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‘E’ is for ‘Elephant in the Room’: The Stigma of English Teaching in China
Mar 07, 2011By Mark Turner, eChinacities.comEnglish teacher – there I said it. It seems that the words “English teacher” have gained four-letter-word-status in many expat circles. Why is it that the ESL is virtually a taboo subject for some people?
Imagine, if you will, a scene on the expat social circuit. It’s a Saturday night and a gang of foreign friends are gathering in a bar; some of them are now meeting new acquaintances. One such pair are having the exact conversation they have previously engaged in hundreds of times. They start by introducing themselves, first by name, then their place of origin, then there’s a deathly silence, “So what do you do?” There’s a pause, barely perceptible to the less socially aware – or the more “socially lubricated”.
For a split second, the pair stare into their drinks or perhaps light a Zhongnanhai looking anywhere but where their eyes should be gazing. In the corner of the room, in fact filling a good portion of it – somewhere between the bar and the fire exit – is a heaving, leathery skinned, bristle haired pachyderm, straining to run wild like a bull in a china shop, or indeed, an elephant in a bar, itching to trample people and their feelings with its big stubby feet.
That’s right; that’s the elephant. It isn’t a real one, though that wouldn’t surprise me, having seen a real, live and very agitated reindeer in a Beijing night club at Christmas time (the depths which bar owners plumb for a tacky gimmick now fails to surprise me, sadly).
No. The imaginary elephant, on this occasion, goes by the name “English Teaching”.
This might sound like a silly disconnected narrative. But I think that most people having lived in a large Chinese city with a significant ex-pat community will have witnessed this exact situation a number of times. When it comes to discussions about peoples identities on the expat circuit – certainly in Beijing – people are very tentative when discussing their own occupations with strangers. This kind of aversion or tip toeing around the subject seems to be something that very few people acknowledge. This to me, is a kind of puzzle.
Nobody can deny that the selflessness inherent in a profession that involves helping others realize their goals and contribute to a society is an admirable one. I don’t even need to start talking about China being a Confucian society or other such triteness to get my point across. Teachers should, in theory, be treated well in China.
Almost everyone can remember at least one teacher, whom, when they were a school kid or student, did something memorable and helped them grow as a person. Most people can think back and remember a teacher reaching out to them in a way which they will never forget. So shouldn’t teachers get a little more respect?
The problem lies in the nature of much teaching work in China. Recruitment for the large part involves a kind of fast turn over, revolving doors style policy, and the prime requisite for candidates at many schools is to bear Caucasian features, a China visa with six months left on it, and little else. This means that many ESL teachers are more like status symbols or trophies for schools rather than valued members of staff, without any real responsibilities or input into the affairs of the school. Some might even go as far as arguing that the only qualification some teachers hold is that of speaking their own mother tongue.
I might hazard a guess that this lack of reverence for teachers by people within Chinese companies dealing with foreign teachers as well as some students and their parents, is in part to do with jealousy rooted in perceived injustices in wages; foreign teachers get paid lots of money for doing an “easy” job. Few people probably see the psychic ‘trade-off’ that foreigners accept to get their 10k plus a month job.
It is also likely, in part, a symptom of a get-rich-quick and a “tread-on-anyone’s-fingers-whilst-you-are-trying-to-scramble-up-the-ladder” mentality. Teachers are dealt with in an ‘ad hoc’ way; people forget to see teaching endeavors as having their own intrinsic value and tend to see teachers instead as cash cows. (Apologies for lack of continuity, but the elephant metaphor was becoming played out)
The nature of ESL work is such that it has great potential for attracting gap year students, people that want an easy ride and people that have found it difficult to find other work.
Conversely: for other people, teaching English in China is a stepping stone, or a means for gaining more free time so as to pursue their own education or artistic goals. There are also, don’t forget, the naturally talented teachers. There are clearly many motivations for ESL teaching. People do however seem to enjoy tarring ESL teachers with the same brush and I would even go as far as to say that this has a negative impact on the self-image of teachers..
I think that a lot of hostility towards English teachers is directed at them from two kinds of people: Half-pats that came to China as students or English teachers and have been unable to shed their ‘teacher complex’ despite having moved into a new field; there are also those higher up the expat ‘food chain’, the business people and expat packagers that are jealous of young English teachers for the fact that they came to China out of their own choice and curiosity and are enjoying a relatively stress free life, not yet worrying about assets and the career ladder.
