If the answer is no - major red flag. A buxiban boss who doesn’t speak English obviously doesn’t care about learning English. And if she doesn’t care about learning English, what makes you think she cares about teaching English? She’s only in it for the money.
If a Taiwanese buxiban owner can’t speak English relatively fluently, that is a sign that she doesn’t care enough to put in the effort to learn the tools of her trade. Would you trust an owner of a fleet of taxicabs who couldn’t drive a car? An owner of a garage who couldn’t change the oil of a car? A beauty shop owner who couldn’t cut hair?
Nope. I wouldn’t, either. So why should any of us trust an English school boss who can’t even speak English? And believe many, there are many, many out there in Taiwan.
Just a heads up for the newbies. Check these people off your list of potential employers.
Being in a line of business only for the money is not bad, immoral, or even bad for english instruction. Many on Wall Street hate their jobs with a passion, plan their escape daily, but love the pay, and are good at their jobs.
A businessman need have no idea of how to do the thing his business is about. He needs to be able to run a business. Before becoming CEO of Apple, Jim Sculley ran Pepsi and didn’t know anything about computers. Before running IBM, Lou Gerstner was in the cookie business.
What is problematic about many buxiban owners is not their lack of english but their lack moral character.
They would argue of course that withholding pay, lying to employees, etc is profitable, so they do practice what they preach(money is everything).
The easiest way to tell if a school’s owner is OK? That’s simple. Run him/her down with your car. If the school owner gets up again, he’s probably ok. To be sure, you might want to ask him his name, what day it is, if anything’s broken, etc. If he passes these tests, he’s definitely ok.
[quote=“Maoman”]The easiest way to tell if a school’s owner is OK? That’s simple. Run him/her down with your car. If the school owner gets up again, he’s probably ok.
[/quote]
[quote=“austin”]Being in a line of business only for the money is not bad, immoral, or even bad for English instruction. Many on Wall Street hate their jobs with a passion, plan their escape daily, but love the pay, and are good at their jobs.
A businessman need have no idea of how to do the thing his business is about. He needs to be able to run a business. Before becoming CEO of Apple, Jim Sculley ran Pepsi and didn’t know anything about computers. Before running IBM, Lou Gerstner was in the cookie business.
What is problematic about many buxiban owners is not their lack of English but their lack moral character.
They would argue of course that withholding pay, lying to employees, etc is profitable, so they do practice what they preach(money is everything).[/quote]
running a school and running a business are not the same thing.
I don’t know about the school running but business I know.
Do it badly and there is a reasonable chance your going to wind up broke.
Do it okay and there is some chance you will be okay.
Do it well and your going to stand out from the crowd whatever line of business your in.
The running a school part still involves customer satisfaction (parents and kids from what I hear) so a good operator would know how to keep the books behind the scenes and keep the customers happy at the front end.
Oh, I nearly forgot, if their head turns 180 degrees after you’ve run them over then its cause for concern on a number of fronts.
ummm… i was under the impression we were talking about running a school. anyway, i thought the op had a good point. maybe not a red flag but a yellow one.
I think that the OP’s post is a sign that a school owner is going to be more than OK. If a school owner has taken the time to learn English well and has made the effort to use it, they show a dedication and empathy to those who will come to their school to learn English.
If the owner can’t be bothered with learning English, it makes you wonder why they think others should go to their school to do so.
But he could be a chewer or a snuffer. At any rate, it’s one thing to sell tobacco and not use it. It’s another to sell English, but not speak a word of it.
But he could be a chewer or a snuffer. At any rate, it’s one thing to sell tobacco and not use it. It’s another to sell English, but not speak a word of it.[/quote]
I don’t really understand why. Surely if you have competent managers, admin and teachers, etc. that takes care of that.
[quote=“Maoman”]The easiest way to tell if a school’s owner is OK? That’s simple. Run him/her down with your car. If the school owner gets up again, he’s probably ok. To be sure, you might want to ask him his name, what day it is, if anything’s broken, etc. If he passes these tests, he’s definitely ok.
Hope this helps.[/quote] :bravo: :bravo: :bravo: I don’t have a car, can I use a taxi???!?!?! LMAO
There seems to be some confusion between owners and managers here.
The main point though is basically that if the person responsible for the management of the foreign teaching staff doesn’t speak English then that is a red flag.
I worked briefly at a kindy where the owner manager didn’t speak any English and yet for some weird reason she always seemed to wonder why the teachers never did what she wanted them to…
I later found out that she was the wife of a rich doctor who had set her up in a kindy as a money-making hobby.
Suffice to say that it was not a pleasant place to work.
Wrong… owning and running a school is just as much a business as anything else.
A school owner maybe a small business person. Some of them actually own the land and building they use for their businesses.
I know that many teachers think that their bosses are overpaid jerks… but heck, that’s life. Many teachers would fail at running a school business here. I know a few who have.
But he could be a chewer or a snuffer. At any rate, it’s one thing to sell tobacco and not use it. It’s another to sell English, but not speak a word of it.[/quote]
Yeah and most crack pusjers don’t use crack either. They just make money off the mooks who do…
And sure, it’s usually a good thing if the owner, and at the very least the manager, spoke English. But for an English teacher to be a student of Chinese is also a good thing. It gives you empathy for what your students go through and helps you understand some of their problems with acquiring a second (or third) language.
