Doing the job that you are hired to do is not an act of "grovelling" or "appeasement".

Exactly, DOING THE JOB THAT YOU ARE HIRED TO DO. Not extra work like taking on more classes because the boss of the "school" all of a sudden has a "good" idea. It's not doing unannounced "english corners" or "demo lessons" for prospective customers/fools who believe that the company is giving a real education when there is nothing "real" about it. It's certainly NOT making the pockets of greedy Chinese bosses rich, Chinese bosses who will not see or treat you like an equal fellow human being. You might not have heard about outrageous things like having to live with one or two other foreign teachers or even having to share the apartment with your employer's family or relatives but I certainly know this to be a fact. It doesn't really sound like you've ever really had a negative experience before, in fact you just want us to calm our attitude down without giving any real basis as to why we should do it in the first place. When you argue to just win the argument instead of arguing on principle, you will be given labels and misnomers that you won't enjoy, which wounds your ego and makes you keep on coming back here.