This job vacancy announcement appeared in the classified ads sections of the Chinapost on October 14, 2009.
Are they out of their minds? They are demanding a PhD for editing English papers for publications? An individual works their ass off for a PhD in biology, for example, in order to accept a university position in Taiwan that is NOT a tenured full professor position, NOT a research or teaching position, but requires them to edit countless research papers written by Taiwanese professors with shitty English so they can make it into scientfic publications? They list responsibilities (plural) and they make sure that they mention English editing twice. I’m tempted to apply for the position just to see how much money they are offering. What a joke!
Would any PhDs here on Forumosa accept a postion like this?
If I’m not mistaken, they’re seeking to fill the hard-to-fill shoes of a celebrated Forumosan who is renowned for his braininess and also happens to be an all-round good bloke and sportsman.
that ad has been running for weeks and weeks as well…forgot to add the bit about being responsible for making the coffee and ordering the biandangs i see…
[quote=“almas john”]Nice find Surfer. Must really suck to have a PhD and end up as nothing more than a glorified ESL coolie![/quote]Yes, you’re correct and that’s my point as well. I can’t think of anybody I know who has a PhD that would accept a position as an ESL editor or an ESL teacher of any kind! Full tenured professor, research assistant, yes. But this, unbelievable.
I don’t know… If the pay doesn’t completely suck (I know, unlikely), I could see some people willing to do it for a year or two. There certainly are people who stick it out through the Ph.D, but decide that research isn’t for them. I could envision a burnt-out recently graduated Ph.D who has decided that they just aren’t interested in academia, but aren’t sure what else they want to do, being interested. Or maybe somebody that’s interested in getting into academic publishing? If this position was in a place with a bigger supply of English-speaking biology Ph.Ds (ie. the US, UK, etc), I think they would definitely get applicants (especially with the job market these days). Trying to find such a person in Taiwan does seem pretty ridiculous though.
Hell, if I decide to chuck the whole research/academia thing, I don’t have a clue what else I would do…
Edited to add: Apart from the issue of whether anyone would do it, I do agree that requiring a Ph.D for the job is too much. I could understand them wanting a life science BA or maybe MA, but a Ph.D is definite overkill.
Yeah, it sure looks like you-know-who’s vacancy. If you are ABD or have an M.S. in this or a very close field and some experience, I’d recommend you still apply, in case you’re interested. I’ve had a sweet job there for many years.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]Yeah, it sure looks like you-know-who’s vacancy. If you are ABD or have an M.S. in this or a very close field and some experience, I’d recommend you still apply, in case you’re interested. I’ve had a sweet job there for many years.[/quote]So, the person who previously held the position had a PhD?
If they were looking for someone with a BS or even an MS in a related science field to fill this position, I could agree with that, but a PhD? It doesn’t hurt to ask, but PhD holders have many more options than working for slave wages in Taiwan as an ESL editor for Taiwanese professors. I have two close friends who are full professors at NTU and they are also the chairs of their departments and I was extremely surprised at how little they make. They are both Taiwanese citizens, BTW.
[quote=“steelersman”]Maybe this position will end up being filled by some Taiwanese with a PhD. They might not have any better options.[/quote]Doubtful. They need a native English speaker to edit the Taiwanese PhD’s articles for them. It would be sad if a Taiwanese PhD didn’t have any better options than being an editor for other PhDs.
I don’t know what’s the big deal about PhDs. Heck it was a (local) PhD candidate in my office who questioned my perfectly correct and appropriate use of the word “bullshit.”
Don’t assume that “Ph.D.” means ‘required’. Such unrealistic listings are just wishful thinking on their part. If you show up to the interview with some grad school background you may still have a shot at the position.
I’ve just started doing a little bit of EAP work. The academic essays from East Asian students are very difficult to work on. It’s not that the writing is terrible, with my bushiban teacher’s hat on I would describe them as being good pieces of writing, it’s just that there is no cohesion. In the first paragraph they will usually chuck in at least half a dozen synonyms of the key noun in the essay question. The students repeatedly contradict themselves, and there are way too many conjunctions. Instead of a projecting clause they will always choose a conjunctive adjunct, and often one that implies negativity when in the same paragraph they are actually trying to support an argument.
Looking at the essays I can see what’s happened during their English teaching in their home countries, probably at bushiban level. I’m also not sure that they ever write any essays in their native language. A Japanese student claimed he had never written more than 500 words in his own language, in which case how can he possibly understand how to construct a logical argument of 3000+ words in English?
Does anyone who works in Taiwanese state schools know if the Taiwanese students ever write essays in Mandarin, or is it always just cloze exercises?
