can do is to stand up for yourself and don't let them take advantage of you.

Ruth · Joined: 02 Feb 2004 Posts: 105 Location: China

I'm well into my third contract year with the same school. My husband and I are the only FTs here. We don't have an FAO. We are well taken care of, but the information thing is minimal. We've learned to cope by being pro-active and asking questions. It's a ritual for me now, every day I have scheduled classes, to ask if my classes are still on.

My classes are cancelled regularly because they are scheduled during the periods of the week when the majority of the students have 'study alone' time. If there are any school-wide events, announcements, or TV programs about whatever to watch, those are the periods when they happen, therefore, no class for me. How do I find out about these cancellations? Certainly NOT days in advance by memo from the admin. Usually the day of, and sometimes only minutes ahead of time. Once I had begun my lesson when the loud speaker started talking. The students informed me it was something they should be listening to but they wanted me to keep teaching. A student jumped up on a desk and pulled the wires out of the speaker. I kept teaching.

My main sources of information are my Chinese-English teacher colleagues. They will mention to me that I might not have classes this afternoon because such-and-such is happening. Then I go running to the VPs office for confirmation. Sometimes the other teachers don't find out about changes until the last minute. Example, last Tues a co-worker was going to sit in on my lesson. Five minutes before the bell she got a phone call. 'Oh, I can't go to your lesson, I have to supervise my students while they listen to the announcement about the law.' Much discussion amongst the others in Chinese. Back to me: 'Maybe you won't have a lesson because the entire school has to listen.' Sure enough... So, who decided and WHEN that this announcement was going to be made? It lasted longer than one period, so my next class was cancelled too.

I've decided that I'm not so important as deserving of special treatment. The weekly schedules are posted and the other teachers read them to know what is going on. I used to expect that someone would remember that I can't read these darn things, but that just doesn't happen consistently. Now that I know how things work here, proactive behavior on my part seems to work the best. When there are three days of exams for one grade during the week and the other two grades have a 'weekend' on Wed, Thur and Fri, we now anticipate that Sat and Sun will become Thur and Fri and we will likely be teaching. Have to ask about it well in advance in order to avoid surprises, though. Once got a phone call on a Sunday afternoon - 'your class begins in one hour'. No, it doesn't. I don't work on Sundays. My pissy attitude didn't change anything, other than to affirm to myself that I expect notice. I still expect notice if I'm being asked to do something extra - like teach on a weekend, but cancelled classes no longer phase me. This school doesn't expect me to make them up.