Originally Posted by zielwolf  I saw this kind of thing quite a bit in China. Teachers with the right looks (ie blue eyes, blond hair) get first preference. It's really unfair of course, but this is a country where surface harmony is everything. Underneath it all, the volcano might just be about to explode, but as long as things look shiny and nice on the surface, that's all that really matters.
So, as horrible and just plain wrong as it is, any number of hirers in China might not even care about how good a teacher you are or even how good your English is, as long as you fit their stereotype of a "Westerner" looks like then you will likely get the job!
Also, I found that in a number of Chinese schools I worked for, my reason for being there had little to do with teaching students English. My classes were never incorporated into the general curriculum, there was never any assessment required of my students, & I was pretty much told to do as I pleased; but when it came down to it, The Exam (written by the Chinese English "experts" in Beijing) was all that really mattered and certainly someone as lowly and unqualified as I, a native English speaking qualified English teacher, wasn't allowed within a mile of The Exam. In fact when it came down to clashes between me, native speaker, and answers on the state written exam papers which were just dead wrong, the exam paper inevitably prevailed. I was told to stop confusing students by giving them advice about the language on their state issued exam papers.
I quickly figured out that I was just there for show really, it was a way for the school that had me, being a foreign teacher, to charge higher fees.
With this knowledge in hand, I sat back, relaxed, finished my contract, took revenge by causing a minor but very public scandal [I told one of my classes that the real reason I didn't have a girlfriend was that I was gay LOL], and got out of China to look for something more fulfilling. |