Job Discussion Forums

[ColinA]

In a new twist to globalization:
For a hundred years, Chinese have made their way to the West, often illegally, to end up doing dangerous, low-paying jobs often in sweatshop conditions. Now some foreigners, desperate for some excitment in their mundane lives are drawn by the mystique of a new culture, by China's growth and hunger for English lessons and are landing in the schoolhouse version of the Chinese sweatshop.

It has been reported that an American recently ended up dead. Darren Russell, 35, from Calabasas, Calif., died under mysterious circumstances days after a dispute caused him to quit his teaching job in the southern city of Guangzhou. "I'm so scared. I need to get out of here," Russell said in a message left on his father's cell phone hours before his death in what Chinese authorities said was a traffic accident.

As China opens up to the world, public and private English-language schools are proliferating. While many treat their foreign teachers decently, and wages can run to $1,000 /month plus board, lodging and even airfare home, complaints about bad experiences in fly-by-night operations are very much on the rise. The British Embassy in Beijing warns on its Web site about breaches of contracts, unpaid wages and broken promises. The U.S. Embassy says complaints have increased eightfold since 2004 to two a week on average.

Though foreign teachers in South Korea, Japan and other countries have run into similar problems, the number of allegations in China is much higher because "the rule of law is still not firmly in place," said a U.S. Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"A number of substandard English language teaching mills have sprung up, seeking to maximize profits while minimizing services," the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee said in a recent report on Russell's case. These institutes have become virtual "'sweatshops' where young, often naive Americans are held as virtual indentured servants."

One young american said officials at her school in Hebei province piled on classes without compensation, dragged their feet on repairing leaks in her apartment and would deduct sums from her $625 monthly salary for random taxes and phone calls that were never made. These ranged from $30 to $85, she said.

She recalled nights without electricity when there was nothing to do but sit in candlelight. The more "we let them get away with, the more they tried to get away with," she said.
But also on Dave's ESL Cafe is an anonymous warning from a teacher about a school in China's south.

"They will use you, abuse you, cheat you, and disrespect you," it says. "You will hear it all when they want you to sign the contract. Then after it's oh sorry that isn't in your contract or a bunch of excuses that go on and on."'
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Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

[frank d]

Many thanks, ColinA,

But the entire Associated Press article and the ensuing reaction from some FTs can be found in an earlier discussion thread entitled: "Wow anyone seen this article" (Aug. 5, 2006 by OP Kerrilee).

[Super Mario]

As well as another interesting article re: internet stalking, that got deleted. Too close to home maybe.