I don't really know where in that thread this should go, so I've decided to post a new message altogether.

Those who detract and take me to task all seem to miss my purpose. That purpose is to try to redress the imbalance that is caused when some teachers choose to be unfair.

Many teachers complain in the school review section and it is clear that the majority of their complaints are true and well stated. However there are some teachers who are not so straightforward who descend into various means of of 'maximising' their complaint. This can on one hand be the use of deliberate misrepresentation or "manipulation of truth". On the other hand it can be selective reporting of only the facts that that reflect badly on the school with no mention made of the extent to which they contributed to the incident themselves.

I have not actually directly commented to any great extent in favour or criticism of these schools. In most of my postings I have made a point of stating this but you all seem to miss that in your clamour to lambast me for calling any teacher's complaint into question.

My concern has been the teachers' descriptions of the incidents involved.

It is generally held that a school whose name comes up on the review board will thereafter find it very difficult to recruit teachers. For this reason, even the worst kind of school is entitled to fair treatment from an aggrieved teacher. After all, you all claim to be professional, intelligent and articulate people so if a teacher has what he considers to be a legitimate complaint, then surely he needs only to state the facts and not exaggerate, lie or become personally insulting.

Those who do that, bring themselves down to, or worse than, the level they ascribe to the schools they complain about. Perhaps more importantly and this is a big point you ALL miss: Teachers who overstate their cases and who exaggerate and lie: Those who pick and choose only the juciest of information to disclose to us: Those who personally insult the school management and those who have only a desire to wreak vengeance:- They all unwittingly feed more ammunition to unscrupulous schools who already think little of foreign teachers in general. They will not be deterred from their unscrupulous ways but can be relied on to make life even more difficult.

Two wrongs never did make a right.

Specially for you, Mr Duke - I have been a foreign teacher in China for some time. I contend that deliberately untrue and misrepresented information in certain complaints does all of us straightforward teachers, including you, a grave and growing disservice. For this reason I will continue to pick up on those complaints where I think the plaintiff has a case to answer himself. If, in doing this, I make an incorrect presumption or two then it is more likely to arise from bum information in the plaintiff's complaint.

That is what it has to do with me Mr Duke! What have my responses to those complaints got to do with you?

Why is it you make no complaint about the increasing numbers of postings being made by Frank, who searches the job offers looking for what he thinks are suspect offers and then offers his often sarcastic comments. Where is his justification for doing this? Has he been to or had any dealings with any of the schools he highlights? The answer is no - but Frank is one of you and as such, in your eyes, he can say no wrong. I don't see him checking on teachers' resumes either - there are a good many suspect cases in those too, but clearly you guys are consumed only with damaging schools and not those teachers who also deserve similar treatment. It is little wonder that you save loads of venom for me and because you are so obviously biased against schools, your response to my postings is largely negated.

I have no axe to grind for or against any particular section of Chinese society nor the foreigners who live and work within it. In the context of my postings I have absolutely no connection with any school or recruiter or other third party. I am myself well-employed in a Chinese school that treats its foreign teaching staff very nicely. It also honours its contracts to the letter so in return I similarly honour mine to the letter too.

I can well sympathise with teachers who find themselves being screwed but it is difficult to be so sympathetic with those who are being screwed by a school that has been screwed by them first. Moreover when I see or suspect that the teachers concerned are exaggerating, lying, or omitting to tell us their part in the situation of which they complain - I'm afraid I have hardly any sympathy at all.

Finally, those of you who don't like me exposing these types of complaints can do one of two things - and you all know what those are.

John