Not Anything Set in Stone

[ev1lchris]

Yesterday I talked to someone at the agency that gave me my current job at a top Thailand secondary school.

She told me that she wasn't able to renew the contracts. She also said the director wanted to get rid of all the teachers and just put in "falangs." I'm guessing she means all white people. I am Japanese-American. She called the director an annoying bigot. So I was pretty sure that when my contract ends on March 18th I would be out of a job.

My co-worker is telling me not to take anything set in stone until the new year starts. He said that his contract was renewed and that he would be in a different department. What he tells me kind of contradicts what I heard yesterday.

Is the system really this wonky? I have heard that the director really hates foreigners, as a matter of fact she never acknowledged that I exist until recently. I'm just assuming that I'm not going back to that school and that I should look for something else. And I would think my Filipino co-workers would be gone too since the director wants to purge the department of Filipinos or something.

Although she wants to hire white people and pay less money than she does which I think is an impossible task. It could be that she might not be able to pull it off and just say forget it and hire us all back. I'm not holding my breath though.

[tonray]

Bigger kickbacks on white teachers...just the facts

[ev1lchris]

Kickbacks?

[NeverSure]

Schools have been known to get paid X for each teacher but pay the teacher less. The difference gets pocketed.

Cheers.

[chowny77]

Kickbacks?

Pretty much what Neversure said. If a school can prove that they have NES teachers they can claim X amount of money for each teacher to help with the salaries. This money allocated by the government very rarely will be used in this manner and the school will swallow the money through dodgy accounting. The government do not give money or nothing like they do for NES to Non-native speakers so that is why your director is trying to do what she is doing. Most likely this will blow up in her face as most NES teachers that fulfill the Krusapa mandate have had enough and have gone to grasses greener. Salaries are not matching the experience/academic qualifications that are now being forced here. I am sure she will do a U-turn and your contract will be renewed as to be honest, she will have no choice. But saying that, the Thai value of "Face" comes into the equation and will she acknowledge that she is wrong or not. Good luck!

[Scott]

Sadly, it is a racist country. I know many schools who will not hire people, or hire them for a lower salary, if they have an ethnic Asian background. I've seen some excellent teachers born in the US/Canada/Australia, but they were ethnically Asian and they were offered far less money than a white teacher, even though some of the white teachers came from places such as Russia.

[Raymonddiaz]

Racism is a part of Thai culture. They hire teachers because of their skins not their qualifications. I understand why Thailand education is ranked number 9 out of 10 Asean countries. It is not going to change anytime soon. We need to live with this or else leave....

[Mr Money Bags]

Racism is a part of Thai culture. They hire teachers because of their skins not their qualifications. I understand why Thailand education is ranked number 9 out of 10 Asean countries. It is not going to change anytime soon. We need to live with this or else leave....

Isn't racism a part of every culture?

Maybe some are just better at hiding it than others......

You're Welcome!!

[Ianatlarge]

Have a word to your director, explain the situation. Better move to Vietnam, China, elsewhere, or look online for teaching. Thailand is becoming increasingly xenophobic.

[ev1lchris]

Have a word to your director, explain the situation. Better move to Vietnam, China, elsewhere, or look online for teaching. Thailand is becoming increasingly xenophobic.

China is the way worst place I have ever been to.

I don't want to talk to the director. They are always bitter wastes of space.

[quandow]

To answer your original question, yes, the system is really this wonky.

Your best best is to get your foot in the door of an international school, or go to Vietnam. Thailand is NO place to make a career in teaching. There are enough posts on TV to fill up the internet about the insanity of the Thai educational system.