Non-racist Recruiting
March 26th, 2006 by MarkOne of the most frustrating things about living in Taiwan (or anywhere as a minority) is all of the racism one sees. One of my good friends when I first showed up, was a black guy. He graduated from a school pretty much equivalent to mine, had good grades, and a degree in linguistics. Neither bŭxíbāns, nor high schools would touch him with a ten-foot pole. Seeing that his work opportunities were so terrible here, he left. Friends have told me not to buy clothes at Hang Ten, because “That’s where Thai people shop.” On one occasion, I was kicked out of my apartment for being white. The landlady wanted to “get rid of the foreigners”, but the Asian-American guy and the Asian-Canadian gal could stay. Stuff like that happens. It’s part of life. Most frustrating of all, is that nearly every Taiwanese person I’ve met is convinced that racism doesn’t exist here; it’s just a “western problem”.
One area in which I’ve seen particular prejudice is in hiring practices. When I first moved to Táibĕi and was looking for computer jobs, I was turned down for my whiteness on a number of times.
We’ll hire ABCs as programmers, but not lăowài. Would you like to do some editing on English versions of our technical manuals?
It was often the same story. Interestingly, the situation is frequently reversed in bŭxíbāns, where it’s an advantage to look obviously white (preferably blue-eyed). The Sesame Street and Joy branches where I worked only hired Asians and whites, no blacks. Kiki did the same thing, but took it further by only hiring Asians and whites, and keeping an all Asian (including ABC) management. At both Tomcat and Modawei, blacks were hired, but no Asians. I guess it’s because those schools require that the teachers can speak Chinese. Maybe it worries the parents to see Chinese-looking people speaking Chinese in an English class when there’s no fresh off the plane blond haired Canadian there to back them up. Since my school also requires that teachers explain things in Chinese (in lower level classes), I figured we had the same rules. But we don’t! Yesterday, I saw a new interviewee visiting our school. There were two things special about this teacher.
- She’s female!
- She’s Asian-looking!
I’ve never seen any women working at HFRBs, and all of the ones where I’ve previously worked also had “no Asian” policies (to the best of my knowledge).
I asked Ron about it today, and was really pleased with what he had to say. He won’t hire “Fake ABCs”- the Taiwanese people who study abroad for 4 years and then come back saying they’re from Los Angeles. He will consider any native English speaker from north America, who has the Chinese skills, the teaching skills and the stability to stay long enough to take classes from the basics to graduation, though. “Even black people?” I asked. “Yes, even black people,” was his response. I guess his local partner leaned on him pretty hard to NOT accept any black, Latino, or S.E. Asian looking applicants, but he stood his ground. There’s no way he can guarantee that applicants will be able to overcome the racist stereotypes of the parents to the degree necessary to open classes. But, anybody who’s qualified has a shot at the job, regardless of race. I know it may not sound anything to brag about to some of my friends back home, but believe me- it is here.
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March 26th, 2006 at 4:35 am
or a fresh off the plane; blonde Kiwi, blonde South African or god forbid a blonde American! Generalizations and stereo types be dammed!
Your company is happy that it doesn’t hire fake abc’s. You must not be talking about those Taiwanese people who actually spent time and money to study ESL overseas. People who can actually speak better chinese than the white laowai and maybe actually have some ESL training. This wouldn’t normally be an issue for me. I could care less. But you go on and on (in your posts) about how it is so important that the english speaker be able to speak Chinese to be able to teach a lower level class. Have you ever thought that these teachers may even be able to explain phonics/grammar rules as well as you think you do in Chinese. Which is very important for you. Heaven forbid the lower level HFRB classes be taught by a local or a fake abc rather than some white guy who has read some linguistics books and learned some languages. Have you ever thought that some of these people may actually have some ESL certification from the country where they have studied, and unless I’ve missed something, you don’t.
Your school is a business like every other English school in Taiwan. Your kids may learn more English than other schools based on your judgement. You compare yourself to Joy, Giraffe, Hess and the like and are proud that you are doing better. I hate to make generalizations like you do, but these schools are shit. They are the bottom of the barrel in my opinion.
