So you are completely OK with a western owned firm that knowingly and repeatedly installs schools in high risk
settings while taking absolutely no measures of any kind whatsoever to offset those risks?

I do not disagree about the conditions in many shopping malls and other environments in China CSS but as I have just pointed out the problem is China across the board. So what exactly are you saying? Because it sounds more like we should actually all be leaving China for other destinations based on the fact that they have a complete disregard for public safety.

I wager that half the modern buildings in China are substandard, have had a lot of the funds which were supposed to be used pocketed by someone and instead they have used substandard building materials and so on and so on. This is a country who is forever in the spotlight for things like this due to high level corruption. A country which sent an engineering team to a bridge which was beginning to fail and whose answer was to use glue to fill in the cracks!!!! The bridge collapsed soon after when a heavy goods vehicle was going over it.

Based on your reasoning for not working for Pearson you should also be saying that no one should be here teaching in China because it is a country which is forever doing the wrong thing an endangering peoples lives through a lax in safety. I nearly broke my hand once when I had it on the rail as I travelled up an escalator in a shopping center because the next floor ran too close to the actual hand rail and would have trapped it. No warnings an no attempt to resolve the problem, it is still the same to this day.

China is renowned for a range of serious issues concerning health and safety. Poor construction, poorly implemented or non existant fire regulations, tainted food produce and the means used to prepare and store it. The list goes on and on yet you, I and everyone else on this board have and sill continue to live and work here.

You talk about trying to offset risks then why not offset them yourself and go to another country instead?

As for talking about someone opening schools in a coal mine well now you are [deleted]

What makes WSI stand out? Well again this is just my opinion but the fact they have a unique curriculum for the students to work through as opposed to a few books which are incomplete sets thrown in a corner like some centers I have seen is one. The fact they don't hire each and every single westerner who walks through the door and set their standards a little higher like asking that the FT holds a CELTA or Trinity TEFL with a min of 120 hours and additionally provide their own training course prior to an FT commencing classes also stands out when compared to other centers. I cannot think of any other centers which do this, the ability to converse in even the simplest English seems to be enough for most centers I am aware of.

They use proven TEFL method teaching which is something that generally doesn't happen in China. For the most part TEFL method just does not work in China. They expect to be told everything and do very little themselves as a student. From what I have seen the students work very hard on the modules and then get to practice this with an FT who is expected to elicit the students and keep their talk time to a minimum.

One thing I want to know. You say you have a doctorate in Linguistics yet here you are on a regular basis discussing your experience in the low end of a de professionalized institution that is ESL in China. Why?? Why would you be settling for working in any of the environments available in ESL if you are so highly qualified. I am not questioning your credentials, just interested to know why you would bother with ESL. It's like a rocket scientist taking a job as a car mechanic to me.

Getting past the pages of lawsuits filed against Pearson, the fact that WSI's are located in dangerous overcrowded shopping malls with totally inadequate fire suppression and without clear escape routes and without bilingual clearly identifiable and well-trained security, and in areas of heavy traffic congestion thereby guaranteeing a 100% involved structure fire by the time EMS and fire personnel could even get close to the scene, and the fact that in many instances WSI locates their "pilot centers" on the roof of a structure or near it, is a recipe for failure, death, serious personal injury, and catastrophic loss.

Completely irrelevant in the context you are presenting it in. This is down to China and China alone. What about all the stores and restaurants in these places? By that very same fact we should never enter a shopping center to buy anything or to go and eat but I bet not one of you can honestly say you do not and will not in the future.

You are correct. There is a complete lack of all the things you have stated but this kind of thing does not simply stop at shopping centers. I have seen Universities and schools which are overcrowded and have inadequate fire suppression and lack of exits. Classes 80 plus in size with one small door and a small flight of stairs taking you down 5 or 6 floors to an equally small exit to the grounds.

Buildings are often inadequate in their construction across the board and I have NEVER taken part in a fire drill at a school or a uni in all the years I have worked in education here in China which incidentally is coming up on 11 years very shortly.

