They are routinely announced so that schools can build fake walls, put in fire escapes and remove plant pots from behind fire doors. And then, after the inspection, everything reverts back to normal. That is shady, because the inspectors know what is going on. The more you are friendly with a certain department, the more time and leeway you get regarding such matters.
Shady?
The very definition of.
They are routinely announced so that schools can build fake walls, put in fire escapes and remove plant pots from behind fire doors. And then, after the inspection, everything reverts back to normal. That is shady, because the inspectors know what is going on. The more you are friendly with a certain department, the more time and leeway you get regarding such matters.
Shady?
The very definition of.[/quote]
It shows some business have a disregard for regulations when inspectors arenât around. It does not show they are gangsters or connected because they have advanced notice of routine inspections. Your post does nothing to forward your position. Care to actually support your arguments?
Perhaps not, but larger chain schools certainly have connections higher up the chain. Also, living here a long time does not automatically qualify a person to be knowledgeable.
When I hear or read the phrase Iâve been here a long time, it usually means that whoever I am talking to is trying to make up a knowledge deficit with time served - Iâm not trying to insinuate that this is you - in fact, I know it is not, but the phrase just grates - sorry.
[quote=âToastyâ][quote=âbigduke6â][quote=âToastyâ][quote=âbigduke6â]
Are you questioning the corruption? [/quote]
Iâm questioning your knowledge.[/quote]
Knowledge of what? The corruption or the fact that not all school owners are the Sunday school type?[/quote]
âKnowledge of what?â would be the correct phrase. You donât display any. The closest you come to anything resembling it is your observation of a kindy having advanced notice of an inspection-- which is perfectly normal procedure. An inspection is not a raid. Theyâre done to check things like fire escapes, safety and other things. They are routinely announced and do not indicate that the owner has any shady contacts in high places. Yes, illegal foreign teachers are routinely asked not to be around at such times. Why invite trouble? As for the âSunday school type,â English schools and kindergartens are small to medium-sized businesses operated by average Joes and Janes. Some are super nice, some arenât-- just like the rest of society. Now, if you have any concrete knowledge to share, please do. If not, off to the pub with you and your tall tales.[/quote]
Let me rephrase. The kindy I work for has on more than one occasion, been warned of a raid. Where officials specifically come to look for foreign teachers illegally teaching kindy. This is is fact.
If you are not of the belief that these special ârelationshipsâ occur very, very frequently, then please explain why multitudes of foreigners are not being deported every day?
Nothing would be easier than to bust a kindy for illegally hiring foreign teachers. An official could walk into any of the 50 kindys in any one neighborhood and find a good few.
While you might call the relationship shady, this is how they do things here. The officials definitely do not need to be in high places.
Are you sure you are not looking for Livingonuranus.com? You sure do not seem to know how things work here.
How does a chain like Hess get away with openly advertising and hiring foreign kindy teachers? I use them as an example, but there are plenty others. They are openly breaking the law and admitting it. How do they do it without the right connections?
I didnât say that the school is connected to gangsters. I said that the activities are shady. I know of one school in particular in Taipei - the owner of which is a very good friend of mine.
To start with, the whole Kindergarten is illegal because it doesnât have an operating licence. The building is partly illegal. It has illegal foreign teachers working there.
My friendâs mother was a local candidate for a KMT position some time ago and consequently has some standing, if you can call it that, in the community. Inspectors readily turn a blind eye to what goes on there.
I mentioned fake fire walls in my last post - I was thinking of the time last year when my friend was annoyed about the inspectors coming over. She was quite happy, though, about the fact that the inspectors have a recommended company which they suggest most buxibans use every time they get inspected. You see, itâs not just the contractor that gets some cash - the inspectors get a cut, too. Multiply this over several schools and this is quite lucrative: The school remains open and gets a licence. The contractors get to build a wall and then take it down every year and the inspectors get a bit on the side. Everyone is happy.
If thatâs not shady, and if that doesnât involve connections, then I donât know what does.
Perhaps not, but larger chain schools certainly have connections higher up the chain. Also, living here a long time does not automatically qualify a person to be knowledgeable.
When I hear or read the phrase Iâve been here a long time, it usually means that whoever I am talking to is trying to make up a knowledge deficit with time served - Iâm not trying to insinuate that this is you - in fact, I know it is not, but the phrase just grates - sorry.[/quote]
If you are not trying to âinsinuate that this isâ me, then why mention it? As for knowledge deficits, I am not the one talking about how âgangstas gonna get you.â Living here a long time may not automatically qualify a person as knowledgeable, but it is an indicator that s/he has seen and experienced more than someone whoâs just arrived here and is spinning tales about gangstas and corrupt officials as if they actually anything about either.
[quote=âbigduke6â]
Let me rephrase. The kindy I work for has on more than one occasion, been warned of a raid. Where officials specifically come to look for foreign teachers illegally teaching kindy. This is is fact.
