As I prefer teaching in the backwater places of China that have neither Western fast food chain restaurants nor more than a couple of Westerners in town

You sound like a couple of older guys i knew in rural central china, one an american and one an aussie, as I know you are a brit, I am sure you are not them...but while I don't miss western fast food in China, I do like a cheeky chardonay or a good german mug of beer, something which is easier to get in the bigger cities from a western supermarket/bar. Or is your neck of the woods pretty cool for getting imported items?

Cheers,
cb

I will say one thing for private schools, you are as an FT unlikely to get drawn into a web of in-house sin as you could well do if you work in the universities. Maybe it's because I am pretty handy in the Mandarin department but I was always being invited to iffy gatherings by my bosses. This story has just emerged today, and it doesn't at all surprise me. The picture is not blue but you can see what they have been up and it's easy for an FT to get involved.

There is new development on the “Indecent Photo Gate”, which the top leader of Lujiang County, Anhui Province was rumored to be the one in the photo. These photos circulating the Internet had three men and two women fully naked in a hotel. Luijiang County made a announcement regarding the incident saying the photos have nothing to do with the county official, and they should be called “Photos of 3 Kunming couples partying in a hotel”.
(After investigation) Two involved persons, Wang Yu, Vice Secretary of the League in Hefei University, and his wife were expelled from the Party and fired of their official positions.
Journalists learned from Hefei University that at 12:30pm on August 10th, the university captured the indecent photos on the internet and started investigation immediately, and confirmed Wang Yu was among the involved parties. Wang Yu himself confessed that the other two men in the photos were not government leaders in Lujiang County and they did not know each other. The university immediately called a Party Committee meeting and decided to remove Wang’s office. The university also reported the decision to Hefei Municipal Party Committee and Discipline Check Committee, who started investigation and reached a conclusion at 11pm on the same day that the photos were taken in May 2007 when Wang Yu participated in licentious activities. The university held a Party Committee conference at 11:30pm on August 10th and decided to remove Wang’s party membership and official position. One of the females in the photos was Wang Yu’s wife, a middle school teacher in Hefei, and she was also expulsed from the Party and fired from her job.
On August 11th, the university held a meeting among middle-ranking officials to announce the decision and sent the notice to Wang Yu. The University held a University Check Committee meeting to strengthen thought and political education on officials and staffs, using this incidence as an example.
In addition, the rumor that, He, an official of the League in Hefei University, was involved in the scandal was found out to be untrue.

The strange thing is that many ads for FTs for the private sector do not insist on job applicants meeting the minimum requirements academic qualification-wise that have been stipulated by the Chinese authorities as necessary for the award of an FEC and hence a Z visa. Surely this means that there will be FTs employed by private English schools in China who would be ineligble for the vast majority of public schools/universities that almost always demand their FTs to have a university degree. The so-called unqualified FTs employed in the private sector at present are almost always marginalized re getting alternative employment in the public sector.
It's true that GWs in the private sector with degrees and TEFL would switch to competing for public sector jobs, but not by any means many of them - they would dislike working for average pay in small cities and counties where it would be difficult for them to find second jobs that would occupy a large proportion of their free time to enrich themselves to some extent by working the kind of long and unsociable hours overall they formerly put in at private schools. Since they are qualified academically to get working visas in other countries too, I suspect they'd apply for private sector teaching jobs elsewhere instead of continuing their teaching careers China.
As I prefer teaching in the backwater places of China that have neither Western fast food chain restaurants nor more than a couple of Westerners in town, I doubt there would be increased competition from ex training centre GWs for the kind of public sector jobs that I choose to apply for.
The reason I am against the private sector of EFL teaching in China is that there are too many horror stories emanating from there about FTs being used and abused! I shall discard the kind of self-serving reasons you suggest for keeping Chinese private English schools open. They should all be closed down for good by the relevant authorities here, and the sooner the better, that's my view!
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Half of all degrees offered and accepted by state Universities are proffered by wily street-wise older teachers and are potato-stamp degrees. Mind you I come from a generation which used to say if you are good enough to fib your way into a job, you're good enough to hold it. They are more than adequate to teach in China.

As for the rest of what you say, I'm sure there's a lot in it-I will think on what you said. I merely offered a...lets see.....an additional consideration; and you have made a marvellous start. Well done that man.

If you could press a button and get shot of all the private Chinese English schools in one stroke, the knock on effects could well mean you'd be deleting your own job in a Chinese state school.

The strange thing is that many ads for FTs for the private sector do not insist on job applicants meeting the minimum requirements academic qualification-wise that have been stipulated by the Chinese authorities as necessary for the award of an FEC and hence a Z visa. Surely this means that there will be FTs employed by private English schools in China who would be ineligble for the vast majority of public schools/universities that almost always demand their FTs to have a university degree. The so-called unqualified FTs employed in the private sector at present are almost always marginalized re getting alternative employment in the public sector.
It's true that GWs in the private sector with degrees and TEFL would switch to competing for public sector jobs, but not by any means many of them - they would dislike working for average pay in small cities and counties where it would be difficult for them to find second jobs that would occupy a large proportion of their free time to enrich themselves to some extent by working the kind of long and unsociable hours overall they formerly put in at private schools. Since they are qualified academically to get working visas in other countries too, I suspect they'd apply for private sector teaching jobs elsewhere instead of continuing their teaching careers China.
As I prefer teaching in the backwater places of China that have neither Western fast food chain restaurants nor more than a couple of Westerners in town, I doubt there would be increased competition from ex training centre GWs for the kind of public sector jobs that I choose to apply for.
The reason I am against the private sector of EFL teaching in China is that there are too many horror stories emanating from there about FTs being used and abused! I shall discard the kind of self-serving reasons you suggest for keeping Chinese private English schools open. They should all be closed down for good by the relevant authorities here, and the sooner the better, that's my view!

Right on, Dave!!! What a good post!!!! One of the best posts I ever read here!!! I am moonstruck!!!

China is only for having a good time. Nobody really comes to China " for the teaching". Anybody who really takes teaching seriously in China these days is a fool.

But we foreign teachers should take our teaching seriously enough so as not to be fired through it being substandard in our local workplace environments. The name of the game is to fulfill our contracts according to our Chinese bosses' minimum demands and as a consequence of that not to lose out financially. How much elbow grease we need to expend in order to do so will depend largely on whether we choose the public or the private sector to practise our profession.

In my experience the public sector is generally a better choice - less effort required to please the employer and more job security besides. But although the pay is less, much less stress and more time to play are among the positives.

Those of us who are enlightened can all quote examples from the West where public functions have been privatised resulting in inferior employment packages and more hours at work for new staffs.

Only a Western fool, or a greedy and naive Westerner, or someone who cannot meet the minimum requirements for a foreign expert's certificate, would immerse himself/herself in the private education sector in China. That sector is far worse than any other private sector in the West re employees' employment packages and job security.

I curse all you gws who dare to come on here and praise up private schools/training centers in China. You're on the take and on the make!