A Funny Kick In The Head
I’m going to get a haircut today. Not because it’s unusually long or because it’s 100 degrees here in Beijing. Not because my girlfriend has been nagging me to do so and not because I’m trying to hide the gray. I’m going to get a haircut because I am a teacher.
If this sounds a bit illogical, please bear with me. You see, I have found that short hair is very difficult to pull out by the fistful, something that I end up trying to do every time I deal with the Chinese educational system.
I was informed this week that my contract with an internationally respected university would not be renewed for the coming year. Although disappointed, I was not surprised. My department serves a specific subset of students (those with IQs of a dumpling) who are being presented with cheaper and easier methods of qualifying for overseas study. Therefore, enrollment is dropping, as is the need for teachers.
This time at least, the blow was softened by a chuckle. My email notification reads as follows:
Re: The letter from XXX University
Hi Michael,
After we discussed, we deceide that we will not continue to sign new contract with you.
The salary we will pay for you till July 31th 2009.
This is how I lost my job as an English teacher. Am I worried? As my Chinese supervisor and fellow teacher (who still has a position) would say: Well, to be frankly……
Wow - they notified you? You were lucky.
When I was working at Bei Shi Da, I think they were going to let the uncertainty drag on forever, hoping that eventually I would twig that their refusal to respond to my e-mails any more was a negative indication and that I should move out of my apartment.
If I hadn’t hunted the Dean of English down at home to ask why I still hadn’t received the new contract they’d promised me two months previously, I might never have known.