This nightmare wasn't the result of just one factor. Several factors were at play near the same time that culminated in something of a "perfect storm" of factions seeking my ouster and desperation to reverse my contract renewal which had already been approved.
As you'll see in this second part of my response to Alice's accusation and the complaints about my teaching, some of my Taiwanese teaching colleagues and school administrators had also been doing their own dirty work to build support for no more native English-speaking teachers at the school.
Since my time there ended, in the 4 years since there have been NO MORE foreign teachers employed at this so-called university. In many places this would be treated as blatant discrimination and racism, but in the world of Taiwan this kind of practice is very much the norm when it comes to treatment of foreign nationals working and living there. Can you imagine a university in the U.S. getting rid of all its native Chinese-speaking teachers and only employing Americans to teach Chinese?
I’m caught in the grips of three people with discriminatory and unfairly negative attitudes toward me and my teaching:
1. My senior colleague, Mr. Paul Liu, who openly voices his racist attitude toward foreign teachers and his opinion that we are of no use – and it’s “unfair” in his words – because we are not able to do Chinese administrative paperwork related to some MOE projects. He has never formally spoken to me or given me anything in writing about student evaluations of my classes. On one occasion, though, he did informally comment in our office that my student evaluations were “much better” than his and that his students gave him low evaluations.
2. The head of the nursing department, Dr. Tsay, who in front of me talks a nice, friendly, game but behind my back is only concerned that her nursing students don’t have any trouble passing English (i.e. every student should pass regardless of their grade or ability). She has never spoken to me about any student feedback or evaluations about my class.
3. The college president who also has voiced her opinion that the school doesn’t need any native English-speaking teachers because we can not do Chinese paperwork, and who displays the same attitude as Dr. Tsay that it’s not important the students really earn their pass in English, or that they should be prepared to pass the standardized English test, just find the easiest way for the students to pass the MOE English requirements to graduate NTCN. She also has never spoken to me about students’ feedback or evaluations in my course.
Some of the same students who are complaining about my class are the same ones who come in 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes late…even skip the first hour of class or the whole class (2 hours) altogether and show up for the second class…or show up for the first class and skip the second one. These are the same students who don’t bring their books to class, don’t bring paper or a notebook, who sometimes or rarely do their homework. Who are these kind of lazy, unmotivated, whining students to criticize my teaching? These are the same students who while I am spending some time to lecture them, they’re displaying their lack of respect and attention by talking in Chinese, putting on makeup, talking on their cell phones, eating, etc. They are very poor examples of good students…and they certainly don’t know anything about teaching let alone learning. Who are they to be the sole judges of how I should teach?
I’m always prepared for class and my method & philosophy of teaching is to facilitate the students learning through minimal lecturing and maximum involvement in learning activities…DOING not just listening to me talk. Through this method, I am also teaching the students how to do independent, self-learning which is crucial to them really being able to improve and sustain the improvement over time…not just to pass a test. I have exposed them to numerous sources on the internet for learning & practicing…not only English but also reading lots of useful and interesting content for their general knowledge and even professional knowledge.
I’m highly insulted and more than disappointed that a so-called institution of higher learning, with administrators running around with advanced degrees, so-called Phds, evidently have forgotten, didn’t learn, or don’t care about the fundamentals of teaching and learning. They care little about the means of educating & improving our younger generations, of preparing them adequately for the real world after school…just the ends of getting them out of the school. I am not only trying to teach these young – and sometimes older – students English, but also helping ready them for some things they will face in their lives and work that are not in the text books…to be responsible, diligent, honest and confident in all that they do.
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