TBH, I'm a bit... concerned, that on an ESL forum, the acronym EAP (standing for English for Academic Purposes) isn't recognised, as in this industry, it's a VERY common term (almost as common and understood as ESL itself!)

While I'm sure Turnoi and Silverboy did a good job in many ways, and have much experience and valuable input, I can only speak for myself and the posts I had seen from them. My very first thread that I saw on this forum included both of them bagging people and a school that I'm about 100% sure they never went to! And, given that the particular school in question had NO OTHER POSTS about it, I can only say that they were just being negative and inflammatory just for the sake of it! This becomes even more obvious when the original poster has since deleted their posts!

Thus, it seems to me, that if someone posts about a school, then they will always take up the negative side of the debate, and automatically agree with everything negative that has been said (or insinuated). Unfortunately, teachers often have a run-in with a school as a whole, or with an individual, and tend to ... 'embellish' their story, to make their side sound much worse than what actually happened (mostly to garner agreement and sympathy). To put it bluntly - often people lie! (and it's not just limited to our Chinese employers!!)...I'm quite sure that they way I phrased my school review can be seen like that!!!

So, when someone comes on here, and counters a negative review of a school (or even a person), that person is automatically attacked as being a 'weasel' for the school/person.

What seems to have become the norm is that only a negative review is the correct one - and positive reviews are by wumao's or 'weasels'.

Just throwing out the same old negatives and stereotypes (and personal attacks) does not help!!!! In fact, it makes things much much worse! If I had taken that one and only thread on that school I was looking at, and presumed it was all true, then I would never have gone there - and met the people I did, and gotten the experience I did, made the friends I did, etc etc etc.

Silverboy and Turnoi (from the posts I've seen that relate directly to schools/employers) seem to think that 95% of the schools in China are bad, and going to rip you off.... (I'm quite sure the stats could be garnered by checking through all of those posts, removing all non-relevant to school reviews, and then comparing the number of comments both for and against... and allowing for poster bias - as most reviews are inherently negative - most people don't post about a good school, only a 'bad' one).

If I seem too... "one-dimensional" (as I've just been accused of) for wanting, you know.. the truth... or as C2 requested... facts, then fine! I'll be one-dimensional.