Job Discussion Forums

jeffinflorida

I work for a school teaching business. So far the school is just rating so-so in their promises.

The first month was spent in a school hostel that could be summed up as totally disgusting.

We were promised on campus accommodations with the usual perks but upon arrival told that the new teacher housing would not be available for 2 more weeks. Of course that 2 weeks spread to 5 weeks�and now we moved to the promised on campus accommodations.

So here�s my issue. The school I work for is affiliated with a Canadian college. To this schools students they promote this as honor and an achievement. The reality is that the Canadian school � as told to me by a Canadian teacher here � is at the lowest end of the Canadian college system spectrum and has zero credibility in Canada.

So the school I work for charges students 25,000 rmb a year for the privilege of attending their school and its Canadian affiliation. The students think they are attending a high quality Western affiliated college and receiving a quality education. This is far from the truth of course.

So here�s my issue�

The next part of the semester I need to teach an accounting course to non-accounting majors. No problem for me really but here�s the problem: The school is not providing textbooks to these students and wants me to photo copy the book and give this to the students. After I stopped laughing I said no, ain�t gonna do this. The school can do it if they want but I will not. I said it�s work to me and well; it�s illegal isn�t it�

Here was the schools response: The Canadian college told them it was ok if they photo copied only 20% of the book and distributed it to the students� I replied no, still not acceptable to me and they need to buy the books and give one to each student. Now they say the books were too expensive!

So, what�s your take on this? By the way I am no moral scholar or even a good person, but I believe that the students need a book not some photocopies�

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

AussieGuyInChina · Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 403

It depends entirely upon what outcome you want to achieve, Jeff:-

a) doing things the right way regardless of any personal consequence

b) doing your job to the best of your ability while working within a system dictated and controlled by your employer

Are you a person who actually does something about wrongdoings (even if the 'doing something' is refusing participate), or a person who complains about wrong-doings but goes along with them?

vikuk · Joined: 23 May 2007 Posts: 1842

johnchina · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 816

Jeff, what does the school do with other courses that require the students to have textbooks? If they don't photocopy them, you've got a strong point right there.

jeffinflorida · Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject: Re: question

The Voice Of Reason · Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 492

Worldly · Joined: 04 Dec 2006 Posts: 74 Location: The Cosmos

SnoopBot · Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 740 Location: USA

Between a rock and a hard place..

It looks like you are going to develop your own materials for the course. I would do Internet searches and try to pull as much info as possible and create your own Power Point lesson.

I taught a Petroleum Engineering English flavored class for offshore engineers and did this method because I couldn't get a good book.

This initially will create more work for you, but the more experience you have on course development the better.

Placing it on Power Point allows you to easily modify and doesn't involve as much paper. You leave the information on the board screen and let students copy the important details needed.

The course you will develop can be used as a sample of your ability when looking for a better position in the future. Just give a CD sample to the prospective employers. (Often real schools ask for these things)

The information you find on the Internet is often Public Domain, and you are creating most of it, so in a moral sense , no copyright violations.

Not using a book or materials will make your class difficult to teach (hurting yourself and your students)

Use this chance as a professional project, run with it, and do not think about the shoddy school conditions.

Concentrate on creating the best project you can make that is ALL YOURS.

You're the artist here and allow that imagination to go wild.

upchuckles · Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 111

For the price of that tuition.. The school aint providing the books? The school should make the burden of book buying on the shoulders of the students.. let them obtain the books in whatever way the moral and financial character of the student allows for.. This shouldn't be your cunundrum.. Tell the school to act like a school..

jeffinflorida · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:13 am Post subject:

Yu · Joined: 06 Mar 2003 Posts: 1219 Location: Shanghai

I dont think American copyright laws apply in China. It is generally accepted here to make copies of textbooks and use them. It is expensive to get western textbooks. If a western textbook is regularly $30 in the US and is about 200 pages long it would cost 250RMB (there abouts) to purchase. If your student is working at KFC and making 6 RMB per hour, then they are going to have to work more than 40 hours to pay for the book. Does that sound reasonable? Keep in mind a photocopy would cost them about 10 RMB. My students were not happy when the textbook I photocopied for them came to 45 RMB. My department picked up 25 of that cost, so my students just paid 20.
I bought a book in America as a student for around $29, in China that same book in the book store costs 29.90. I believe it is a legal copy only avaliable for sale in mainland China.
Yes, there are copyright laws, but if the material is for the best interest of the students and they really dont have the money to buy the real copy, at least lend the books to the students and let them make copies. You have to remember you are in a different country and the same rules would not apply back in the States or Canada. But that is not where you are. So accept it. Make copies, your students will not feel this is bad. Also it is possible to get bound copies that resemble books.

jeffinflorida · Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject:

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

ispeakgoodenglish · Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:03 am Post subject:

I bought some Mcgraw-Hill (think thats it) textbooks in Shenzhen in 2001. They were about 1 edition behind what I had been using in NZ.

There are proper English books here if you look hard enough but not many textbooks. Guangzhou has a special English section in the Tianhe bookstore with all imported books. Shanghai I remember had an English bookshop in the times square building (maybe, it was a year ago i was there).