caring
- 2017-01-11
Agreed. I've seen Chinese high school transcripts of inadequate students with 98-99% in subjects the kids had little idea about. For this reason, no western educational institution should ever give chances to any Chinese which would hopefully send a returned message to the red schools controlled by the system.
Foxy
- 2017-01-10
University English departments are not immune. One University I taught for had 223 English
major freshman in 2011; this year they have 100.
Same in my middle/high school. Intake this year was 50% of what it was last year. That said, ALL new students who enroll are GUARANTEED to graduate regardless of ability or effort. It's just a stepping-stone to a Western school in the USA or Canada where the more 'lazy' students are already doomed to failure.
That said, it's 'the system' as a whole that's the 'joke'. For me personally, I give my time to the kids who want to learn. Screw the rest!
I get paid every month, even if it IS for 'babysitting'.
Trump diplomacy
- 2017-01-10
this article highlights the possible dangers of
working for crappy training centres in China......
United English, an English language training company in Beijing, cleared out its two learning
centers and disappeared overnight on December 18.
The market for English language training in China is quickly diminishing.
The government doesn't trust Western education programs and Western educators.
The GaoKao is ending its English requirement.
Overseas education for Chinese students is losing its cachet as Chinese corporations no longer pay a premium for overseas university graduates.
It is becoming common knowledge among the Chinese middle and upper classes that to attend most Western universities a student merely needs money, not ability. In fact, it is precisely the rich students that do poorly on the GaoKao that are going overseas. At one time, rich Chinese parents would brag about their children going to the University of South Dakota, now only the new middle class are unaware that it is a waste of money.
In Beijing and Shanghai, because of scandals, parents have discovered that the 'Foreign Teachers' that are paraded in the private schools are not actual teachers.
My students who have graduated as English Majors in China, attended 'graduate' programs in England and Canada and Australia and the U.S., have returned and are hunting for jobs with their 'graduate degrees'. Now $60,000 dollars poorer, they are happy to take the same jobs they could have gotten with a Chinese undergraduate degree.
Granted: they have improved their oral language skills and have had a wonderful year of travel overseas. But they could have accomplished both with a backpack and tourist visa for 1/3 the money.
The large chains, New Oriental et al, will survive by draining the smaller private schools of students in a classic industry consolidation.
University English departments are not immune. One University I taught for had 223 English major freshman in 2011; this year they have 100.
The report below was copied-and-pasted from a report highlighted on a WeChat subscription news account.
Before the likes of Pigsy and Turnoi start jumping-for-joy, businesses in any country can go bankrupt for any reason. However, this article highlights the possible dangers of working for crappy training centres in China......
United English, an English language training company in Beijing, cleared out its two learning centers and disappeared overnight on December 18.
Its over 600 students pressed charges against the company, demanding a refund of their tuition along with many foreign teachers who had not been paid for months before the incident.
Anton and David used to be the star teachers at the school. Anton told the Beijing Evening News that the company had been having trouble paying his salary as of February 2016. The company either delayed the payments, or the amount of money paid was below what the contract stipulated, he explained.
"I haven't received any payments in two months now," Anton told Beijing Evening News. "Whenever I ask the people in charge of the payments, they would tell me all kinds of stories, such as there are problems with tax or the bank account was frozen."
Zhang Weibo, a partner at the Beijing Yingke Law Firm who specializes in expat legal disputes in China, said that in recent years, as more foreigners came to work in China, more of them end up in labor disputes. Also, compared to locals, foreigners in China have a tougher time defending their rights.
Although they have not been paid, as foreign workers, Anton and David cannot leave the company.
"The company issued me my work permit. If I leave the company, my work permit would be revoked, and I can't stay in China without a work permit. My entire family is in Beijing now," Anton told Beijing Evening News. "A lot of foreign teachers get stuck in this dilemma, but none of us expected such an abrupt and irresponsible outcome."
United English had been in business for nearly 10 years until recently. An open letter was posted on United English's public WeChat account on the evening of December 18, claiming that the company had started bankruptcy proceedings and the staff would be compensated soon.
According to the letter, the company will offer severance payments to its employees. For the employees whose salary is over 10,000 yuan ($1,446) per month the company will pay 40 percent of their salary as severance pay. Those whose salary is between 5,000 to 10,000 yuan will get 50 percent.
"Most labor disputes related to foreign workers in China are related to late payment in salary, or insufficient payment compared to the contract," Zhang said. "Also, the foreign workers that most often face these situations are from the catering and education industries."
When facing legal disputes, few foreign workers would turn to a lawyer to defend their rights, and sometimes they can only take the beat and cut their losses.
"Unlike locals, they have difficulties in communicating with their employers, so they have to turn to lawyers and go through the legal process to defend their rights, but the process is complicated, and it usually would take one to two years, so some foreigners just give up," Zhang said.
Most lawyers are also reluctant to take on these types of labor disputes because they cannot get high commissions. The amount of money related to the individual case is small, and the process they have to go through when a foreigner is involved is more complicated, he further explained.
In Anton and David's case, Zhang suggested that they accept the severance pay because once the bankruptcy filing goes through, it is unlikely that they will get that much compensation.
"It's disappointing, but based on the current law, there are no better options," Zhang said. "Our country needs more regulations to protect the rights of foreign workers to attract more professionals to work in China."