With the faltering economy of the past couple of years, many language (cram) schools have taken it upon themselves to become agents of their employees, farming them out to various kindies, junior high, and high schools. They get a permanent 30% cut of our pay, just for introducing the work to us. Sweet gig if you can get it.
Some of these farm destinations go through foreign teachers like goose sh*t through a sieve. They figure that if they're paying good money (they're not, btw) they can order us lowly drones around like dogs. Very few teachers enjoy working in those kind of conditions, so there is a very high turnover rate at some of these farmed-out locations.
This is not to say that all the farm sites are nightmares; some of the schools are pleasant to work at, with ample support staff and teaching aids available. Typically foreign teachers at such schools will stay many years before moving on. Such schools are run primarily as educational institutions, with the primary emphasis put on students' needs.
The worst of the lot, however, are run on much the same lines as cram schools, i.e., it's all about da bling, or milking the unsuspecting students for as much cash as they can, for as long as they can, while offering low quality teaching in return. They key goal is to keep the students happy, and the parents off the administration's back. Actual learning takes a very distant backseat. Think nosebleed bleacher seats at the Astrodome.
If anything upsets this delicate balance (the cash flying into their coffers), like for example the teachers truly trying to educate the students and not keeping them in a state of hypnotised bliss, then the admin hacks go into full CYA mode, anxious to protect their cash cow. That their primary responsibility is to give the best possible education to the students never enters their minds; it's always about the cash flow.
And of course who is more expendable then the hapless foreign teachers who aren't clued into this whole cynical manipulation of the parents and students, teachers who foolishly complain when students don't receive textbooks until months into the new term, teachers who demand class participation and measured improvement in their charges. Thus the cascade of new teachers as the old ones shuffle out of the door. No fuss, no muss, unless you're one of those unsuspecting fools.