You think your company is different because it is willing to hire ‘teachers,’ who can speak chinese and have the teaching skills required by Ron. But from what I gather they must be born and bread in an English speaking country to be a decent teacher. Qualifications or skills be dammed. Fair enough, that is what the market wants. ESL in Taiwan is a business. It is Ron’s company and he has the right to hire whomever he wants. Just like every other English school/company in Taiwan. You are no different. You think he is somehow different because he won’t hire those fake abc’s but he will hire a latino/black guy. My school says they will hire a black and they have. Has Ron hired any blacks?
Yes, so he will hire them but nobody will sign up for their classes. Sweet, he can hire anyone he wants. Nobody signs up, he cancels the class and can hold his head up high, because he is different his school is making a difference. He is trying to overcome the racial steroptypes but in the end the market wins. In Taiwan it always wins.
Unless they are Taiwanese of course, cuz they would be a fake abc, or a black guy cuz the parents won’t sign up for clasees, or a blonde canadian off the boat cuz they don’t know anything.
March 26th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Quote: “He will consider any native English speaker from north America… anybody who’s qualified has a shot at the job, regardless of race.”
So he still has a discriminatory hiring policy! Native English speakers from Australia, NZ, the UK, etc. don’t even get a look in. This kind of discrimination is just as bad.
March 26th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Mark-san,
The Japanese equivalent for the word “laowai(老外)”is probably “gaijin-san(外人さん)”which generally does not include, just like laowai, Asian people. My mother sometimes uses this word with some fear and admiration. She doesn’t speak any foreign language and has no contact with foreigners.
Of course, to her the typical“gaijin-san”is a person with a white face, blue eyes, blond hair, and the ability to speak English. She can not distinguish other European languages from English anyway. The young Japanese seldom say “gaijin-san”probably because“foreign goods”are not new to them.
ps When I see“laowai”in China, I always say,“Look, there’s a gaijin-san,”even though I am a foreigner too.
March 26th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
To David–
I think, to the owner’s concern, it not because of the NORTH AMERICAN that make them any better than other countries, but more of the PREFERRENCE due to the language training skills and the target market. Think about if any native speaker who may have to alter his/her accent in order to get a equal teaching quality in the same school. I think if in Shane’s school, they only wants teachers with British accent. It’s just my little opinion.
To Kanwa-kyudai san–
I think “Gaijin san” more or less may refer to those who LOOK differently than his or her nationality, right? Let’s say, being a Chinese-looking traveler in Japan, would they also call me kaijin?
In Taiwan, there’s also a term ,”a-doa（アドッア）”, in Taiwanese which was used to distinct those pointy-nose-foreigners. “The nose is pointy.(pia-do-do)” They still do that in the rural areas. Mark-san, are you familiar of this term?
March 27th, 2006 at 1:45 am
You’re stretching…
1) White people in Taiwan are known for being abnoxious, rude, and dirty in terms of being tenants. Now that’s just the average, so I can’t say what it was in the case you were talking about, but it could be that the landlord just had a bad experience. Also, you should be careful making those kinds of extrapolations because a lot of ABCs have connections in Taiwan–you don’t know why they were allowed to stay, they could’ve been related or family friends.
2) People with non-American accents should not be given jobs readily unless they can prove they can tone it down to an acceptable level. Unfortunately, American, and sometimes certain British accents, are the only ones that people really want and should learn. That’s just how it is; most people, if they ever, are going to want to be talking to Americans, not random former British colony.
Don’t pick up anecdotes to miss the overall picture–in general, white boys are the beneficiaries of racism in Taiwan. All I ever see is white people acting like they’re kings around here, being loud, obnoxious, and rude in ways that would get beatings where I’m from. Yes, you point a few interesting examples where it happens to work the other way, but in general, not the case at all.
I do agree that blacks are not looked kindly upon in Taiwan however, but don’t worry, that was imported from the West.
March 27th, 2006 at 1:51 am
Elliot, that’s quite a bit of feedback! It’s true, I tend to talk about the same themes again and again. Part of it is unavoidable, since with the exception of a textbook review, I’m the only one who’s written anything on this site. The issue of the relative merits of using L1 (Chinese) in the classroom is worth a separate post. I’m more than willing to publish a piece you write on the subject as a post on this blog. It might serve as a good counterpoint for what I’m saying. I’ll email you about this.