If you are not of the belief that these special ârelationshipsâ occur very, very frequently, then please explain why multitudes of foreigners are not being deported every day?
Nothing would be easier than to bust a kindy for illegally hiring foreign teachers. An official could walk into any of the 50 kindys in any one neighborhood and find a good few.
While you might call the relationship shady, this is how they do things here. The officials definitely do not need to be in high places.
Are you sure you are not looking for Livingonuranus.com? You sure do not seem to know how things work here.[/quote]
How do you know they were âraidsâ and not inspections? Yes, if there were any political will to do so, foreign kindy workers could be deported in a day. But the law against kindy English teaching is an unpopular one and routinely ignored. There are tons of silly laws made here that donât get enforced. This is not gangsterism but, rather, an example of how overactive the legislative is and how underactive enforcement is in Taiwan. But, hey, you could always get your gangsta buddies to rough me up a little. Itâd go further to proving your point about how gangstas are going to mess up the bounty hunter. 
I did say - because it grates. However, In fact, I have a lot of respect for your posts which supports the fact that I am not insinuating that it is you, but in my opinion, using that line automatically weakens oneâs argument.
I know. But it is difficult to deny that whilst you are not likely to be beaten to a pulp by guys with large sticks, punked-out scooters and mobile phones, it is common place to have the rug pulled out from under your feet in different ways, and this is often through connections and shady dealings behind the scenes. Obviously, this is not the only industry in Taiwan where this can happen.
What I am trying to say is that the whole operation is still a racket, whether or not the âgangsterismâ equates to violence or not.
[quote=âSuper Hansâ]
I know. But it is difficult to deny that whilst you are not likely to be beaten to a pulp by guys with large sticks, punked-out scooters and mobile phones, it is common place to have the rug pulled out from under your feet in different ways, and this is often through connections and shady dealings behind the scenes. Obviously, this is not the only industry in Taiwan where this can happen.
What I am trying to say is that the whole operation is still a racket, whether or not the âgangsterismâ equates to violence or not.[/quote]
These groups of people are thugs and petty criminals, not mafioso. Common? Ever happen to you? Letâs get real.
[quote=âToastyâ][quote=âbigduke6â]
Let me rephrase. The kindy I work for has on more than one occasion, been warned of a raid. Where officials specifically come to look for foreign teachers illegally teaching kindy. This is is fact.
If you are not of the belief that these special ârelationshipsâ occur very, very frequently, then please explain why multitudes of foreigners are not being deported every day?
Nothing would be easier than to bust a kindy for illegally hiring foreign teachers. An official could walk into any of the 50 kindys in any one neighborhood and find a good few.
While you might call the relationship shady, this is how they do things here. The officials definitely do not need to be in high places.
Are you sure you are not looking for Livingonuranus.com? You sure do not seem to know how things work here.[/quote]
How do you know they were âraidsâ and not inspections? Yes, if there were any political will to do so, foreign kindy workers could be deported in a day. But the law against kindy English teaching is an unpopular one and routinely ignored. There are tons of silly laws made here that donât get enforced. This is not gangsterism but, rather, an example of how overactive the legislative is and how underactive enforcement is in Taiwan. But, hey, you could always get your gangsta buddies to rough me up a little. Itâd go further to proving your point about how gangstas are going to mess up the bounty hunter. [/quote]
Well, the bit where the kindy director states that officials are coming to look for foreign teachers is the clue. I would reasonably assume that this is what you refer to as a raid.
Real Mafia donât mess about with petty criminals - of course. But I didnât think we were having this argument.
You mean have I ever had dealings with them. Sure! After a very small car accident I got chased by a bunch of punks in Kaohsiung - a very long time ago. I ended up at the police station where the police helpfully proceeded to do absolutely nothing.
[quote=âbigduke6â][quote=âToastyâ][quote=âbigduke6â]
Let me rephrase. The kindy I work for has on more than one occasion, been warned of a raid. Where officials specifically come to look for foreign teachers illegally teaching kindy. This is is fact.
If you are not of the belief that these special ârelationshipsâ occur very, very frequently, then please explain why multitudes of foreigners are not being deported every day?
Nothing would be easier than to bust a kindy for illegally hiring foreign teachers. An official could walk into any of the 50 kindys in any one neighborhood and find a good few.
While you might call the relationship shady, this is how they do things here. The officials definitely do not need to be in high places.
