I just wanted to sound off on the Taicang WEB's treatment of students and parents for a second. Not only are they criminally unkind to their staff, both Chinese and foreign, serious discussion must be had on how anyone living or working in such conditions can possibly be expected to provide a decent education. Oh, wait, the conditions would not matter because WEB does not exist to teach English, it exists to take students and parents money, and move on.

I teach in the same city, and WEB is actually the ONLY school I've heard anyone complain about so intensely. And it's not just the foreign teachers, their Chinese employees are treated nearly as badly, they just haven't been dragged halfway around the world to be treated probably equally poorly. However, what WEB has done is to forget that teaching is in fact very difficult, and the right environment and schedule must be provided in order for this to happen. Or, maybe they do know this and just find it to be more profitable not to care.

And in the short term, it might be, but the thing is word is getting out. I know I tell people that while I don't generally recommend any English academy over another, I know there is one that is guaranteed to have a bad result, and that's web. Over just two years, I've had several parents mention being cheated on fees, and I've seen COUNTLESS students attend and learn almost nothing, occasionally, thinking that they are getting something and in the end have been taught it in a manner that was just..... Entirely wrong.

The people complaining, they're not just random China-haters or maladaptors..... Something really stinks over at that place. All we can hope really is that the community catches on, for example: why not us the labor violations as a reason to CLOSE the only school in town that is genuinely bad to everybody. There are schools who's teachers sometimes complain in town. There are other schools parents have complained about. Students have complained about some too. School staff, too. Thing is, this place, the ONLY news is bad news, it comes from everyone, and you get that news OFTEN. Dear god, I hope their next intended teaching victim googles their new schools name BEFORE getting on the Airplane!

And the problem its not the prices. WEB is rather but not insanely expensive, but I think that's healthy for a private school: normally, that can be seen as an indicator of the school's willingness to SPEND to get good educational outcomes. Probably the nicest building for a school in town, and absolutely the only one I hear ANYTHING about in any given month.

I think there's a flight to quality happening in China and that in some cases gradually and others rapidly, schools will be forced to provide legal and quality wages and compensation and benefits to their workers, not because they'd have that much trouble finding new ones if theirs left, but because parents really want a great education for their kids and WEB has an environment where that simply isn't going to happen.