After reading all of the posts to this thread I wonder... have any of you actually worked at both a training center AND a Chinese public school? I HAVE AND DO!
At the training center I work at:
ALL FT's are LICENSED AMERICAN TEACHERS
Curriculum is AMERICAN designed using ESL texts from the USA
3 FT's have a combined experience of 65 years teaching ESL
At the local public high school I teach at:
28 English teachers - two of which can carry on a conversation in English (one of my tasks to help improve the TEACHER'S English)
ORAL English is NOT taught by Chinese teachers... just grammar, reading, writing and then ONLY to pass the government test!
Cheating is a way of life in a public school where only your test scores count... worse than the recent problem in Florida!
Chinese schools do not teach a student to THINK for THEMSELVES - students will wait until the teacher tells them the answer!

To say ALL training centers are CR*P is to say all cars are FORDS (Fix-Or-Repair-Daily) Sure there are a lot of shady Chinese training center owners. Sure, FT's have been and will be "cheated" by owners of this type... MY "OWNER" is not someone whom I would willingly do business with... BUT I have been paid on time every month, my rent paid and other needs taken care of... so I have no real complaint. I earn about 4 times what a public school high school teacher earns.

True our Chinese training center staff are underpaid and over worked... NONE of them are truly English teachers! The FT's run regular classes to TEACH the TEACHERS! IF they are good... some other school offers more money to them and I lose them! (NO contract for Chinese teachers!)
Many of China's educational problems do not stem from training centers but from the governments overall attitude towards education and this damn "learn to pass the test" policy!

The "average" training center out distances the public school by miles in teaching ORAL or SPOKEN English... the public school system out performs the training center in teaching grammar, reading and writing by far...

I am also involved in sending Chinese students abroad for higher education. We employ two who graduated (HOW they did it I don't know!) from UK Universities. I favor sending students to the USA or Canada where I KNOW they will receive a real education. Right now a US Masters degree pays for itself within 4 years of returning to China! The number of Chinese students who are getting higher education degrees in the US has climbed greatly in the last few years and looks to continue. It is these students I enjoy teaching!

So... before you bad mouth ALL training centers... take a look at your own qualifications... CAN YOU TEACH IN THE USA? OR are you in China because you could not get a job in the USA?