Thanks for the interesting post, Turnoi.
Bad attitudes to older people have always been active in the West. In fact and with the greatest of respect to yourself and LondonGirl, a big part of the reason why there's so many ill-educated older men teaching in China is that they can't get considered for work that they would naturally do in their own countries. I know in the west we have all sorts of legislation outlawing ageism but it can rarely be proven when an employer is being ageist. Thank God for the Chinese who have given thousands of 50 plus people a certain amount of security, dignity, and self-respect; older folk that have been marginalised and thrown to the dogs in their own countries. Of course, my stance towards ill-educated teachers is different than yours or LondonGirl's; I would maintain that in areas where all the need is, is for OralEnglish teaching or following basic lesson plans, well, all you need is unqualified, even ill-educated teachers-they do a marvellous job. That's my point of view but I do realise you have your's.

We will I am sure agree to differ on this one, because there's other fish to fry. Talking about other fish, yea evil fish, did you notice that Yuncheng IELTS has reared it's ugly head again this past week? I can't quite understand why I was the only poster who appears to have taken it up, considering the storm and fury that this unwholesome company has produced in the past.