Mutual Complaints: An Editorial

“It’s not fair,” says Korea, China, and India. “Sorry,” says Canada, with a slight shrug of the shoulders. This is the way the story has gone so far. But the Vancouver Sun seems to think British Columbia should do more. And perhaps for the sake of business, they should. Korea, China and India want to, in essence, regulate the ESL industry in British Columbia for fear they’re students are being scammed at unqualified, illegitimate private language schools. These countries have gone as far as to warn their students to stay away from B.C.’s private education. Yes, there are scams. The complaint is valid. But there is a lot of exceptional foreign language education in B.C. and the rest of Canada. Yes there are some bad schools operating that need to be shutdown, but foreign language studies in other countries, particularly China and Korea are just as rife with bad business practices.

It’s the image of B.C.’s education system, say the editors of the Vancouver Sun in an editorial on Saturday, February 9th that “is being tarnished by private schools that lure students here with promises they fail to keep.” Fine, fix the system, but don’t let these countries off the hook. This is not all B.C.’s responsibility. Canada should let them know this image business works both ways. Every year, hundreds of Canadian teachers move to Asia as well as Europe to teach ESL. Many teachers return with horror stories of fraudulent schools, crooked principals, being ripped-off or treated badly. But Canada doesn’t put any pressure on those countries to improve their systems. Canada rarely reports on ESL teachers at all.

These images would be damaging to those markets that heavily rely on Canadian teachers to teach in their schools and add prestige to their businesses. In China, you can contract AIDS or HIV from dirty, repackaged needles used for the mandatory blood tests necessary to receive a work visa. In Korea, employers overcharge on tax and pocket the difference. Sometimes they don’t pay into the mandatory government pension plan, depriving employees of roughly seven hundred dollars a year. In Japan, Nova Corp., the country’s largest ESL chain, withheld payment to its foreign teachers for up to three months before going out of business in 2007. The majority of schools in Taiwan force teachers to instruct kindergarten, which is illegal for a foreign teacher. If a teacher is caught, and the police make regular raids, they are deported.

The ESL schools in B.C. and elsewhere in Canada often employ teachers with experience in these countries. If places like China and Korea want Canada to improve the quality of its foreign education, then perhaps Canada, and especially B.C., should reply with the same message. Students will continue to suffer at home or away unless everyone concerned grants teachers better, safer, working conditions. This benefits the students by having highly qualified, motivated teachers who have chosen to make this industry a career.

If Korea and China want to complain then let them. India has a very small ESL market, but if they want to complain that’s all right, let them. If B.C wants to improve their education of foreign students then it’s a positive thing. But only improve for yourselves, not because other countries are pressuring you. B.C. schools should be attracting the best foreign students who want to study in the best environment, not because B.C. education has a good brand name. But perhaps Korea and China and even India just want another brand to market.
For the Vancouver Sun editorial in full, refer to:
www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=1fe67e19-cfaa-47f3-ad5d-9c9794144335

By Spencer McCall