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[Pumped]

Warning: This is a long post.

For starters, I’ve been a very big fan of this forum for ages and prefer it to the “other one”.  I’ve had an account on this forum for years but have never posted here or on any other forum before.  But there is something that’s been on my mind for a while and I wanted to see if I was alone in this or if others feel the same way.  I want to apologize in advance for what is going to be a long post.

I’m 32yrs old and have been working in China as a foreign English teacher shortly after I graduated from college (I have a BA in drama).  I’m in my third position and all my jobs have been at public universities.  My current university is in a 2nd-tier city and all the salaries and conditions are basically the same for everyone.  I mean if you have a master’s degree, I think you get an extra 500 rmb a month, but not much more.  If you agree to work overtime or can get some independent contract work (like moonlighting), the rate is standardised and the same for everyone, 100 rmb for one hour.

Here’s the thing I want to gripe about.  In the 10 years that I’ve been in China working as a foreign English teacher, I always run into other foreign teachers who seem to think and behave like they are better than everyone else.  

There is this one guy in town who works at private language mill and he’s always bragging about how he’s got all these special government contracts for 250rmb an hour!  I did a brief gig for the government and I received 100 rmb for the same work.  Why would (I’ll call him) Ralph be earning 250rmb for the same kind of work?  Maybe if he had an advanced degree or was a certified teacher I would have some reason to believe that but he has a bachelor’s degree just like me.  In every location I have taught at, there is always someone like this claiming to be so much better off than everyone else.  It irks the hell out of me because I know it is bullshit.

It’s not just claims about earning more money for the same work that bothers me.  There is this other guy who’s around 45 years old with an MBA degree who’s teaching the same oral English classes that I am but at a different university.  Get this.  He refers to himself and DEMANDS that his students call him professor!  Can you believe that?  He never taught one day before in his life before moving to China some 10 years ago and I believe he didn’t even work very long with his MBA at home before settling into China to teach English.  To be a professor, don’t you have to publish and go through some sort of process or can anyone who is teaching oral English at a Chinese university be an automatic professor?

When I discussed this with a close acquaintance of mine, someone I work with and respect, his take on this is that if the Chinese don’t care if foreigners call themselves “professors of oral English”, then I shouldn’t care either.   I don’t agree.  The way I see it is that if the Chinese don’t take foreign teachers seriously, we don’t help our cause by capitalizing on their apathy for our personal self-importance.

Aside from lying about how much money they earn or giving themselves imaginary titles, I also see this same disease of big shotism on the Internet.  Nowadays, it seems like everyone is an expert on life and work in China and everyone seems to have a blog to prove it.  Like I wrote before, I am not a big Internet person.  I don’t have a Facebook or Twitter or whatever account.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a personal blog and writing about your experiences in China but some people do take themselves a little bit too seriously in my opinion.  There is one guy, I actually met him briefly once in Hubei,  who’s a few years younger than me, has been in China for about 5 or 6 years and calls his blog a “China teaching web” and his forum, “a China Alliance”.  In addition, he claims that his blog is the “#1 source for information about working and living in China”.  Now I always thought that Raoul’s Saloon was the #1 source of information about working and living in China!   Aside from that, when you read his brief biography (Link deleted -R), he claims to have more than 10 years of experience working in radio but when you do the math that doesn’t add up.  If he came to China at age 24, shortly after college, where did he gain this more than 10 years of radio broadcasting experience?  Maybe he volunteered at his junior high school local radio station but that’s not the same as working in the field.

Am I too sensitive or moral or does all this big shotism, constant exaggerating, posturing at self-importance and ridiculous use of hyperbole (calling a blog a China Teaching Web) hurt foreign teachers in China in the end?  I don’t claim to be a professor or even the best foreign teacher in China.  I like my work very much and I take it seriously but I am no expert on teaching English in China, not even after close to 10 years.  I have ideas and thoughts about how things work but I don’t believe for a second that all my experiences and reactions are necessarily informative.  Everyone here seems to have different reactions to even the same experiences..  Maybe one day I will go back to school and earn an advanced degree in linguistics or TESOL and return to teaching as a professional but, right now, I’m just a regular English teacher who loves his work and his good at it.  Sorry, I don’t have any blogs, teaching webs, or alliances to prove that.

