Sorry Midna, I found your post a bit offensive and took it upon myself to counter a few of your statements.

Midna wrote: See that's what I don't understand about most of the foreigners here. Every (secondary) school has some kind of problem. This is China, not the US or any other country we may be used to living in. Things are done differently here, get over it!:

I dont think the issue is some kind of problem in each school, but rather, a host of flagrant problems that could easily have been avoided or are so foul that they ruin the whole deal. For example, if ones apartment is filthy and old with the cheapest furniture, which is also in various states of dis-repair and the AC or water heater doesnt work properly, and the toilet doesnt work right either, that kind of problem is a deal breaker. You cant be expected to live like a bum in a crack house. If, on top of that, you have to teach classes in McDonalds, and your boss tries to rip you off, and your manager is a tool, well, you have a completely unacceptable situation which you didnt sign up for. Teachers dont need to get over that, schools like Aston need to get over letting their franchisees pull that crap on the foreign teachers they recruit from overseas. In the end, its not that things are done differently here, but that private schools will treat teachers in a way thats just wrong anywhere, including in China.

Public schools should be better because they are run by the government and cant or shouldnt pull the ridiculous crap. The people who run it might be corrupt in some cases, but, they should have some inkling of what they are doing. To be the boss of a private school one merely needs to have enough money to buy a franchise. In a public school you dont have to share your apartment, you get way more vacation (can be @ three months at the university level), and a better bonus. So the problem isnt the country, but the businessmen, and foreign teachers here shouldnt be blamed for being ensnared into working in unacceptable and unhealthy working conditions by the clever marketing ploys of private schools like Aston.

New teachers will hear that they will earn more than a doctor does in China. Thats a typical lure, and new teachers will be defensive if you try to enlighten them on why that statement is so misleading and point out that they are not the richest people in the community because they cant afford a sedan with tinted windows on their salary and they arent living in those nice apartments over there, or over there. A doctor in China is not the same as in the West. Here it means something closer to Pharmacist, and only a Bachelors is required to practice. And even if one does make more money per hour than a local pharmacist with a shop the size of a small apartment, one doesnt get paid for doing lesson plans or grading homework or just sitting around, and one only works 20 hours a week compared to the doctors 40 or 60 plus perks and who knows what.

Similarly, youve gotta love Astons descriptions of the cities they send people to work in. They make the most polluted, dusty, industrial cities sound like exotic paradises. True that teachers shouldnt fall for that crap, but, some responsibility needs to go for those that are actually doing the manipulation and misrepresentation for personal gain at others expense.

Midna also wrote: I'm not defending the Chinese way. It sucks, and it's horrible. Hey, lets not attack all of China here. I dont think its in Confucianism to rip off unsuspecting foreigners. And lets not throw out the baby with the bath water. There are actually good teaching jobs in China. The problem being addressed is the excess of greed and corruption in private schools which is ultimately bad even for those perpetuating it. Everyone benefits from a better system, including the bosses, though some bosses arent mature enough to realize the benefits of owning a successful and well-respected school are greater than being able to treat educated foreign teachers like subservient wretches. Success can be better than lording over staff, and lording over staff guarantees only succeeding to the degree that an imbalanced economic system doesnt allow teachers and staff enough opportunities to flee such situations.

Midna wrote: Everyone who gets screwed over here pretty much gets screwed over for one of two reasons. The first one being the school is just total crap and uses the visa as leverage. Thats not one reason. Thats an encyclopedia of different reasons bound together, and you cant ask a teacher to get over it.

Midna wrote: A foreign manager at an Aston is technically an assistant to the Chinese manager. They're just there to make sure the foreigners are being taken care of. If you have a problem, you need to bring it up with a regional director. They'll get things done quick for the most part.

Technically its the foreign managers job to take it up with regional management, not the teachers. If one has an under-qualified foreign manager who lacks social skills he or she will resent if you go over his or her head. If the foreign manager IS the problem because of power-tripping or parking lot syndrome or some other excess of the ego, and you go over their head, than you are at war.

If you are talking about reporting your Chinese manager or the franchisee to regional management, you might be able to solve an egregious problem or two, but you will be held in contempt for perpetuity and they may try to blacklist you.

Midna wrote: The other is someone doesn't read their contract fully. Yes, they'll try and take advantage of you, but it's your own fault if you let them. You know you don't have to do stuff. You're adults and you can say no.

Theres truth in this, and yet, you cant blame someone if someone else does something wrong to them. Its not their fault if a manager or franchisee tries to take advantage of them in violation of their contract. Dont blame the victim. The teachers may be too overwhelmed by being in a new country where just getting food can be difficult, and they may be insecure about being thrust into being a full time teacher, and also since young adults are targeted for recruitment they may not have enough experience or confidence to stand up for themselves. They also might not have enough money to leave the situation, and may be afraid to make waves. The schools may in fact capitalize on this matrix. Also, since discrepancies revolving around contracts will show up right in the beginning, the teacher who wants to fight it will have to come into the new situation kicking and screaming. Not many are willing to do that.

Midna wrote: Like someone else said... from the sounds of it you guys would wanna close basically every school here. Not gonna happen. Even though these places aren't prefect, they're good at what they were designed for. An opportunity for people to earn a living in China while traveling.

I doubt the schools are designed to give people an opportunity to earn a living while traveling in China. Rather, they are designed to make money for their owners, and take advantage of people who WANT to earn a living while traveling in China. If you work for Aston you wont earn much of a living, and you wont have a lot of opportunities to travel in China unless you consider two weeks or three weeks in a year a lot of time. Youd be better off just flying in and traveling for a month and half and flying back home to a real salary if you wanted to travel.

The schools dont need to be shut down unless they are truly terrible, but there need to be serious repercussions for abuses of foreign and Chinese staff (who are often treated abominably while working for foreign owned schools in China), teachers salaries need to be raised, acceptable apartments offered, and there need to be reasonable bonuses and vacation packages.

In short, the loonies need to be reeled in, the excesses trimmed, and then what is sliding into being a scam that only benefits owners could be a beneficial situation for all involved. Schools like EF or Shane or Aston could be very good things with a little tweaking, but they can also go horribly wrong.