Judgment of people on the basis of their occupation seems to be a part of expat life in China, a phenomena I have never been so acutely aware of anywhere else in the world. As a final thought, maybe these insecurities are inevitable for an expat population in a country such as China, where hierarchical systems are so deeply ingrained.
Related links
Teaching in China: What Can it Get You?
China Beyond the Blackboard: Finding Jobs Besides Teaching
Right Country Wrong Job: 5 Common Problems for Teachers Coming to China
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Judging people by their occupation is global.
For the expats on the 'full package', teachers are too far down the food chain, and would be the same back home.
Because of the notorious behavior of a few expat teachers, we all get labeled. And like the author says, some of the halfpats cannot escape their own baggage.
Add to this, people make often wrong assumptions about unaccompanied males living and working in Asia.
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Judging people starts far earlier than this surely...
what do your parents do?
what school do you go to?
which suburb do you live in?
where did you go on holiday?
which university did you attend?
what degree do you have?
what is your occupation and how much do you earn...??
However there are some people who do not need to wear badges of achivement to feel good about themselves. Those people who judge, appraise or check what you do for a job before they decide to accept you are not really worth worrying about.
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"Those people who judge, appraise or check what you do for a job before they decide to accept you are not really worth worrying about."
Precisely!
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Lol good article!
I'm a teacher and so is my flatmate - he HATES telling people he is a teacher to the point where makes up stuff when he meets others because he's all too aware of the stigma. He does the classic pause....
It probably is a little different for us ladies, but based on my experiences with him, he does feel shame in admitting it. He says people automatically look down on him...but then i have to remind him that would you really want to be friends with someone who does that in the first place?
I have great friends here who are on the all expenses paid expat package who say some of their best friends are teachers, but I've also met a lot of t**ts who think they are above everybody, including the locals....but like i say, why would you want to hang around with these people?
There's also the snobbery within teaching circles....'Are you an ESL teacher or a real teacher?' I've heard on more than one occasion!!! Some educators who work in business training, the international schools or the Universities also have that way of thinking and are quick to tell anyone who will listen that they are a 'real' teacher.
I also know a lot of people who are only teachers for the visa - so they can pursue amongst other things learning Chinese (whilst being able to work legally), music and art. Shanghai is a great city for all those things with a great music scene and art community. But nobody really knows how to go about getting a visa for doing these things!
But for me the bottom line is i love my job, it seriously makes me happy, and i get paid very well for not a lot of hours and have great holidays. I'm happy to tell people i'm a teacher!
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The problem is that the Schools pay way to low, and the want excellent teaching , the would get much btter and highly qualified teachers if they paid a correct wage . They just want to show a face from USA or UK that can speak English, this i snot a teacher
Teachers in USA must attend 4 years college and get a degree in teaching maybe the schools in China should understand that I pay and hire proper then we would have better results and the teachers would be more attnetion to the work
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To be honest Gene
As the author suggests, most teachers are just a cash cow to be milked. Certainly in the private sector. The number one concern is that the resource (teacher) is cheap, to maximise profits. This is shortsighted, but like most Chinese businesses they don't think beyond the bottom line.
With 'competitive wages' the salary will be based on what the lowest paid person is willing to accept, even though there is a shortage of teachers (good ones or bad ones)..
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Dr. Gene Smith, I would not even hire you to teach English if I am the head of a school. Your English isn't good enough based on what you have posted.
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I'm sure that you mean for the verb in protasis to be in the subjunctive: "if I were ...". Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone!
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Who cares what people do for a living in China? Why can't someone be valued just because of who they are? I don't like someone just because they have money. As for Chinese women who marry rich men, they are nothing but sluts and prostitutes.
I am a foreign teacher in China and proud of my uni job!
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Hi Steve, you may have accidentally fallen into a trap.
"proud of my uni job"
Is this perhaps not elevating yourself above some non-uni teachers?
This is not a criticism, just noting that we all are capable of snobery, without realising.
Don't take this personally, I realise that I too am becoming more of a snob as I get older.
Two things that have happended to me in China. My views have become less egalitarian, and I am becoming less of a socialist.
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Hey, women marry rich men are sluts and prostitutes? Give us a break! Check dictionary to learn what a prostitute is defined. You'd better to return to your home country to teach others about your definition of prostitute but I bet you won't be able to find a teaching job in your country.
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Are you sure your posting in the right place? Not sure how your comments relate to the article or anyone elses views...
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Anonymous
In socialist thinking, marriage is another form of prostitution.
That is where the comment comes from. The idea has been espoused many times in many formats.
You could Google 'marriage prostitution' and get much more on the subject.