Anyway, I’d like to know if anyone can relate to my angst or if I’m all alone in this as my friend tells me.

Thanks for reading.

Pete

[The Local Dialect]

Quite a first post Pete, welcome! 

I think you'll find that there is a certain segment of teachers in China who feel the need to build themselves up because they know that there are 19 year old backpackers doing basically the same job and they want to distinguish themselves somehow from those other teachers who do not take their jobs seriously or who are not professionals. They want to feel like they're doing a job that worthy of respect rather than scorn. Especially if you live in an expat-heavy city, say Beijing or Shanghai, you'll encounter a lot of "oh-you're-just-an-English-teacher" attitude from expat types and I think it really bugs some people that the general perception of English teaching as a profession is that it is not a real job.

I think there are others that really take all the Chinese "foreign expert" stuff seriously. Hey, if you've got a little book from the government that says you're an expert, that's proof enough, right? My boss insists on calling me "professor" to the students and I find it pretty embarrassing, but someone else might run with it. Still others figure that if you teach at a university you're automatically a professor. Maybe it is just a massive case of wishful thinking.

It sounds like you've got a good attitude and a healthy perspective towards English teaching, so why worry about the assholes? Aside from taking an academic sort of interest in the phenomenon, I wouldn't really let these people bother you.

[El Macho]

I'm with you on this 100%, Pete. From my own experience, I've got three words of advice:

Illegitimi non carborundum

Or, in English, Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Just as there are a number of very interesting foreigners teaching in English, there are all sorts of crazy schmucks over here "teaching". Some of them are self-aware enough to be ashamed of themselves and try to build themselves up by tearing the rest of us down or just being self-righteous twats.

Just ignore them. I know they're really really irritating, but there's no real way for the normal foreigners to "keep them in line" or whatever. In the end, they have to live with themselves; if that weren't such a terrible thing, they wouldn't have to lie to make themselves feel better.

I've found it most helpful to learn a little bit of Chinese and not have my social circles limited by language. Once you've got a little bit of Chinese under your belt and start chatting with people, it's a whole new world. Having some distance from the freaks has also helped me to be able to see a bit more humor in everything, too.

[Stil]

Hey Pete. Welcome to the Saloon.

You are not alone.

Sometimes being an Expat is stressful. Different people cope with it in different ways. Some puff themselves up, some go native, some use the bottle, some even have the odd rant or three right here but you know, all this and more happens in every office around the world. It's not just us foreign professors teachers.

They are not going to change though so you have to decide how to deal with it. I think one mini-rant on a forum every 10 years or so shows that you are doing ok.

I looked at the guys website. It's pretty standard. He has a fair bit of advertising on it so he words things in a way to try and get more hits. The posts themselves seem ok if a little standard but writing such things as "your no.1 source" is fairly par for the course on the web.

Yer man with the 250/hr job may be bragging. 250 二百五 as you probably know is a strange amount to be offered for a job here but it's not ridiculously high by any means. I live in a second tier city and have made more than that at times. 100/hr for government work is selling your self low mate, unless you are getting something else out of it.

Pete, you are 32. Why are you letting these guys get to you?

[Pumped]

Would really like to thank everyone for their feedback.  It actually helped.

I guess I don't have much patience for marketing hype in any form, especially shameless self-promotion.  What does an amateur radio announcer with a degree in Spanish know about life in China and why is his opinion more valuable than anyone else's on this forum for instance?  But I think you're right that he's just trying to make money and hopefully he hasn't bought into his own bullshit.

Thanks guys, I needed that. 

[Raoul F. Duke]

Yo Pumped, that was worth waiting for. Write some more.