When I said “Fake ABC“, I was thinking of a previous co-worker of mine who told me “I am come from Meesoori in Amereeka” the first day I met her. Ron has also met people who after studying abroad, claim to be ABCs. Many of them aren’t even capable of correctly using, let alone teaching the material in our classes. Beyond this problem, there’s also the issue of honesty. I’m sure you can see how people wouldn’t trust you if you studied in Beijing for a few years, got a CSL certification, and then started saying to employers that you were “from Beijing”.
The reason why teachers have to be able to speak Chinese at my school is simple. Some of the new students don’t even understand basic phrases like “right?”, “sit down”, or “be quiet”. Even if teachers who didn’t speak any Chinese could somehow teach the material and motivate the students, theye would have no hope of explaining to them how to do their homework or of communicating with the parents.
As for black teachers, none have even applied at the school yet. So far, I’m the only teacher Ron has hired. Since he’s stated that he wants the best teacher he can get, regardless of race, I believe him. Obviously, he can’t put a gun to potential customers’ heads and make them sign up for classes with a black teacher. However, I think he could win them over on that issue just as he has with many other issues. I think it’s great that your school is more progressive than most schools where I have worked in the past.
March 27th, 2006 at 2:12 am
David, while it’s not really fair, I’m not sure it’s prejudice to require N. American teachers. The voice on the CDs that the kids have to listen to and imitate during the first year is Ron’s. Even the small differences between my accent and his are enough to confuse the kids in some cases. They’d really have a hard time if their teacher spoke with a British (or god help us, an Irish) accent. R sounds in particular, would be difficult. Beyond that, all of the spelling, word usage, and grammar used in our curriculum is N. American. You yourself have said you would feel uncomfortable using American distinctions between got and gotten, but they are in our curriculum.
It isn’t fair, but 67% of the native English speakers in the world are Americans. Another 5% are Canadians. Brit’s, Aussies, Kiwi’s, etc… all have a great deal of exposure to American English via Hollywood and understand it much better than Americans understand other English dialects. Economics dictate that Taiwanese students learn the form of English that will be understood by the widest possible group.
I’d like to see the school hire a some British speakers eventually, so that the kids at higher levels have some exposure to their accents, but I’m alone on that issue at this point.
March 27th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Nice. Black people are also “known for” being violent and prone to criminal acts. Your point?
In this case I do know why and it is you who is making extrapolations. First off, the Canadian gal was of Korean ancestry, not an ABC. I was friends with the tennants and know for a fact they weren’t related to the landlady in the slightest. The issue was that the landlady (who was also one of our roommates) had a cousin moving to the city for college. Her aunt pressured her to let the cousin move in and kick out all the foreigners because “laowai are bad influences”. This only included white foreigners, not those of Asian ancestry. Evicting me for not being Asian sure seemed like a racist decision to me. Then again, “white people in Taiwan are known for being obnoxious, rude, and dirty” so I guess it was fair. Kind of like it’s fair when clerks in America assume black people are gonna start stealing shit.
That all depends on the goals of the “white boys” in question. If their goals are to get an English teaching job or girlfriends who want to learn English, then yes. If their goal is to learn Chinese, as mine was, then no. Outside of the English industry, it’s very, very hard for white people to get promoted compared to ABCs. Unless they are brought in from abroad as a top level manager to begin with, there is definitely a glass ceiling. The government also has much more stringent rules for “non-Chinese” in terms of permanent residence visas, citizenship, real estate purchase, and a host of other things. Back when I was a student at 師大, the white foreigners had to pay twice as much for student health insurance as the “ABCs”. It was a government rule.
How many white people do you know of who have ever built successful careers in local companies that aren’t based on English? I don’t know of any.
March 27th, 2006 at 8:41 am
Mark, like I said in my e-mail I apologize for the tone of my last comment. In addition I do know of a few lifers (like me) who aren’t in the English industry. Like Tall Karl from chewin in the chung who I think you went hiking with in Taizhong.
