Silverboy and Turnoi speak about schools with a sense of entitlement. You are right beth a free apartment is not a right. Fortunately market factors award a higher demand in teachers in Asia than a supply of capable people, therefore the general package is great, but we should appreciate it and new teachers DO NOT ACCEPT LESS. If you accept less than you enourage your Chinese boss to continue being a cheap skate. Also they will view it as a sign of weakness and think they have the upperhand. I had a boss once who felt so accomplished and so proud that he was able to get these stupid British teachers to accept 7,000 RMB a month and 27 hours a week. He was like see, China is on the rise and foreign countries are poor now so these guys have to come work for me. Next year I will lower the salary. Well, fortunately those teachers ran away when they saw what other schools were offering. I am glad to say that school pays 10,000 RMB a month now because market factors can't be ignored. However everytime they get close to a surplus of teachers the boss tries to lower the salary to 9,000, hoping to continue lowering the salary.

My point is you should be given a certain level of compensation, quality apartment, visa, and bonus, plus anything else you can negotiate because the market dictates you can. Than said don't be a whiny baby like Silverboy or Turnoi. Appreciate what your being given. Remember what your colleagues are making. Also remember that you were a waiter, walmart cart boy, or unemployed Criminology graduate living in your parents basement before you came to China. Work hard and your kids will learn, thats all that should be expected of you. If your kids are learning they won't quit and your boss who cares about money won't complain to you. Most of the teachers I see at training schools whining about like SIlverboy and Turnoi are not usually very good at their jobs. A lot of these self entitled guys are lazy too. Kids complain to their parents about boring teaching and these guys respond I am a professional, I am not a clown. Well your learning language not history or art. Language is broing if you don''t spice it up. If you want to teach something other than language go back to your country and spend years getting qualified to do so. I am licensed teacher in Canada now, but I will always remember my China teaching routes. I loved being a clown and an exciting teacher. Despite what people say "baby sitter not teacher“ I say that is probably because you ar e bad teacher. I acted like a clown and a monkey but my kids learned. I had fun, they had fun and learned, and my boss got rich. End of story.