Some foreigners come to China, get treated "special", and are gullible and/or ego-bruised enough to begin to believe it.

[KeyserSoze]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a 100 RMB per hour standardized overtime/moonlighting rate of pay.

How is this enforced, and who is it enforced against?

[Stil]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a 100 RMB per hour standardized overtime/moonlighting rate of pay.

How is this enforced, and who is it enforced against?

Overtime pay is enforced by your contract. Moonlighting is illegal technically. In neither case is it standardized.

[Escaped Lunatic]

some go native,

You say that like it's a bad thing.  What's wrong with going native?

[Stil]

I never said it was a bad thing. Hitting the bottle 'ain't so bad either.

[Escaped Lunatic]

I never said it was a bad thing. Hitting the bottle 'ain't so bad either.

I'll drink to that!

[Pumped]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a 100 RMB per hour standardized overtime/moonlighting rate of pay.

How is this enforced, and who is it enforced against?

I probably made a mistake in using the word "standardized".  Customary or routine would be a better word.

[El Macho]

Funny this should come up, I've been finding that 250 is sort of the common starting offer in BJ for part-time work. The first two times I heard it I wondered if they were taking the mickey, but as it turns out they weren't. (However, I used that to negotiate a higher rate of pay. "That's a silly amount…")

[Stil]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a 100 RMB per hour standardized overtime/moonlighting rate of pay.

How is this enforced, and who is it enforced against?

I probably made a mistake in using the word "standardized".  Customary or routine would be a better word.

No, I certainly wouldn't consider it routine nor customary.

[Nathan Ryan]

Hi everyone,

It's interesting that Pumped hasn't replied to anyone since he made his initial post. But I kind of doubt that we will hear from him again.

My name is Nathan Ryan -- I run the China Teaching Web, which Pumped so 'glowingly' describes in his post. I think you can find a link to our jobs board somewhere on this website.

<Specific accusations toward another member deleted. R>

He claims to have met me once in Hubei (I did teach in Hubei) but I don't know who he is. I have met hundreds of foreigners so it's hard to put a face on this guy. But for some reason, he has decided to go after me. A couple of points:

1. I did work in radio for ten years. I started in the business when I was 14 as an intern and did everything from DJ'ing to covering professional ballgames. I worked for three different radio stations. I permanently got out of radio in 2007 when I was 24. You do the math -- I was in it for 10 years.

2. I do run a website called 'the China Teaching Web' which contains helpful information about teaching in China. I don't force anyone to read it -- but it's there.

3. I do run a website called 'The Teach Abroad China Alliance' which is a support group for teachers in China. Yes, perhaps it sounds a little grand but that's what the internet is all about -- getting your name out there and attracting people.

4. Yes, I've claimed that my blog was the #1 source for information about teaching in China but is that a crime? Thousands of teachers have visited my site and found the information useful. So excuse me for using that slogan -- maybe it's not completely true but is true for some.

5. YES. I did use a 'fake' name for a long time on my websites. Why? <Specific accusations toward another member deleted. R>
 But I've decided that I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of -- so I use my real name now.

The question is -- why is Pumped so obsessed with me? What did I ever do to him? Is he jealous, perhaps? I don't know what his problem is -- I wish he would tell us.

He has demanded (as you can see below) that I use my real name. So why doesn't he use his real name? Why doesn't he come out behind that mask and let us know who he is?

Most of this is par for the course. Running any kind of website will always attract <Specific accusations toward another member deleted. R>
 But I'm not going to quit doing what I do. I think it's important to provide information for people who want to come and teach here.

I'm not asking that the Raoul remove Pumped's post. Everyone has a right to say whatever they want. But I do hope that the readers out here will understand what kind of person Pumped is.

Here is one (of many) comments that he has recently tried to leave on my site. This was just posted last week so apparently, he is making good on his threats. Oh, and by the way, I am not Catholic!

<Long, nasty quote removed. We don't care what allegedly happens on other websites. R>