Exactly, John.
I think this is a typical story by a Taiwan “reporter.” No facts, no fact checking, no proof, no collaboration, no background, not even any evidence other than the televised ranting of the mother. Nothing, in fact, that you could really describe as reporting in any accepted sense of the word. Can you tell that I have nothing but the deepest contempt for so-called “journalists” and “reporters” in Taiwan?
This contempt didn’t develop overnight, btw. It comes from years of seeing this kind of total lack of professionalism again and again. What is even more strange is that they actually have what they are pleased to describe as a “school of journalism” here. One can only wonder what on earth the students are “taught.”
I’ve deviated from the topic, forgive me, but this is my peeve du jour.
Hi, everybody.
You know, Taiwan is actually slugging behind other nations in the area of sexual education. The educational system here is just too prude, and, of course, some little kid will think something weird about the teacher and the mother will freak out on TV. By the way, I went to that site, and it was blank.
In my experience at HESS, an infuriated father came into the office to demand that his daughter switch classes. Apparantly, he believed that her male teacher was not good for her. The head Chinese Teacher tried to calm him down, and in the end, the father concluded that men should teach math and science, and that women were better language teachers. But it was pretty obvious to me and the Chinese teacher that he was really concerned about this big white guy teaching his little daughter. Anyway, the teacher he was referring to was married and had been with HESS for a long time and was a very respected teacher. Give me a break. And, once again, sex ed. in Taiwan is way behind other nations.
Love,
BiG DIk
Just wanted to point out that perhaps the reason for so many complaints about HESS is simply a matter of simple numbers…a huge number of teachers working for the same “company” but not at the same “school” and some work at good ones and some work at bad ones, but it all gets lumped together as “bad” because of the bad branches…the only things the branches really share is the teaching method and books…
I’m sorry, but if you’re looking to argue with me. It won’t happen.
I have felt very sad for the Hess people ever since the English teacher was caught whacking off in front of that little third grader. Besides all those topics have been discussed before. Read the arguement about the size of the school again, therefore the complaints was discussed already. No one has complained about other schools, just Hess. Notice the Elsi and Kid Castle thread, no one has posted and its been up since May 30. But you’re welcome to post. And it doesn’t matter about the bond. If I was teaching, I wouldn’t work at those places either because they’ve got a poor system too.
This is my last post. Signing out.
Its too bad about that little 3rd grader. What dispicable person to abuse a child! and shame on Hess for letting it happen.
So, what happened in the end?
It turns out that the parent who accused the Hess teacher lied about the entire thing. She is employed by a rival Bushiban company and this was her way of making a contribution. I’ve heard that Hess was planning a lawsuit, but chose not to push ahead when the truth came out and the hub-bub died down.
The accused teacher is still teaching at Hess in Taichung. I’ve heard that parents whose children were his students even held a support rally for him.
I’m asking friends in Taichung for any follow up material on this matter. If it does come by, expect to see links to that stuff here for your own review. If I can get a word or two from the teacher himself, I’ll post it here, too.
The Takeaway
Folks, if you are reading this thread and shaking your head about Hess, please keep these points in mind:
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Verify – the adage “don’t believe everything you read” holds especially true with online material. Check and double-check
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Note who is doing the posting – one of my pet peeves about this forum is that some posters are irresponsible and unaccountable. If the people who are smearing others are not long time posters to this forum, be suspicious
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Hess is a huge company – with probably the largest contingent of professional foreign workers (I am not counting migrant factory workers). It ain’t perfect, but it didn’t get that big for no reason.
A friendly reminder – if you read something on ORIENTED that offends you, or that you suspect may even be libelous, please let us know ( problems@oriented.org ). We appreciate the assistance. All of us (founders and moderators) are managing this website on our free time. If you can point out a problem and give us reasonable arguments to back up your claim, we’ll act on it.
It would be great to satisfy everyone who uses this website – but this is impossible, our audience is too diverse. It would be even better if provocative postings led to constructive change. This is something we can strive for provided all the facts come in.
As has been said elsewhere on this forum, “It’s all fun and games till someone puts an eye out”
Questions or comments? Please e-mail me personally: gus@oriented.org
Peace.
gus.
Remember the recent crack down in Taibei with Kindergartens and foreign teacher? You do? Good. At that time Hess stated that the crack down would not affect them and they could continue to operate a kindergarten with foreign teachers and that it would be legal and completely above board.
Well, a certain boss (hogg) was curious as to how this was possible for Hess and not for his partners chain of Kindergartens ( all fully licenced and legal ) so he sent an e-mail pretending to be looking for a job and asking for clarification on those issues.
It has been 2 months (give or take) since the first e-mail and this boss (hogg) received his replies yesterday and today. The e-mails are as follows - personal information deleted.
[quote=“Big Boss Hogg”]
Dear sir / madam,
I am currently in New Zealand and considering coming to Taiwan to teach English. In preparation for this I have been doing research on Taiwan and in particular teaching English in Taiwan.
