Regarding the ongoing issue of native vs non-native English speakers, I believe that it has little to do with race as such but with the general ability to speak English well and to comprehend it in the depth that only a native speaker can. Of course there are native speakers with strong national and/or regional accents and/or whose command of English is poor. There are also non-native speakers whose English is excellent. In circumstances such as those extant in China, however, it is a matter of generalising.

Whenever a school insists on employing native English speakers, the Africans (in particular) jump up and claim that they are being discriminated against on the basis of their race or colour. In reality their race and colour are merely quoted as a means of identifying those who are not native speakers. For example, there are not many French people teaching English in China even though many French can speak English well. Do we see the French claiming racial discrimination? Of course not! Thus the Africans should not be so quick to claim they are the victims of racial discrimination either. They should instead accept that many perhaps their majority - do not have a particularly good command of spoken English nor an in-depth comprehension of its origins and cultural content. This is no consolation to those whose English is good but when lines of this kind are drawn there are always some people who feel they are on the wrong side.

An example of English spoken in a manner that lacks understanding of colloquialism by both a student AND her teacher can be found in a posting in this forum on October 5th, (entitled "Help") in which a Student named Helen Li wrote the following as part of her posting.

I stated in one part of my resume(writing) " My written and spoken English is beyond doubting"

But my teacher screamed at me and said it should be
"My ability to write and speak English is out of the question"

I replied to her posting giving corrected examples of both those figures of speech. Ms.Li can be forgiven for making her initial mistake but her teacher cannot be forgiven for the error in her correction, which in fact seriously compounded Ms.Li's error. I have no idea whether that teacher was Chinese or foreign but I can say that He/She was certainly not conversant with at least two simple everyday figures of English speech used widely in most native English speaking countries and was not, therefore, a native English speaker. This is a typical example of similar mistakes that many non-native English speaking teachers make.

I was once told here in China, that although I was the most experienced candidate for an Oral English teaching job, the school particularly wanted someone with an American accent which I do not have. I accepted that requirement as their right and I did not complain that I had been racially discriminated against. Yet it was an identical situation to that which faces the Africans.

The difference seems to be that Africans feel they have a right to a job in China merely because they have learned to speak English, yet by their frequent claims of discrimination on the grounds of race or colour they are in effect implying that the Chinese discriminate against we native speakers instead, not because of how we speak but because we are generally white.

Another major factor behind the Africans' claims of discrimination is that any excuse will do to reduce restrictions on their employment prospects. They would have great difficulty finding a job of any kind if they had to return to their homelands. Conditions in their own countries are utterly dreadful. Corruption at all levels is the order of the day: Discrimination is more rampant than anywhere else on earth: Personal security is tenuous with robbery, rape and murder being commonplace. There are no social provisions to speak of and life is a constant battle against grinding poverty. Please don't argue this, as I have visited many African countries frequently and I know at first hand what conditions exist. I don't blame an African teacher for not wanting to return to his own country but that is no excuse for crying discrimination when he is refused a job.

Also, it is a fact that many university degrees coming out of Africa are simply not worth the paper they are printed on. Some years ago I was trying to find a university place in Africa for the daughter of an African friend of mine. I was told of many scams by various universities, the most popular of which, was that for payment of an up-front 'registration fee' of several thousands of dollars, the student merely had to turn up for a certain number of tutorials each term and regardless of performance, would be guaranteed a "pass" for each stage of the course and a first class degree at the end of it. Some universities offered an Honours Degree in return for a higher 'registration fee'. I don't claim that all universities made such offers but certainly it was the majority of them.

If you were not born and raised in a native English speaking country ideally with family ties going back a few generations, then it is highly likely you will not have as good a colloquial command of English as those who were. This is not a challenge to the more argumentative among you. I know for example that there are many native English speakers who have huge regional accents or who are not well educated in their own language but they dont often get to be English teachers either.

My point is that your place of birth was not your choice but that does not entitle you to throw the blame for a lack of English familiarity back on an employer by claiming (in many cases, incorrectly) that he is racially biased against you. He probably couldnt give two hoots what colour you are or what passport you hold. He simply wants teachers who he can be sure can speak English well. In short, he is exercising his right to choose.

Dave