Hold on a moment, BD.

You make some good points,but it has to be said that having a bachelors degree ALSO doesn't gaurantee that you can teach.In fact many people have degrees in subjects that have nothing whatsoever to do with teaching English. How would that make such a person more qualified than a person with a TEFL certificate and no degree?

You talk about the importance of having hundreds of hours experience in teaching.This can be gained within nothing more than two months by teaching ESL in virtually any country.

The best way to get experience is on the job and as I mentioned above that experience can be gained very quickly.In fact to teach ESL in China, you do not have to be an academic. All that is needed is basic teaching skills, a good knowledge of English and a patient friendly personality that is able to build a good rapport with your students.

I don't understand all this animosity towards backpackers. What does this label,in regard to teaching ESL, mean anyway? Just because a person likes to twin their teaching career with some world exploration, it doesn't mean that they are not dedicated to their teaching.

As long as an ESL teacher gives one hundred percent in the classroom,and takes his/her teaching assignment seriously, what they do outside the classroom (within reason), has no bearing on wether they are qualified to teach ESL, nor is it anybody else's business!

Actually, many schools in China don't want FTs to stay longer than a year, because they often like to expose students to different accents and personalities in order to give them greater variety and experience. In fact the students are often very quickly tired with teachers however good, exciting or interesting they may be.......