March 27th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
You may want to be a little careful on the ABC issue. There are big cultural differences, as I imagine you probably have understood by now, that ABCs understand even if they don’t speak the language. If they get promoted more quickly it could be a combination of language/cultural capital. Also, many ABCs have ROC citizenship, which from what your own description, you do not have. Like American citizenship, it can be inherited, so even if they are born abroad, they have the rights and privileges of a Taiwan-born citizen.
I wonder if you’re taking too much of an American view of Taiwan. Taiwan is not an open society that simply invites any old-person to come to Taiwan. That is very much an American ideal (which isn’t achieved anyways since it’s much harder to and has always be much harder for Asians to immigrate to the US). The real racism in Taiwan is mainly directed at those, that from a world-wide perspective, dominated by Western hegemony for the last hundred years, has put blacks and Asians lower on the social ladder. From the Taiwanese perspective, blacks are associated either with Africa or from Hollywood movies, the poor or the criminal. Southeast Asians or Mainland Chinese are then lower on the social scale too because that’s where all their labor comes from. Whites are up because 1) Western countries are generally fairly wealthy and more important, wealthier than the average Taiwanese person 2) that’s how Hollywood portrays them.
Think about this–you don’t speak the language here well, you don’t necessarily have the right background in the culture, you don’t have a network of locals here built up from when you were young and by extension through relatives–so purely on the basis of being able to speak English and some technical skills, what makes you a better manager than locals? Think about how Asian immigrants of a few years are treated in the US.
I think what you want to do is admirable; live in a foreign society that you previously had no connection with, and in a way that is not just at a distance. You seem to want to learn local language and culture. Well, I give you props and I hope you are recognized for your merits. But you have no right and should have no expectation that this will be easy or handed over to you on a silver platter. It already is fairly easy in comparison to many other places, and in Taiwan, it is unlikely you will experience violence or outright racism if you are white. This is something non-white immigrants to the US have to think about all the time–if you make the proper comparison, you’ll realize that you’re really extremely lucky.
March 27th, 2006 at 6:30 pm
Mark thanks for responding to my comments. Whether it is or isn’t a form of prjudice might be debatable, but I believe this obsession with North American accents is irrational at the least.
First, consider the diversity of accents that exists within North American. There are some North American accents that are very non-standard*, just as there are some Irish ones. Would you employ any old North American even if they did have a particularly non-standard accent?
My next point is that if students have trouble understanding the small difference in accent between you and your boss then they are not really learning effective English communication. Once outside the classroom they can expect to encounter English speakers whose accents differ markedly. Another point is that students will often find themselves speaking with other non-native English speakers. Does this narrow focus on accent prepare them at all for this?
Lastly despite the differences between British and American English they share far much more in common. If a school wishes to teach a certain form of English then it is good to be consistent and this is probably reasonably important when teaching children. If a school asked me to teach only American spelling and grammar I would have no problem with that. Although I would expect the school to be aware that I may not be familiar with some of the finer points of American grammar and idiom.
* Defining standard and non-standard accents is fraught with difficulty. A good test is that the speaker should be easily understood by another native-speaker.
March 28th, 2006 at 1:42 am
David, I think I’m going to make a separate post to talk about the topic of British/American dialects used in the classroom.
June 1st, 2006 at 10:51 am
I think racism is ridiculous in China. Just a few days ago I was rejected on the account of skin color. I have all the credentials. I am American, have the standard American accent. I graduated from a good school and I have even written a novel. What does that get me? I miss out on job opportunities all the time. 7000 yuan a month for 18 hours a week. I’m missing out on a decent opportunity just because I have melinen in my skin. I tell you China hasn’t advanced in anything besides economics if you ask me. It really is teaching me to hate. I don’t like hating. There are always complaints about how the Japanese treat Chinese, but what about how the Chinese treat other races. Chinese think that blacks, nomatter where they are from or what they do, that they are lower. The Chinese workplace is Racist and I wish that someone would do something about it because I am really disappointed in this country. And whites are the ones that really benefit from Chinese ignorance. It’s a shame. I came here with my mind open and now I am afraid I will leave it more closed than when I got here.
