Job Discussion Forums

[Markness]

The smiling dog has spoken!

[MisterButtkins]

[Guerciotti]

[toteach]

PM sent to OP

[NoBillyNO]

[fat_chris]

[NoBillyNO]

smoke responsibly

[mambawamba]

@NoBillyNo Before we all hug and sing kumbaya?

Agreeing with one thing you said has apparently exposed my secret hippy tendencies to the wider population. Bummer.

[NoBillyNO]

"agreeing" is a slippery slope to back sliding to an otherwise "hipster" jet set past ....resist the 007' urges and instead join up with the Beastie Boys; save up cereal boxtops for a license to ill'

[fat_chris]

[thatsforsure]

I wouldn't necessarily tell you to do this or not do this. I don't equate it to child abuse, but I see disadvantages.

-Somebody mentioned traffic. This is huge. The Chinese just don't think about things the way you do. I literally wouldn't feel comfortable letting my kids out of my sight for one second.

-General safety. It isn't just the roads and sidewalks, but the entire environment. For example, you might take your kids to visit a Chinese friend who lives on the 12th floor. There's an excellent chance the windows are unlocked or already open and have no screens, no bars, no nothing to separate your kids from the clear blue sky -- and the cold hard concrete below. Never let them out of your sight. This is one risk of 400,000 similar risks you will encounter every day.

-Health care. In many cases, the care you would want is simply not available in China at any location or any price. The story earlier in the thread about the European who was scalded should not be taken as an exception, but as the rule. There are international clinics in the big cities, but if anything complex arises, they're going to refer to local specialists. Or you're going to need to leave the country.

-To reiterate the points above, any kind of emergency situation, like, God forbid, an accident, stands a chance of not going very well. Be afraid.

-The pollution is bad but unless you're going to be there for several years, I would worry about it to a moderate but not severe degree.

-With the American nanny and homeschooling, your kids are unlikely to learn much Chinese.

-If you get a Chinese nanny, she is not going to share your standards of safety and hygiene. She is also not going to follow your directions, at all, when you're not home. Many wealthy families in China hire nannies from the Philippines for just these reasons.

-Contrary to what someone said, local school is an option. They would be starting out behind the curve, and Chinese schools typically are not good about accommodating any specific needs. Public school is also not free. But it can be done, and some public schools are geared more toward this than others.

-Moving back is a challenge. It's hard to get reestablished in your own society. Years spent teaching in China don't amount to much. As someone said, you're unlikely to save any money.

-Staying long-term isn't much of an option, either. Even the bravest of parents tend to pack up once the elementary years are over. The Chinese school system is geared toward the Gaokao (college entrance exam). Starting in middle school, it involves a crushing intensity that isn't going to do your kids any good if they aren't Chinese citizens planning to enter Chinese universities.

Sorry that I harped on the safety issue, but the basic thing to understand is that China, despite its veneer of development, is a developing country. The issue isn't whether a particular hospital has this equipment or accepts that insurance; it's a matter of worldview. In that sense, you'd be far better off in Japan.

[thechangling]

Children are routinely abused in China by being exposed to insane pressures at very young age of a very long school day (can be 7am to 10pm combination of Public and private schools), and homework comes in large amounts on top of the long school day, and intense competition is put on them to get good grades beginning at the kindy level.
The education environment in China is not conducive to gaining a comprehensive understanding of subjects through questioning, reasoning and investigating within learning, just about competition, conformity, rote learning and passing a continuing plethora of tests. This is why exposing a western child to that environment could be tantamount to child abuse, assuming they are to be integrated into the Chinese school system.
However the biggest danger as others have alluded to is the traffic that has no road rules. The food can be dangerous too aka food poisoning.

[rratliff]

Thank you everyone for the responses, I really appreciate the constructive comments . I talked with my kids doctor and he was kind of worried regarding my daughters allergies and my sons asthma being over there. Are prescription drugs available over there?

I have been debating from the start either Korea, China or Japan. Wherever I can get hired and get my foot into the door.

[rratliff]

Is it likely that my children could be accepted into one of the International schools or a faith school? Are jobs hard to get with these types of schools, especially a newbie like me?

[NoBillyNO]