I have found this discussion very interesting and would like to offer my 'twopenn'th'.

I have taught at two Chinese universities and the difference in attitude of the students could not be greater. At my previous position the students were disinterested; reading, completing homework for other lessons, talking amongst themselves, sleeping etc. Mind you, the text books were mind-numbingly boring and far below the level of English which the students used in their other classes. By the way, why do they insist on teaching words like 'parenthesis' when everybody uses 'brackets'?

My current job is a dream. It's been hard work as there is no syllabus and no text books, so I have been able to organize the lessons and the topics. Obviously some have gone down better than others but my students are keen, interested and involved. I did wonder if this was because they actually liked English, but when I asked they responded that English was a tool which they had to master to be successful!

I wonder if the fact that one was private and the other is public has anything to do with it.

By the way, I'm 60 and don't have a degree. I came out and did a TEFL course here, it's my age which can cause initial employment problems but I've done all right so far.....