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In a way i also agree woman who marry just for the comfort and money is selling her body and soul.... ill never tell a girl how much money i have as she will be attracted by only that.... LOVE is NOT for sale.
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You have pissed off the hivemind with this comment, man. I do agree with you though; gold digging is basically just another form of prostitution. However, this hasn't even been mentioned in the topic. Why did you suddenly bring it up?
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@Steve You hit the nail on the head! It seems to me that it takes on such gargantuan dimensions precisely due to the fact that after Deng's infamous exhortation, unfortunately, the only barometer most Chinese recognise is that of materialism. Thus, raising the issue of narcissistic gold-diggers is perfectly coherent within this context due to the all-pervasiveness of the phenomenon and how it links to the initial topic. For the numpties incapable of cogent thought who felt they need to question the insertion, you are an embarrassment! No wonder, ESL is deprofessionalised here (btw, some great articles on both issues at middlekingdomlife: no affiliation, just saying). You are not what you do, you are not what you own, you are what you are as a person: character or lack of it, values system, heart.
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My experience is that schools are businesses where money means success. Having a foreign face raises the reputation of a school (provided it is a white foreign face). Parents automatically think the school must be affluent and successful if they can hire foreign teachers.
I realised this early on when I had not learnt my schedule properly and accidentally missed a few classes. No one noticed and nobody called me up on it. As a result I felt undervalued and exploited which is why I will never ever do English teaching again.
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ehhhr, but still aren't they/us -the english teachers - some kind of losers anyway??.. It is not what we were heading for at our unis and it's not something that we would go for in our own countries. :B)
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Right,when i was in college,we would not notice our foreign teacher if he missed any class.
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Elephant in the room? “Stigma” of being an English teacher? English teacher a four-letter word? Hardly!
I will try to be polite and simply say, I find the whole premise of this article ludicrous, as well as silly. Maybe it was intended this way to provoke responses such as mine.
I’ve lived and worked over four years in three major Chinese cities, to include Guangzhou, Shenzhen and now Chengdu. At NO time, in Chinese or expat circles, was I ever embarrassed to be known as an ESL teacher. To the contrary, these same people respected my job, especially the Chinese.
I’ve found foreigners, often with limited exposure to China, i.e., only Beijing or Shanghai, have strange ideas about their position, or status in China. This is akin to the same types who proudly proclaim they are a “Real teacher”, because they recently graduated from a university with an educational or English degree. They really don’t know how ignorant and/or stupid they sound, especially when they have near zero teaching, practical life, or business experiences. Chalk-it up to their age.
If the expat in Beijing is trying to impress some Chinese hottie or gold-digger, then employment as a teacher will surely NOT to do the trick. However, who cares, or wants a serious relationship with these twits? A twit-minded expat maybe?
I will agree, “You get what you pay for.” An ESL teacher can often make as much money, or more in Tier II or III cities, than Beijing or Shanghai. Why? Because a large segment of the China expat population chooses to live in these two cities permeated with Chinese rip-off English training centers. They can’t see the big forest for the trees, and know next to nothing about other Chinese cities and provinces.
IF this article is in fact truly representative of the Beijing ESL teachers thinking that they’re stigmatized, then I know I made the right decision to cross it off my list of Chinese cities to live and work over four years ago.
The bottom line is there are many expat losers in China, ESL teachers or otherwise, lacking in self-confidence or self-esteem. Misrepresentation, or pretending to be someone or something your not, is indicative of this.
Seeing elephants in bar corners is a serious condition. I would recommend they voluntarily repatriate and admit themselves to a clinical de-tox facility ASAP!
Then maybe they could return to the title and position of importance they had prior to coming to China and forever remove the terrible stigma of being an ESL teacher in China. Good riddance and Happy Trails!
LOL and ROTF.
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Stigma? You must be joking. I'm an English teacher, and everyone treats me like a bitchin rock star from Mars!
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To Charles: I wonder how long you've been doing it. If you want honest feedback try not to listen to the endless praise that is no doubt being showered upon you but look at what people value in their own lives. You will probably see that they are in fact just humouring you.
because they want something form you.
Of course you may be a special case, but I too have been told I'm the best teacher (a number of schools) has ever had, they were just AMAZED and gobsmacked at how good I was given I was so young...I've had the obligatory meals, the baijiu with the head master the whole shebang...come exam time I was told to review all the papers of students that had failed. I was politley told that all students SHOULD really pass the exams.
Given my stupid western morals I did not feel comfortable passing students that had quite obviously not been good enough to pass...needless to say following that the praise stopped as did the meals...
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