Are you sure you are not looking for Livingonuranus.com? You sure do not seem to know how things work here.[/quote]
How do you know they were âraidsâ and not inspections? Yes, if there were any political will to do so, foreign kindy workers could be deported in a day. But the law against kindy English teaching is an unpopular one and routinely ignored. There are tons of silly laws made here that donât get enforced. This is not gangsterism but, rather, an example of how overactive the legislative is and how underactive enforcement is in Taiwan. But, hey, you could always get your gangsta buddies to rough me up a little. Itâd go further to proving your point about how gangstas are going to mess up the bounty hunter. [/quote]
Well, the bit where the kindy director states that officials are coming to look for foreign teachers is the clue. I would reasonably assume that this is what you refer to as a raid.[/quote]
Iâd guess thatâs just the way the director describes it but not actually what itâs for. Itâs the all-day teaching of English in a kindy thatâs illegal not the foreign teacher per se. Taiwanese teachers can get in trouble for it just as easily, although obviously deportation is not on the cards then. There are regular inspections that cover a number of things, one of which is kindy English. Theyâre not raids as such, and they are openly scheduled. I think your director is just using a poor choice of words to describe it.
NB I donât work in the industry and what I mentioned above is based on what Iâve heard from my wife who worked in the management side of things at a school.
They are inspections and done with advance notice. I get notice a month in advance and the problem is not the teacher but actually having an English lesson in the kindy. The law is unpopular because many legislators and people in the government have children that they want to go to English classes, so while the law exists it gets ignored by most because of that reason. For that same reason the law on no âclassâ teaching to under 6 didnât pass and probably wonât.
Itâs political dancing. Nothin more.
I asked my boss. She told me ignore all this and said when they really want to bust you there wonât be any notices. But there is no government effort to actively go out and bust kindies with foreigners. Itâs not like the government doesnt know where they all are. As for all kindy owners being tied in with gansters⌠she just laughed and said most are struggling to stay afloat. AS for getting deported, if those people werenât doing anything illegal in the first place they wouldnt have to worry about whatever they leave behind. The US government deported over 1 millions illegals this year and they left behind 46,000 children of US citizenhip to welfare.
The whole thread in my opinion is bollocks. Foreigners ratting out other foreigners⌠:loco:
I donât get why so many people here are feeding the troll (OP) :loco:
If they really want to bust, theyâd make a concerted effort to make teaching English in a kindergarten an unattractive deal. Theyâd make regular raids and make a big show of deporting foreigners who work illegally.
Yeah, well that sucks. The US is a third-world backwater at the best of times in regards to policy making. Fancy leaving innocent children behind on a welfare system. Thatâs absolutely disgraceful and the US should be ashamed if this is really true.
obviously, heâs a master baiter.
Super Hans. That whole entire post basically hit the nail on the head. I couldnât have said it any better myself and I am a long termer in Taiwan.
The things you said above are the reason that working in a Kindergarten is so popular here, even though it is illegal. Heck, it used to be illegal to have a second job at all, until the government wisened up about it and allowed foreigners to have second work permits.
The problem is the bait is too tempting and the chances of being caught are too small. Also, some of the illegal jobs offer sweeter deals and have better work environments than the legal ones.
I like threads like these, because they have the effect of quelling these irrational fears to which we foreign teachers sometimes fall prey.
If this is accurate in all possible cases, then I suppose that the definition of advance notice must be a broad one. To provide a hypothetical example for consideration, how about, âTake the children out the back exitâ? Would that be advance notice? Well, in a situation such as that, I suppose being given notice before the police actually enter the classroom could be considered advance notice.
The definition of raid, on the other hand, would seem to be somewhat narrow, at least in this thread. For the above hypothetical event to be termed a raid, I guess the authorities in question would have had to enter suddenly, forcefully, and perhaps at pistols drawn. So I suppose that one could call the above-described hypothetical visit by the police an abbreviated-advance-notice visit.
Then again, the definition of abbreviated might be subject to dispute. After all, why should the notice be considered abbreviated if, to continue with the hypothetical example, the teacher had enough time to wait in the common courtyard, enough time to ponder what the neighbors might be thinking, enough time to figure out by the length of the wait that the police probably werenât going to leave any time soon, enough time to wonder what the odds were that the police might get the random notion to take a look in the courtyard, and then enough time to get the children out of the courtyard and take them to a nearby park? Plenty of advance notice there, I guess. And there is no sudden, forceful entry in our hypothetical example, and certainly no guns are drawn. So if my imaginary example is one that could correspond in any way to events as they might happen in the real world, I guess you folks are right: there are no raids on schools.
Additionally, I agree with those posters in this thread who say that such visits are not about the foreign teacher, but are rather about larger policy considerations. Of course, if a foreign teacher is engaged in employment outside the scope of his or her visaâand teaching kindergarten is just that in most casesâhe or she can easily be deported. But to think about such things is to lose sight of the larger picture, and thatâs how all these irrational fears get started.
And whats all this balderdash about âmafia?â Got fuck-all to do with organized crime. But to even begin to imagine that even your most benign of school owners doesnât have access to a little group of bedheaded orange-haired scooter punks who will happily stab you in the buttocks for NT$1000? Well, cuntinue with your rose-coloured glasses. And watch your back. 