Pearson's only bought the Chinese division from the Carlyle Group's affiliate and not all of Wall Street
Institute. In fact Pearson's bought WSI from an affiliate of the The Carlyle Group and Citi Private Equity,
and not the Carlyle Group itself. They did not buy all of WSI.

Where do you get this information from and how do you support it. Pearson has purchased the whole thing and merged it now. the info is available online.

Anyway it is pretty clear that debating over any of this is a waste of time. All I will say is that people need to investigate working there themselves if they are considering it and came here looking for information. No one should be taking my word for it and not just your either. I haven't even started working there as yet so no matter what I do say it is still not based on experience, it is based on research and research alone.

Actually Wall Street is also repeatedly in court in multiple jurisdictions for numerous labor issues, unpaid wages, etc.

Any valid licensed teacher is not about to end up working at any ESL mill unless there are just no other options for one reason or another and then, that time would certainly be marked by the day and not be the contract year.

Bad companies end up in court all of the time.

Good companies have an occasional problem.

I happen to work with several multinational companies and they have hardly ever been to court in many years and the publishing company that I write books through has never been sued in more than 25-years.

When people start making excuses for bad companies, one must really wonder what the agenda is.

You wanted proof, you got it. You want more proof on Wall Street, when I get time I can dig up the lawsuits against them that have been brought in various places.

As they, (Wall Street) are now owned by a company that is always in court, Wall Street will be named as a co-defendant in most any action anyway.

Lawyers will whenever possible attach to as many possible assets as possible when bringing an action and now that their numerous copyright cases will most likely involve their own supposedly independently created works.....LOL, some of which could be used to generate revenue for Wall Street.....its only a matter of time before you see Wall Street added as a defendant to some of their cases too.

As for the outcome.....That is a moot point. What matters is that the judges saw enough probable cause in multiple states and in multiple unrelated cases to allow the lawsuits to commence further after the initial filing based on case law. That's no mere coincidence.

I am guessing that you eat at bad restaurants while ignoring the 101 health department warning labels plastered all over the front of the business.

Wall Street is no different in my opinion.

I need to go find an Amway Distributor....I need some vitamins and some top quality products......After that I will spend my day searching for a used car, and then I will watch GET RICH infomercials all day long.

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is just one thing about this though, after having a quick look though.

Most are to do with copyright infringement.

None state the outcome.

Most are connected with subsidiary publishers such as Longman, Penguin, Financial Times and the many other book publishers they own.

None are connected with an incident concerning the Wall Street company.

And considering that Pearson are the worlds largest book publisher, along with the companies they have acquired it is not really that surprising that they have more appearances in a court. You could say the same thing about someone like Microsoft compared to a much smaller company, bet most of you are running Windows though....

It is interesting, was worth taking the time to post and is most certainly more informative than the majority of things people have posted here so far. Nevertheless it still does not say anything of Wall Street. How many multinational corporations are regularly in court around the world in one respect or another for something which has happened with a subsidiary.

Thanks CSS. Again you have posted something detailed and factual to read. I will be taking this under advisement and will be checking it out in greater detail, as in asking questions.

It doesn't change my opinion on most other peoples posts here though. I thanked you the first time you posted a few days ago and so far that is all you have done, post meaningful and useful info.

I think others should look to CSS and the way he chooses to post. I also think that in order to keep this thread useful the moderators should delete all the argumentative posts keeping the ones which actual have something relevant to say, like CSS's.

Thanks again.

I posted 11 lawsuits with citation, judge's name, jurisdiction, and parties listed yesterday on here in response to the poster using the name Interested Party concerning his not so wonderful and not so amazing Wall Street and their new owners. Most of those were for labor violations and copyright infringement.

I don't see the post as of some 24-hours later.

Wall Street and/or their new owners spend more time in court then they do teaching.

No surprise.

Here is the link where you can see how many times they are in court as a defendant.

PEARSON and LONGMAN....

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://dockets.justia.com/search?q=Pearson+Education%2C+Inc.

Interested Party wanted some FACTS and some CLEAR SMOKING GUN EVIDENCE.....

OK PAL......

HERE YA GO!

By the way, this is only a partial list.