they are inviting westerners to teach them English, so I don’t think it’s as much of an issue
English teaching as an industry is extremely worthy of criticism.
First of all, a large proportion, maybe even a majority of English teachers in the global south are not hired by universities or schools, but by private, for-profit "schools". This should already set off alarm bells in the heads of most leftists, so add onto the fact that most of these "schools" are extremely poorly regulated and don't follow any sort of set curriculum.
Second, the vast majority of English "teachers" in the global south are not qualified university or even school level teachers. Teaching is a skilled job that, in most counties, requires a teacher to have qualifications in either the subject they're teaching, or in education. If Vietnam or China or Cuba were importing a bunch of Americans to teach math and those americans only had a high school math educstion under their belt, most of us would be criticizing that as hugely irrational.
Add those two factors together and what kind of positive educational outcomes can we expect? Well we really can't say for certain because most of these English "schools" are almost completely unregulated and don't do any sort of academically useful testing or reporting. Parents put their kids in these places because those same privately owned "schools" have sold parents a vision of their kids becoming fluent English speakers (and in all my time living in various places in Asia I have yet to meet a single person who became fluent or even proficient through private "school").
So okay, English schools might as well be Amway or some scummy snake oil bullshit, but no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc etc?
What if I told you that many private English "schools" in Asia deliberately trade on perpetuating white supremacy? It is a pretty open secret that most schools will hire a white native English speaker first, above most PoC native speakers. What you may not know is that many of these places will prefer to hire white non-native speakers over PoC native speakers. Anecdotally, I've known a Belgian who spoke with a thick accent and wonky grammar teaching English, as well as a Russian who barely spoke English at all doing it. Not only that, but I also know a Western born Asian with a masters degree from a western university who got passed over in favor of these white Euros.
So yeah, Xi was right to crack the fuck down on these English "schools" a while back and it sounds like Vietnam needs to follow suit.
English teaching as an industry is extremely worthy of criticism.
First of all, a large proportion, maybe even a majority of English teachers in the global south are not hired by universities or schools, but by private, for-profit "schools". This should already set off alarm bells in the heads of most leftists, so add onto the fact that most of these "schools" are extremely poorly regulated and don't follow any sort of set curriculum.
Second, the vast majority of English "teachers" in the global south are not qualified university or even school level teachers. Teaching is a skilled job that, in most counties, requires a teacher to have qualifications in either the subject they're teaching, or in education. If Vietnam or China or Cuba were importing a bunch of Americans to teach math and those americans only had a high school math educstion under their belt, most of us would be criticizing that as hugely irrational.
Add those two factors together and what kind of positive educational outcomes can we expect? Well we really can't say for certain because most of these English "schools" are almost completely unregulated and don't do any sort of academically useful testing or reporting. Parents put their kids in these places because those same privately owned "schools" have sold parents a vision of their kids becoming fluent English speakers (and in all my time living in various places in Asia I have yet to meet a single person who became fluent or even proficient through private "school").
So okay, English schools might as well be Amway or some scummy snake oil bullshit, but no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc etc?
What if I told you that many private English "schools" in Asia deliberately trade on perpetuating white supremacy? It is a pretty open secret that most schools will hire a white native English speaker first, above most PoC native speakers. What you may not know is that many of these places will prefer to hire white non-native speakers over PoC native speakers. Anecdotally, I've known a Belgian who spoke with a thick accent and wonky grammar teaching English, as well as a Russian who barely spoke English at all doing it. Not only that, but I also know a Western born Asian with a masters degree from a western university who got passed over in favor of these white Euros.
So yeah, Xi was right to crack the fuck down on these English "schools" a while back and it sounds like Vietnam needs to follow suit.