July 28th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Randall, I recently met a very successful Kenyan-Canadian guy who seems to deal with China very well. If you’d like to be put in touch with him, drop me an email. Maybe he can give you another perspective or some advice on how to deal with the problem.
August 27th, 2006 at 9:28 am
[...] At Forumosa ImaniOU laments that no matter how well qualified or experienced you are its tough finding a job in Taiwan if you are black. Doubting to shuo further explored the issue in his post on Non-racist Recruiting. I made some comments there about discrimination against people who aren’t from North America. Doubting to shuo then posted some more comments on this issue: One thing David questioned about my school last week is why my boss is looking for North American teachers as opposed to British, Australian or other native English speakers. I can completely understand how this sort of policy would be annoying to those it excluded, much like the fact that high paying IELTS jobs prefer teachers from the UK or commonwealth countries is frustrating for some Americans. There’s no doubt that the preference of schools skews heavily towards American English. [...]
August 30th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
I’m very disappointed to read so many racist comments about racial profiling in Taiwan. I had hope to seek employment as an English teacher who is very much African American and proud to be “black”. However, I have to ask myself do I really want to visit a country that prejudge people based on others who continually undermind people of color in order to stay superior or so they think. My purpose for seeking employment is to enhance cultural awareness and to observe and learning from a different culture. In the hopes of writing a book or multicultural curriculum that would facilitate the learning of my students here in Texas. In teaching, you encounter students who have many needs,wants, and desires so you strive to educate and cultivate these learners so they can be prepared for real world issues, but how do I help them with issues such as the ones you have presented here or I’m I thinking about “Utopia” my students are African Americans and Latinos they already have enough to deal with in this country (U.S.A.) why should I travel over 6,000 miles to receive more of the same? I guess to dispel some of the racist comments that all “Blacks’” steal, kill, are uneducated, lazy,and violent which is not true. I ask what race has not done these things? and why is it that I work to teach my students to appreciate and embrace cultural differences only to read or be told that I’m in “Utopia” this is ludicrous as an educator and a doctoral student I’m compelled to create positive social change for all students.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:57 am
I’m Canadian. My parents are Indian. I came with the warnings that it would be harder for me here for jobs and tutoring.
It gets annoying sometimes, but I have no problems finding the jobs I want and the students I want.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:19 am
My, what a lot of controversy. I think it’s rather admirable that your boss is willing to be open-minded in his hiring practices. Relative to the general policies of the cram schools, that’s on the liberal, progressive side. It strikes me as unfair to blast the poor man for not having yet “proven” his nonracist policies, and to scream hypocrisy and victimization because he wants a North American accent and hasn’t yet, alas, recruited an African-American or person of African descent.
The tone of this debate gets very personal and biased, and that’s very understandable. But viciously lambasting so-called “Chinese ignorance” is not entirely fair. First of all, there is a wide range of belief and opinion among the people of Taiwan. It’s as easy to say that American society is RACIST, against blacks and Hispanics and Asians and Arabs, as to wholly define Chinese society as racist. It is also ignorant to declare that the prejudices being encountered are MAKING you “hate.” There’s a certain amount of free agency here, and it’s not impossible to be the bigger person and get over it.
Secondly, there is a justifiable uncertainty as to the fluency in English of persons not obviously of “foreign” descent. Buxibans as a business are not bound by the same policies of equal hiring practices, which by and large don’t really exist in Taiwan, largely due to the primarily homogenous population. It’s not a public education, it’s a business. Abercrombie and Fitch won’t hire Asians or persons of color because their image is clean-cut white folk. Can I then assume that America is RACIST and the country is lousy?
My overall point, I suppose, is that in discussing this, the rhetoric gets overblown and overly personal. This is a societal issue, not a chip on a shoulder because of a lost job opportunity. Crying victimization isn’t effective, especially if we’re going to trash on persons like Ron who are at least making a bit of effort.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Oh, one more thing. Is there a place where people who’ve had these experiences can get information of what companies and schools do and don’t consider what minority groups? It seems like it would be practical and save a lot of hurt feelings and offended dignity.