Turino
- 2010-03-07
Budding FT's without Western degrees who failed to find teaching appointments in China from afar, so-called backpackers, come to China on L visas solely to land teaching jobs through Chinese agents. Some such agents even accommodate them in their homes, which tend to be based in provincial capitals. So, it is convenient for the agents to get work approval from the provincial education authority for their clients, most of whom will be taking up appointments in minor cities within the province, maybe a ten-hour train ride from the capital. The FAO's in those schools needn't waste time visiting the capital to get work approval on behalf of new FT's, and offer the degree-less new arrivals lower salaries, so school accountants are happy, money saved on the school's annual budget.
Misappropriating the degrees of other foreigners doesn't concern agents nor school FAO's. It's a means to an end, and is not considered a serious matter in mainstream culture here. Anyways, there won't be real teaching. The students are there to be entertained, preferably by white monkeys, who are more acceptable to parents than coloreds!
Monitor
- 2010-03-06
Honest foreigners seeking teaching jobs in China should be aware that some Chinese recruiting agents and training centres who state in their ads that you can teach in China without a university degree will probably submit false documents on your behalf to get you a Z visa, very likely without telling you they've done so.
That said, I recall a poster suggesting that some young FT's with PhD's teaching writing in China knew virtually nothing about how to write well in English. He thought they could have been dishonest people. It could well be the case that they had initially submitted forged certificates to their Chinese employers in order to earn elevated salaries. Disgraceful!
As far as I know, the public education sector in China often offers salaries whose levels are reflected by the type of paper qualifications a foreign teacher holds, the lowest of which is a bachelor's degree. I'm guessing that foreign teachers holding second degrees such as a Master's and a doctorate can earn quite a bit more. There's the carrot for defrauding an employer. Shame on those foreigners who submit forgeries to cheat their employers for the sake of filthy lucre!