Dear KFesl

I was browsing through this site when this thread caught my eye. Do you realize that in writing a post like this about a school you have never been to and know almost nothing about, you are affecting the education of nearly two thousand students, possibly depriving them of a quality foreign teacher that they need and deserve, while undermining a successful pioneer teaching program that has served these students and enriched both the school and the city for seven years? If even one prospective teacher reads your post and decides not to give the school a try, you have done a disservice not just to the school and the students, but to the teacher themself.

I have worked in no less than 7 schools (some very briefly) in northeastern China during the past five years and while none of them have been outstanding, the school you refer to was overall the best and I stayed there for nearly 2 years. If this school was located in Beijing and not an unknown small city, I can assure you it would not need to advertise for teachers every three months, there would be a waiting list. Of course there are problems, one of which is that Fred (your FAO and my personal friend) still lacks the ability to communicate effectively with foreigners, hates his job and desperately needs to do something else. Unfortunately like most teachers in small town China he is stuck there and to leave his job would be social and economic suicide. Taken as a whole however, the positives outweigh the downsides and the school is well organized, has very friendly staff, reliable assistant teachers and most importantly wonderful pupils.

Your problems with Fred are all too common in China. Many people are taken in by the propaganda and fail to grasp that outside (and even inside) the big centers, China is a second world country where the average person earns less than 200 US dollars a month and a place where white people are gaped at on the streets by curious peasants. Fred is a proud Chinese guy and has become jaded over the years dealing with disreputable people who sign contracts and then are never heard from again, or others who do turn up and are either totally incapable or too arrogant to take on board criticism and are rude to management.

I hope you can look at the situation from this angle, and Fred if you're reading this, work on those people skills!

Yours,
Joe