Turino say, "you...have chosen one of the most looked down upon and lowly paid examples of MENIAL WORK."

It's a fair cop. I did. For more dramatic effect, maybe?

Anyway. The point I really wanted to make was that, already being aware of the definition of "menial", I would hate to see Teaching yield up a lifestyle equal to ANY menial job in our home countries. This would be true anywhere except perhaps some of those strife-torn jungle countries that the Peace Corps might send you to; it'd certainly be true in China.

It ought to be better. Being a teacher in China should, and from what I've seen DOES, let one live better than your "waiter in a fast food restaurant" back in our home countries. I didn't think fast food restaurants even HAD waiters these days, but still...

I think a lot of us here, no matter where we come from, sell ourselves too cheaply. Some of us are economic refugees; some of us are just really keen and excited to come to China and grab the first offer they get; some of us just don't know any better. A full-time teacher in a public school in a small backwater Chinese city ought to be getting more than US$667 (~4000 RMB) a month. China can be a cheap place to live...but not THAT cheap. And, I'd submit that most of us don't really come here to teach, we come here for travel and experiences and adventure and really wild things- and those take money.

I'd like to see a day when teachers- native speakers or not- start saying "NO" to some of these lowball salaries. Unfortunately, I don't think that day will come soon. Too many people either don't know or don't care.

BTW, I taught Business- Management, Marketing, etc.- not Business English...and the toll of the underequipped was perhaps even higher than it no doubt is in a language class.