In response to Tracy Jan's article ("English teachers wanted: must look Western," June 4, Page 17), I also worked for Hess Language School for over three years. After the first year, I hired and trained foreign teachers. To be honest, there are some lazy and irresponsible teachers out there. I tried to hire the most qualified and responsible teachers. Although a few parents complained about their color and/or accent, it was less of a problem than their previous complaints about irresponsible teachers, a lack of teachers and just plain bad teachers. A school's reputation is mostly based on the teaching quality, not the color of the teachers.
Todd Kitchka
Tainan
As a Canadian of Chinese descent, I have experienced discrimination against English teachers who are not Caucasian in appearance many times since I have been here in Taiwan and was very glad that it has been brought out in the open.
When I came to Taiwan almost 10 years ago, almost anyone could find a job teaching English. But, although things have changed considerably since then, there is still discrimination against teachers who are Asian or "non-white."
I have on many occasions answered ads for English teachers. Over the phone, they were very anxious to hire me. However, once I showed up at the school, they would look at me dumbfounded and tell me that they thought I was white. In many instances, even after beginning to work, I found that less-qualified and newly arrived, but white, teachers received priority in terms of allocation of classes and scheduling.
There will always be ignorant people, but who's fooling who? We have to look beyond appearances and look at the quality of the teaching. It's good for business to have white teachers in the window, but what if they are incompetent?
H. Tseng
Hsichih
Parents are to be commended for wanting only the best for their children. But any reasonable human being needs to question some parents' views on what "best" is or means.
I am dark skinned, darker than Christina Becker in your article, I am (proudly) not American and I am English speaking. On top of that, I am a qualified English teacher, with three degrees and twelve years of teaching experience.
With such a pedigree, I do not, cannot and will not stand back and allow laymen and ignorant people deem and judge me unsuitable to teach their children or to fill an English position.
Education entails more than merely pumping facts into a mind. It also involves teaching children about the rainbow of differences among the people who make our world. So,the mother quoted in the article was correct in saying she wanted her children to come into contact with foreigners. But she is naive if she expects that the whole world is made up of only white Americans!
It is a pity and a shame that parents always bequeath their prejudices and uninformed views to their children. I hope by being taught by different looking and sounding teachers, Taiwanese children will learn more than English, but also that the world is truly a kaleidoscope of amazing diversities. Maybe they can then teach their parents a thing or two about reality.
Melvyn Leon Boois
Taipei
Jan's article deserves a closer look. While I am not going to address the professional qualifications these teachers may or may not have to teach English as a second language, there are some points that the author overlooked.
First, all Chinese in Taiwan learn English in their schools using the KK phonetic system, which is based on standard American pronunciation. Reluctance to hire, say, an Australian or a Briton because of their accent, is understandable in light of this fact.
As far as the Chinese desiring a certain "whiteness" of the teachers, this may not be as racist as it first appears. The bottom line here, like it or not, is that the people studying English are the customers and the old saw applies: they are always right. Although the Chinese expectation that Westerners speaking English with a standard American accent should be Caucasian is of course absurd, this is the expectation of the customer.
There is no harm in trying to educate the English-as-a-second-language consumers that color is meaningless (and that even some Americans have accents or such poor spoken English that they should be excluded from teaching). But how many foreigners in Taiwan would spend a bundle of money in Japan to eat at a sushi bar manned by a Black sushi chef from Philadelphia? Sure, he might be just as good as his Japanese counterpart, but isn't having the chef be Japanese part of the experience? And at any rate, isn't it your right to decide -- be it where you eat or with whom you study?
Mark Wolfe
Taipei
Doubting Solomons' wisdom
When I read Catherine Sung's article ("Taiwan navy on Solomons standby," June 9, Page 1), I thought there must be some mistake. Is it really true that Taiwan's navy has been sent to the Solomon Islands to evacuate PRC nationals? Taiwan's nationals of course deserve assistance; we are also used to the idea that the ROC sometimes tries to set itself up as the protector of overseas Chinese, of which there are probably a few in the Solomons. But PRC nationals? Has everybody gone completely mad? How many of those several hundred PRC nationals have ever been involved in lobbying for the Solomons to switch its recognition to Beijing?
How many are just plain agents of the PRC government? And now we are going to give them a cruise on board our second-generation naval vessels?
I am stunned that the National Security Council approved this action and equally stunned that the navy agreed to go along with it. Has nobody even a basic sense of national security considerations? Does anyone remember who the enemy is? Bo Tedards
Taipei
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