I would like to teach kindergarten in Taipei. It has come to my attention that this may no longer be legal and may cause many problems for my life in Taiwan if I were to teach kindergarten English. Is this information accurate? Some people have told me that the new regulations do not concern Hess and its operation of kindergartens, however, I would like to gather information from the source, Hess.
Please advise as to where your school stands on this issue. I would not want to pay an airfare only to be deported, fined, or otherwise and therefore waste a lot of money and time.
Your response will be much appreciated.[/quote]
[quote=“The Enchanting People at Hess”]
Thank you for your interest in teaching for Hess.
Government regulations regarding English kindergartens have not affected our schools.
If you are interested in teaching for Hess, please apply hess-teachers.com.
Kind regards[/quote]
[quote=“Flabby Hoggster”]
I sent them an e-mail and they answered like this…[/quote]
[quote=“the Happy Hess Hippo”]
Please see my answers (in blue) to your questions below.
I hope I have managed to answer all of them clearly.
Kind regards
After further research I do not see how it would be possible for Taiwan’s regulations to not have an affect on Hess Kindergartens, that is in the legal sense, perhaps they have not been inspected or had foreign staff discovered on the premises at the time of inspection.
From my understanding the following points apply to schools in Taiwan, please correct me if I am wrong as I would like to clear up these issues of concern.
- Language schools cannot operate as kindergartens
[color=blue][hesswork] Our language schools do not operate as kindergartens. [/color] - Children under 6 years old cannot receive intensive English instruction
[color=blue][hesswork] We have [hesswork] 40 minutes of English time in a 3 hour schedule.[/color] - Kindergartens cannot include the terms “English”,“American English” or “English school” in their school name.
[color=blue][hesswork] Our kindergartens are bilingual. [/color] - Foreign teachers, unless suitably qualified cannot give English language instruction in kindergarten.
[color=blue][hesswork] All of our teachers have been approved work permits by the Taiwanese government. [/color] - English language instruction in kindergartens is limited to arts, songs, and festivals. Therefore an intensive English program would be not acceptable according to the ministry of Education.
[color=blue][hesswork] We incorporate all of the above-mentioned in our classes and teaching methods. [/color] - If this is indeed illegal employment then both the school and the teacher would face heavy fines and the teacher would face deportation.
[color=blue][hesswork] We only hire teachers legally. All of our teachers have work permits and ARCs. [/color] - Kindergartens that operate as buxibans (language schools) and buxibans that operate as kindergartens face punishment.
[color=blue][hesswork] Our language schools operate as language schools and our kindergartens operate as kindergartens. They are all fully licenced. [/color]
If this above points are true then teaching in Taiwan at a kindergarten would be like having a bomb strapped to your back just waiting to blow up. All the information that I have accessed would suggest that the laws of Taiwan would affect Hess Kindergartens. If indeed the laws do not affect Hess, how so?
[color=blue][hesswork] I believe I have answered this question above.[/color]
I would be interested to know as I am looking at staying in Taiwan for an extended period of time. I am married and my wife is Taiwanese, we are considering moving to Taiwan this year and would like to make sure that things are clear. I know that if I were to apply for a Joining Family Resident Visa that I would not need a work permit, however, the Ministry of Education informs me that as an English teacher I would still need to get a work permit for this kind of position. Therefore I would not wish to be in violation of any of the relevant Taiwanese laws.
Please clarify, if you can, the above points. It took me a lot of time reading Chinese to find this information and I would like to save myself a little more time if you are able to clarify it for me.
On a side issue, is English teaching the only option for employment with Hess or are their other alternatives that I could explore, I am looking for long term prospects and not short term like the average foreign English teacher.
[color=blue][hesswork] Please visit our website to learn more about our organization. hess-teachers.com
If you feel uncomfortable teaching kindergarten, you can just teach language school. This is contract A.[/color][/quote]
In the final round Boss (Hogg) finally came clean about who he really is and what he actually does in Taiwan. Politely thanked the tubby Hippo for all the competition and suggested that the person responding check out the applicable laws or come clean on the details about how they beat the system, if that is what they do.
Anyone have any ideas as to the mystery that is Hess, this reporter has no idea. (nothing new)
Oh, and before you tell me that my method was wrong, I already know that I was being misleading and lying, well to a point, if they offered me enough money ( a hell of a lot ) I’d work for them, NOT.
Am I 
?
Bassman, you rock! 
Gawsh 
I thought I was a baaaaaaaaaaaad boy.
There are some teachers who work full-time kindergarten at Hess. They teach kindy in the morning and in the afternoon. But I think most of the teachers are part time kindy teachers (2 hours/class + lunch) and also teach evening classes to elementary school age students. If there’s ever a police raid, they know about it about one week in advance, so the teachers all leave the kindergarten before the cops show up.
I’m impressed, Bassman.
Are people really taking this seriously, though? My husband oversees a language school and kindergarten with kids under six and when I asked his opinion, he said they’ve pretty much ignored it from the beginning. 
