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Letters: Racist recruiting practices

Kao Shih-fan's article on what makes a good English teacher ("What is a good English teacher?" Oct. 16, page 8) showed insight into issues of English teaching that need to be addressed if the standard of English teaching here is ever to be raised.

Misconceptions regarding the determinants of proficiency in teaching English, such as those mentioned by Kao, continue to drive unethical recruitment practices with serious implications not just for the industry but also the wider community.

The recruitment of English teachers (or any professional) based on characteristics other than those related to job performance inevitably results in poorer job performance and, if widespread, risks bringing the industry and sometimes other sectors into disrepute. Yet, responding to demand, schools nationwide routinely hire English teachers on the basis of nationality or even on the basis of race.

English teachers hired on the basis of their being of non-Asian descent are generally referred to as "foreign" teachers regardless of their residency or citizenship status. They are not always native English speakers and can be less qualified -- but nevertheless better paid -- than their counterparts of Asian descent, even when their counterparts are native speakers.

This kind of recruitment practice would be illegal in countries with laws against discrimination -- but not here, where even visa laws are discriminatory and recruitment regulations for some positions at government schools are tied to nationality.

All this poses serious implications for the wider community, beyond the issues of morality and teaching quality. It sends a message to a young and impressionable nation -- to those who are the students of these "foreign" teachers -- that it is acceptable to discriminate.

The government complains -- as it should -- that the UN and the rest of the world discriminate against Taiwan in blocking its application for membership. Yet it is ironic that this same government condones and even encourages racist and discriminatory recruitment practices on its own soil -- even against the citizens of its allies -- and is guiding the next generation to do the same.

Matthew Magill

Taichung

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