KJ,

I would only quibble with one point.

I definitely agree that the state of education in China, including but not limited to English education, is absolutely disgraceful.

I don't argue that there's not an awful lot of whitey propped up in front of classrooms right now that have no business whatsoever being there.

However, I place the blame for this (or at least 99.99% of it) squarely on the shoulders of the school owners/managers and they system they represent. They're the ones who set the standards- or lack thereof- not us. They're the ones who make the hiring decisions, not us. If these people were really concerned about the quality of the education instead of just keeping up appearances, carving out little personal empires, and trying to get everything on the cheap even if they have to cheat and lie to do it, the entire structure and dynamic of education here would be very different indeed.

Recruiters are scum and don't really enter into this conversation. They are the parasites that can only infest an animal that's already sick in the first place.