Don't you think that Witty actually forms part of "the underlying issues that plague the ESL industry in China and abroad"?

Sure but should we put all the blame on one side?

Normally in an ESL school in China, such as Witty, WallStreet, or Webi, the the Chinese staff outnumber the foreign staff 10 to 1, sometimes more. Yet from my experience the number of 'unbalanced' and untrustworthy people is higher on the side of the foreigners than on the side of the Chinese. I've seen foreign teachers borrowing money from students during class, sexually harassing Chinese female staff and students, stealing, fighting, and all sorts of unacceptable behavior. I've even seen teachers drunk in class. The worst case I've seen was a teacher telling his students he had a little boy in his head telling him to do bad things. He even started cutting open his arms in class trying to release the little boy.

To make matters worse the Chinese observe the constant backstabbing between the foreign teachers. They have to listen to waves of lies about all the great things many foreign teachers claim they did back in their own countries. One guy sent me a 28 page resume detailing his top secret missions in the CIA and FBI. In China this amounts to a few laughs but in a western society it would amount to fear and caution and no doubt a subsequent investigation leading to an arrest and charges.

Here's a good article which pretty much sums up a lot of the problems and behaviors within the ESL expat community:

http://middlekingdomlife.com/blog/china-living/oppressed-group-behavior-among-foreign-teachers-in-china/

Of course there are good teachers but they are outnumbered by the bad. But you shouldn't be surprised that stereotypes and distrust against foreign teachers exist. This plays an important role on the development of the industry. It's cause and effect. I too have been in management positions where I was responsible for both foreign and Chinese staff. Over all I much prefer the Chinese staff.

I'm not saying all the fault is on the shoulders of the teachers but at the same time we cannot place all the blame on the Chinese schools either. The first step to solving any problem is to clearly identify that problem. That alone is 50% of the solution.