In response to (Message Deleted by Poster) (Are You Thinking of Teaching in China?)

Actually, this post makes all the sense in the world. (Although I think Calvin was usually much more selfish than Hobbes... ;-{) )

If you're able to come to China and be prepared to see your contract used as toilet paper, your pay being unthinkably low and your hours unthinkably long because Mr. big important school-owner mans makes more profit from you that way, your end-of-contract bonuses withheld because the owner decided he'd rather keep the money himself, your vital visa/residence documents you were promised never delivered, your being foisted into all sorts of non-contractual activities on little or no notice because the school benefits from having your foreign face around, your apartment being an unlivable dump, your classrooms totally unmanageable while you have no power to discipline a student, your grades changed around to fit the management's bribe- and relationship-structures, and other fun and games some schools can pull on you, and just smile and roll with the flow and tell yourself this is just the Chinese way, then you're going to get along just great. The Chinese school owners will just LOVE you, that much is for sure.

I guess I was never sufficiently broad-minded. I was stuck in the rut of thinking that if a Chinese school gives you a fair shake, as many do, you work hard and be a good employee for them and praise them every chance you get. But if the school tries to pull a ripoff that ANY culture- including the Chinese- KNOW is unconscionable, as many more do, you resist it with every fiber of your being, and you scream bloody murder to the authorities and the TEFL media. I'm not talking about some wanker who got fired for being drunk in class and has an axe to grind, I'm talking about the many genuine abuses that still happen within this system on a frequent basis.

Of course, your laoban or waiban, whom you should indeed make every reasonable attempt to get along with, really likes it when we silently swallow whatever crap they choose to throw our way, and then quietly go our merry way when the contract is over. That way, you see, they have no pressure to change their nefarious but profitable practices...and so, of course, they never will change them.

Sadly, I don't play along with this. China turned meek little me into "John Wayne toilet paper": I'm rough and I'm tough and I don't take crap off of anybody...and if China doesn't like it, they can kiss my...well, YOU know. ;-{)

Raoul