John O’Shei
- 2013-09-21
Don’t feel the need to be loyal to those that do not deserve your loyalty, I have made the mistake of joining a lower quality employer due to my self-esteem taking a blow at the time and it just made things worse, until for some reason I realised that I should stick up for myself and put up a fight. Then, things started to improve.
This is not just a work thing, it can apply in other areas of life too. For example, I’ve seen guys getting whipped by a bitch of a wife or girlfriend or even when your mates just taking liberties in general, you have just got to establish where the limits lie. There's a need to balance modesty and politeness with self belief and self respect.
Unfortunately the old saying that nice guys finish last has some truth, but it doesn't mean that you have to sell out either. Rejecting the whole ‘Meiyou Banfa’ thing is not just childishly rebelling against a foreign communist superpower, it is about standing up for yourself as a strong individual, China may have a collectivist culture but as a Laowai, you will always be an outsider to this, therefore you've got to be a little selfish about things.
BRS Beijing Rancid Shit
- 2013-09-20
This teachers' forum board thread about Beijing Royal School made my cheap instant coffee go down a little better. I am unfortunately among the rank and file teachers here at BRS and it is nothing short of the worst school in China. The principal Charles Pei is without a doubt the most uneducated and unqualified horse's ass that I have ever witnessed in education. Everyone hates his guts and wants him dead. The school teaching affairs office sent out an email last week telling us that TAO would check daily for attendance since 19 teachers were not found to be at their desks. Teachers hate this place so much that no one wants to work here much less be in their offices from sun up until sun down. The students are like Carp in that they swim along the bottom sucking scum which BRS has an abundance of. A few weeks ago we, the teachers, tried to get some real text books and of course the mighty Charles Pei struck that down as well. The owner of the school reminds me of one of those Russian circus ring leaders or perhaps a puppeteer as he controls the strings of the bitch puppets that slave away here neck deep in steaming shit. What other posters wrote in here is not only funny but true. No one plans to stay here at the end of this semester and the sooner it arrives the better.
Housing standards: SHIT
Food: SHIT
Course materials: SHIT
Teaching building: SHIT
Leadership / management / PD: SHIT
Department managers: SHIT
Classroom environment: SHIT
Equipment: SHIT
Campus proper: SHIT
Wages: SHIT
Contract & visa processing: SHIT
HR: SHIT
Location & things to do around the school: SHIT
Convenient to get to: SHIT
The entire campus is under some form of destruction / construction and it is a dangerous place for students and staff.
It seems as if the owner of the school is good at adverting his wares but when it comes to teaching quality and caring for students or staff that is also SHIT.
Its also true that most teachers over the past few semesters all quit. BRS cannot keep any teachers. Its that simple. People here are treated like farm animals.
There is a running joke around here as to what BRS stands for and apparently some earlier teachers called it -R which means that if the school name is BRS and there is no R then all that remains is BS which is exactly what this place is, BS.
What I find unusual however is that so far Charle's Pei has not been targeted by the Chinese authorities as when I Googled him to see where that can of worms came from I found that he is a member of the Falun Gong which I thought was illegal in China. Anyone that stands up to the Communist Party deserves at least some vote of approval for having the balls to broadcast to the world that he is a member in good standing, engaged in the recruiting people for the Falun Gong and raising money for them as well. falungong4life.wordpress.com
Maybe someone can call SAFEA and report that and see if it is still unlawful in China.
In China you will need a VPN to see that but who does not have a VPN these days anyway?
As far as most teachers that work here are concerned BRS is a joke and a place to kill time and earn some money for backpacking and travel since this is not a school and the school leaders record false scores for any and all students anyway. Your teaching abilities don't matter here since no one including the school owner or Charles Pei care one way or the other. It seems as if BRS is a money laundering operation and nothing more and as for the College Board they have zero credibility while being affiliated with BRS. One steadfast elder that works here and has been here for 5-years was actually ordered by Charles Pei to write reference letters for students that had poor grades. The guidance counselor was caught forging documents for the students for a fee while taking their money and going to Dubai. He was not fired.
BRS is proof positive evidence that the Chinese government has no clue about what education is or what potential a school could have beyond making money. Most of the students at BRS are the lowest level students that were sent out of many other schools before finally arriving at BRS in an act of desperation. Its a match made in heaven though. The owner of the school who by the way is a large type ego freak does not care what happens in the school and he does not care about students and the students don't care about their future. The parents pay the bills and they are clueless about what a waste of time this place is for their children's future.
Six Pack Abs
- 2013-08-29
They have a license to hire foreigners but Michelle in HR does not do her job so only a few people ever had a valid Z visa. The school is always in trouble with one agency or the other and in one form or another. The College Board staff are not stupid either. They must absolutely know what is going on at Beijing Royal School as the scandals are in plain view. Cheating on exams was common as were students taking in their cell phones to the testing center and going online to look up answers. Exam monitors would be accidentally looking at the floor or the ceiling as they encountered many cheaters, while literally entire student populations had their failing grades being adjusted to reflect passing scores. Many BRS students have zero ability to read, write, or speak English. BRS is the school that takes on all of the less than likely to succeed and that includes teaching staff and of course their principal Charles Pei. I left BRS at the end of last semester along with nearly everyone that worked there and Charles Pei was one step away from being found next to a banana peel. Its utterly just a matter of time and BRS will lose their credibility with anyone and everyone that they deal with. No one can keep a charade going on for so long without someone getting wise and not everyone can be bought off. Most of the other teachers that quit BRS when I did were also disgusted by what they saw and most of them have no respect for anyone that stayed there. If someone on here can give a heads up to the College Board, they would be doing a great service to the education sector although someone at the AP College Board must be aware of this by now. For anyone teaching AP you most certainly do not want your name affiliated with BRS on the AP College Board system. If you quit after a semester you might have a way of getting off the hook but anyone that stays at BRS is no better than Charles Pei or the assortment of funny money behind the scenes. I would think that anyone that worked at BRS and stayed there long-term would have a black mark on their record and be unemployable in China. Its too bad for the kids that enrolled there. During the last graduation only a very few students were accepted into better universities. Most of them were accepted to some of the worst universities in America. Many foreign teachers refused to attend graduation because it was so embarrassing. They lost many good teachers last year. There was a girl from Duke and another from Princeton. Both of them quit. I concur with other posters on this forum. Don't work at BRS. Don't even think about it. Beijing is a huge city with so many other opportunities.