[quote=“braxtonhicks”]I’m impressed, Bassman.
Are people really taking this seriously, though? My husband oversees a language school and kindergarten with kids under six and when I asked his opinion, he said they’ve pretty much ignored it from the beginning. [/quote]
All of this I know, perhaps even do (but wouldn’t say anyway), but I never said that the law didn’t apply to me. I was curious to see what their answer was and if there is infact any loophole that I didn’t know about.
Can anyone say “corruption”?
I have to know the answer to this and other questions before China attacks.
If the Happy Hess Hippo is out there please respond.
It seems to me that the law is pointless, so who can blame anyone for ignoring it? I’ve seen several kindergarten programs here in Taipei, and I have to say that the ones at Hess and Kojen seemed fine. They didn’t seem to be hurting the kids, at least, though I’m sure with unlimited funds you could get a better program. I’ve seen others that I frankly thought were bad – that went against the advice of experts in the field of early childhood education, and in fact against what any reasonable person from a Western country would think was appropriate.
The key point is this - Hess suggested that the law did not affect them. Ignore the law, fine, but don’t lie about it to teachers who will be taking a risk and trusting you.
My intuition on this is that Hess have in fact found a loophole somewhere, but it’s not immediately clear to me what that loophole might be.
I do know that in their current efforts to break into Japan, Australia, and mainland China, Hess are doing a lot of work and making a lot of changes so that they’re legal by international standards (rather than the Big Grey Area that is Taiwanese legality).
As an example, until recently Hess teachers paid tax on an NT$400/hr income though they actually earned rather more than that. This is being phased out and by Jan 1st 2005, Hess teachers will pay full tax (and have had their gross rate of pay adjusted to compensate).
Incidentally, my understanding is that there are no fulltime Kindy teachers for Hess - but there are many who work kindy every day and then have one single class a week in the Language School which officially employs them. I could be wrong on that, though.
Having just completed our companies ethics quiz I can confirm that yes, indeed, you are a baaaaaaaad boy and would be fired on the spot!
A bad example to your employees and the honest upstanding Forumosians who hold you in such high esteem. I for one am disappointed. 
Skippy, I’m not much of an ethicist, but misrepresentation seems to be the smoking gun here.
However, assuming that the type of information he is asking for is ethically sound (information that is, or should be, publicly available) what would have been the ethical way of going about it? Have a friend in New Zealand write a letter? Or, write “I am a teacher in Taiwan looking into legally teaching Kindergarten”? The latter may be a bit shifty, but it’s not misrepresentation. In either case, you do have potential “suppliers” asking for information from a potential “customer.”
Basically, if he had not claimed…
…would he be in the ethical clear?
Having just completed our companies ethics quiz I can confirm that yes, indeed, you are a baaaaaaaad boy and would be fired on the spot!
A bad example to your employees and the honest upstanding Forumosians who hold you in such high esteem. I for one am disappointed. [/quote]
Yes.
Fired on the spot. Kind of difficult for that to happen.
Honest and upstanding Forumosians.
You must work for Hess. 
No more and no less honest than that Filthy Fat Hippo at Hess.
Ok, I wasn’t “in” NZ. There isn’t anything illegal in my e-mail, but there is in the practices of Hess.
Kindergarten hours must not be more than the language school hours. Fact.
The information that they gave is all available on their website. Contract information is also freely available. I was curious about the loose interpretations of Taiwanese law and what they would have to say about the matter. Their explanations do not suggest loopholes or exceptions to the law but blatant disregard or ignorance on the part of the person who replied.
They would be quite justified to not answer the questions in great detail but the answers were just plain rubbish.
In the past I have suggested Hess as a place to work for people who have contacted me about work when I had no positions available. I will not be suggesting that anyone work for them anymore. That’s a fact, which is more than the facts that Hess give. Although they could have smelt a rat because I knew too much already.
Facts are there are teachers that have been burnt and I wouldn’t like to see that happen again. Would you?
Sneaky, misrepresentation, ok - I will wear that cap if it fits. However, I do my own dirty work and wouldn’t ask someone else to write an email for me.
[quote=“Bassman”]
Sneaky, misrepresentation, ok - I will wear that cap if it fits. However, I do my own dirty work and wouldn’t ask someone else to write an email for me.[/quote]
I don’t see anything wrong with what Bassman did. Of course, I don’t judge Hess too harshly for breaking unreasonable laws, either. It’s just disturbing that they get away with some things that other buxibans/kindies can’t get away with.
Bassman did nothing wrong. Bassman is a businessman. He needs to understand the market and how the law affects the market. He needs to understand the hiring practices and contracts of his competitors. You’d better damn well believe that Hess does the same thing, only on a much bigger scale. They send Chinese and foreign teachers to other schools all the time to do a bit of spying in the form of job interviews. It’s not as though Bassman has posted slanderous information about Hess; he has just posted Hess’s words. If he had broken the law, Hess would be all over him by now.