No Jobs for James

James: I have another interview tomorrow.
Me: Yeah?
James: They asked me if I was ABC.
Me: Why?
James: Because I talked about having family here. I told him I was half, and then he asked me if I look white.
Me: What did you say?
James: I said I looked mixed.
Me: Well, that's a lie.
James: No it's not. I have too much body hair to look completely Asian.

Unfortunately, the interviewer probably wont inspect James' hairy toes to determine his inner Caucasian.

By now we should be used to the racism thing, but it still confuses and amuses me. First off, there are plenty of locals teaching English in this country, whites don't monopolize the English-teaching industry. And James speaks better English than all the local teachers I've met to date. So what gives?

The interviewers always give some line like, "Oh the parents like white teachers ... so we have to pay you less," which basically sounds like an unsophisticated ruse to trick ABC (American-born Chinese) guys into working for less money. Parents don't have any say in teacher pay. Or do they come in after work and go, "That one, he looks Asian. I hope my cram school fees are being spent in greater proportion on the white people you employ around here."

The strangest part today was the person who James spoke with on the phone was an ABC (or so he told James). "It's very difficult for us. We have to work harder, we get paid less..." Sure guy. Can we say Uncle Tom? Then ABC guy made James write him a cover letter to prove his English ability. I applied with ABC guy and didn't have to write any such letter.

The whole thing is either absurd or incredibly, coldly pragmatic: There's huge turnover in foreign teachers. Work visas cost schools money. And, most foreign teachers come with the barest qualifications: a college degree in any subject, native English speaking skills and, hopefully, a passing ability to deal with children. So if teachers are pretty much considered interchangeable (and they are), I guess, as a school owner, you may as well hook one that looks foreign too.

As I mentioned in this post, marketing and appearances are most important to the average cram school.