Can You Be Fired From Teaching English In China Simply Because You Are Black?

[Pianote]

I am a black woman who is an oral English teacher to 12-18 year old students at a private highschool in China. I have been teaching 2 months. All the colleagues and principals are friendly to me. The students seem to like me and are  very nice to me also.

Just out of curiosity... could I ever randomly be fired because parents don't like my skin color? When I pass by parents (the rare times I see them,like, in the parking lot somewhere) they don't say anything to me. Should I be worried or should I let it roll off my back?

[ChTTay]

You mention the parents don’t say anything to you... Do you say anything to them? 

 

I’m not sure where you are but I have found a lot of Chinese parents/grandparents to be quite shy if they need to make the first move (say hello), especially the first time. 

 

In answer to your question, in China if the parents don’t like you, you can be fired for anything, including skin colour. It’s unlikely they’d say explicitly the reason if it was something like that. It’s likely they’d find an excuse rather than be openly racist.

 

Regardless why they have an issue, parents will generally start saying anything about a teacher they don’t like though. I had teachers whose style was more quiet and relaxed. The parents in their class didn’t like this so would just complain the teacher didn’t seem to like kids, seemed unhappy etc. Sometimes we could just educate parents a bit and other times nothing worked. They would usually switch classes or leave at the next opportunity. 

 

I wouldn’t worry too much about this. If the kids like you then they’ll go home and say as much. I would recommend trying to engage with parents though. In the long run it fells if they’re on side. 

[Pianote]

I only smile at the parents because I speak only a little Chinese.  The kids are all always very nice. The only problem is many do not speak English so, when I ask about the passage,  don'tk know. I dont grade papErs or anything and they have another English teacher. I see each group of students once a week.

 

 

I live in Guiyang (southwest China,btw). 

[ChTTay]

Well, what makes you think you’re going to be randomly fired?

 

All chinese people know “hello”, you don’t need to speak Chinese. Smiling is good. 

[Pianote]

Nothing. It's just a thought. It's 3 A.M. And my mind has random thoughts at this time.

[Lu]

Then I'd recommend getting off the computer (if you haven't already done so) and go to bed. The middle of the night is not a good time for feeding mind goblins. If you can't sleep, try reading, or listening to music, or something else relaxing that doesn't involve a screen.

 

You can probably be fired for anything, but it seems highly unlikely to me that you would suddenly be fired for nothing but being black. If the parents don't like you for whatever reason, it's more likely that the school would try to resolve their issue without firing you. They invested time and money into bringing you over and getting you settled, they're counting on you to teach for at least a term, or a year, or whatever. It's in their best interest that your employment works out.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Yeah I agree. If your skin color was the only reason to be fired, you wouldn't have been hired in the first place. 

 

[ChTTay]

Lu has it right. Time to sleep :-) 

 

I’m sure you’ll have a good semester. Let us know if you need any teaching advice too. 

[imron]

11 hours ago, Pianote said:

The only problem is many do not speak English

What makes you think the parents' English is any better?