African Americans should visit China as soon as possible
- From: ggg <goodgutgut@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 03:46:15 GMT
This is your chance to meet people who don't have any heavy
preconceived notions because the majority of Africans have been
diplomats - no military bases. Do it before the frat boys are all
over the place. CCTV's Beijing travel show is hosted by a muscular
African American male and his local female friend - he's a very clear
speaker. There are no frat boys on CCTV yet. You'll have a good time
and you'll be rich compared to the locals.
Morcheeba had a great time. And a jazz musician and his family were
in town for his music work were interviewed on an entire episode of
Dialogue on CCTV because of leaving Hurrican Katrina (they saw
everything and confirmed all the worst news).
Just go as soon as possible for your own pleasure not to do the
Chinese any favors. Don't let this report discourage you:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/Opinion/Raymond_McFarland.html
Say no to race in teaching
Ray McFarland chinadaily.com.cn Updated: 2005-11-03 10:43
As amazing it sounds in a country where fairness and equal opportunity
are seen as virtues, there are some schools in China that openly
advocate discriminatory hiring practices when it comes to English
teachers.
They will only hire white teachers. This is not only wrong on moral
and ethical grounds, but also perpetuates stereotypes and falsehoods
about differences between races.
These schools do this with the belief that Caucasians, especially
those from native English-speaking countries, are the best English
speakers and therefore make the best English teachers. This is
nonsense.
For one thing, English is a main or a second language in many
countries of highly diverse ethnic groups from throughout the world,
from Antigua and Barbuda to Namibia to Zimbabwe.
Also, what about Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the
United States, native homes to many of China?s best English teachers?
These natural-born citizens of every color and ethnicity --
Africans-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Native Americans, and
European-Americans, and so on, are all native English speakers.
Color means nothing. It is as ludicrous to consider it a qualification
as it is a person?s gender.
Fortunately, many schools in China realize this, such as the teacher?s
college I once worked for, which had no prohibitions and hired people
based upon the merit of their qualifications, not the color of their
skin.
Yet backward schools in China cling to their hiring hierarchy based
mainly on race. They generally have a policy that goes something like
this: Highly qualified white native speakers are at the top, followed
by average white native speakers, with a mix of highly qualified
non-white native speakers and white non-native speakers (mainly from
Europe), battling it out in the middle, and the non-white non-native
speakers rounding out the bottom.
This smorgasbord approach ? where color intrudes on candidates?
intellect and abilities ? loses the point. It?s the teaching and the
English that matter, not a person?s skin.
In the same way that not every Chinese person can teach Chinese, not
every native speaker can teach English. In a truly equal society, even
a native Chinese who can speak English fluently and has top
English-teaching credentials should be hired over an inexperienced
native speaker with questionable qualifications.
In college, I had a tall European-American as my martial arts teacher
and a plump Chinese-American as my social dance teacher. They both
were great educators who went the extra mile to meet the needs of
their students. They could connect to me. I immensely enjoyed their
classes.
What if I would have declared that I would only take martial arts from
a Chinese teacher? Or that I would only take social dance from a
slender European American? What difference would it have made? None.
It would be the equivalent of saying that Yao Ming can?t possibly play
basketball in the NBA ? for goodness sake, he?s Chinese? not black.
You get the picture. Such thinking is just plain silly.
If upon first impression you think that only a white person can be a
good English teacher, then you should join the other ostriches at the
zoo. They?re lonely with their heads buried in the sand.
But if you -- as a parent or as participants in a school -- insist
that teachers of all races be included so that your child can learn
about diversity and the different ethnicities as they learn another
language, then you are part of progress on this planet.
If you?d rather have a Russian who is white but can barely speak
English teach your child than a Chinese who is very capable in English
tutor your kid, then you are racially biased, if not a bigot. In that
case, I pity you.
While such a concept by parents can be excused as ignorance, that of
schools can?t be easily forgiven. Some institutions like to absolve
themselves of blame, saying, ?The parents demand it. If we don?t
follow their wishes, they will go to another school.?
Sigh. Recently, two great fighters of morality, Chinese beacon of
truth Ba Lin and US civil rights leader Rosa Parks, passed away. They
struggled for their ideals, but persevered and gave society a
conscience in the process. Schools, as the bearers of civilization,
should follow their example.
Schools should first try educating the parents; if the parents don?t
budge, then politely hold the door open for them as they and their
child leave. I believe a firm stand on principle by itself would
inspire the parents to change eventually.
Whites who knowingly apply for and teach for schools with such hiring
practices are also to blame. More times than not, they are the ones
most capable of saying ?I will not work for you because of your racial
discrimination.? Instead, by teaching at such schools, they are as
guilty as the schools because they are benefiting from and reinforcing
such bias.
It is hard to determine exactly how much discrimination exists in
China?s English-teaching field, simply because there is no organ that
tallies such cases. Nevertheless, any amount of discrimination there
is can mushroom into full-blown racism if left unchecked.
While education is important in fighting unfair teacher-hiring
practices, international experience has shown that only when education
is combined with legislation can discrimination be combated.
Therefore, I suggest the Central Government take such measures as
setting up an agency that has the power to both investigate
allegations of racist hiring practices and punish confirmed cases
mainly via fines.
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