Opinion / Raymond McFarland
Say no to race in teaching
By 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 �C where color intrudes on candidates��
intellect and abilities �C 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 �C 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.
Write to Raymond McFarland at mcstephen23@hotmail.com
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