Job Discussion Forums

[Shan-Shan]

Not all degree factories in China are like this: some, perhaps many, probably do prefer experience and a good academic background in their teachers. The factory where I put in my hours, however, apparently doesn't.

Two teachers, both of which have been here for four years, were politely told upon receiving their pay that they weren't needed for next year. The two men, one a Masters holder and another with a PhD, immediately went to their department head to inquire why (they had asked about contract renewal, and expressed a desire to remain, one month ago). No complaints had been lodged over the years, and their relations with students are very professional and helpful.

The department head explained that as this year the school was being reviewed -- a process that ensures the right number of beverage ads on campus is never under quota -- it would "look" good if the deparment had a Masters and PhD recipient staff. But since their part of the review was over, the teachers were no longer needed. The two teachers asked whether or not their positions had become obsolete (I should mention that they are the only foreign staff in, of all departments, the English department, the one department one would imagine English teachers might be required). Well, the positions, their soon to be former positions, were now being advertised, though the two men were not asked to reapply.

There has been debates here before about whether a Masters degree should be required to teach the English language at degree factories in China. Personally, I feel that experience, i.e. a proven teaching method which actually gets students learning and retaining English, and evidence of having been educated beyond secondary school, should be adequate for foreign English language trainers/foreign teachers/foreign experts/ foreign supercalifragilisticexpialidocious linguistic engineers; just having a Masters degree in Business does not guarantee that students will magically learn English (business, hopefully, but why English?). The person in front of them may possess a Masters degree, a light much brighter than the low watt BA, of course, but he/she may not necessarily be capable of leading the students anywhere they haven't already been before with the Chinese English language teacher. Literature is another field (but given the paucity of resources at most universities, I can't even imagine how English literature could be taught when students are expected to use secondary sources) where a higher academic background does sound reasonable.

Yet when there are already a doctorate and graduate on staff, who are more than the sum of the letters on their degrees, why axe them? My guess: the academic factory is looking for high-school grads who are in turn looking for the time of their life in the mystical, magical land of purple clouds and floating dreams (or just leading up on rumours of cheap piss beer and big colourful fun advertisements in culturally blah cities).

Any other thoughts?

[KWhitehead]

wait-- four years? it was a four year review?

[Shan-Shan]

The "review" itself is only two weeks; the preparations -- fluffing all the cushions, finding the optimum illumination for power point displays, and practicing an array of sycophantic songs and dances in the VIP room -- takes about a year.

My post was perhaps a bit unclear, then. The teachers have been at the factory for four years, and recently took part in the recent "preparations" (maybe not the pillow fluffing). Now that their part in the charade is over, the factory said that their credentials no longer serve much of a purpose (as we already know here in China, so much is just for the show).

The two teachers originally arrived via a placement program. There is the likelihood that no one else wished to work here at the time, and the factory was just lucky to be handed two teachers, one with an MA and one with a PhD. But now that the showing off of the advanced degrees has passed, there just might not be a need to pay the extra kuai a month it takes to house a PhD when he's only teaching the English language (i.e. not a "specialty" subject like mechanical engineering or bio-chemistry,for example).

I've sat in on several of the Chinese teachers English classes: they themselves seem to know little about language teaching methodology (just reciting grammar rules, giving definitions of words, and sometimes just asking students to do the same). Based on those observations, I might hazard a guess that the factory places little importance in their English language classes. With such an attitude, I don't think that they would be too bothered if they could save some extra kuai by hiring a couple of fresh undergrads with majors in computer science and biology to teach English.

[Susie]

So you have to find a new teaching position at a different university, right?

Perhaps the powers that be will realise the error of their decision to drop you later on.

[Shan-Shan]

I'm still working at the factory -- perhaps it's because I'm just too expendable to be expendable.

The terminations do not involve me directly. I only posted the message to find out if anyone else at an academic factory had seen this kind of behaviour from their overlords: teachers being refused new contracts because their degress were viewed as unnecessarily advanced.

So Susie, I did not come here to whine about my loss of a job (if that indeed was your presumption). I still have my place on the assembly line in the factory. And if there is a Damoclean blade high up in the rusted rafters, I'm not all that worried: if need be, I'll happily walk, decapitated head in hand, to the next factory if the sword should fall.

[dajiang]

Your analysis sounds good to me.
Your colleagues are let go because of the higher salary, and the school might hope to get a newbie that will do (in their eyes at least) more or less the same job for much less money. Are you one of the people being let go btw?

Anyway, it's quite telling of the school's attitude to education. And obviously the review is now not valid anymore. How about informing the reviewers that whatever they came up with should now be checked again? Dunno if you (they) are feeling vengeful?

Care to share which school this is btw? Just curious. And it might provide some more insight for those people applying for these 'new vacancies'.

Dajiang

[Susie]

I understand now that you are not one of the teachers who needs to look for another job, right?

Their contracts are about to expire, and the university doesn't need such highly qualified staff now that the review has been completed. The university leader wants to send them on their way with a compliment (such high quals are not needed for the coming year) rather than an insult (your teaching methodology was ineffective). It used to be the case that foreigners were not allowed to be hired by the same employer for a certain number of years (5 I think).

Does the university leader have to give a reason for not renewing a contract?