Filipino Teachers in Shanghai

Until now we are not sure about our destination. Will it be Shanghai or Austria? The uncertainty is killing me but anyway, I was thinking that in case we move to Shanghai I should maybe go back to teaching. I am happy with blogging but would be happier if I can teach as well. I can teach in the morning and blog in the afternoon. Something like this would be really nice. So, I searched for teaching jobs in Shanghai but this is what I found:

With their wallets bulging, more and more wealthy Shanghai families are hiring Philippine maids to speak English with the kids, despite an official ban on hiring foreign workers.

Some rich Shanghaiese are willing to pay 6,000 yuan (750 U.S. dollars) a month to hire a Philippine servant with a college education background, much higher than the average salary of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (375 to 500 dollars) that most Philippine servants can get.

Yep, looks like more and more wealthy Chinese are hiring educated Filipinos as maids or nannies. I honestly don’t know how to react. If I were single, I’ll probably consider getting this job. Why? Because of three reasons

1. You cannot get such salary by being a maid or a (professional) teacher in the Philippines.

2. Filipino English teachers in China are not in demand because of their color. Yes, Chinese people prefer blond-hair-and-blue-eyed red necks from an English speaking country over well qualified Filipinos. It’s totally racist but that’s life. Note: I am not saying that all Filipino teachers who come to China to teach are excellent teachers or that all white people who teach English in China are terrible and are unqualified teachers, I am just stating the fact that white people have a higher chance of get a teaching job in China than the brown island people.

3. If you are a Filipino and you are lucky enough to land a teaching job in Shanghai, you will probably not get a salary more than 5K RMB because you are a brown.

I know that by doing so I am damaging the market for Filipino teachers and I am sort of giving in to racism but given my three reasons above, who is there to judge me? It may seem like it’s all about the money but if you have a poor family back home who is counting on you, you’ll do it too. Anyway, I am glad that I am not put in the position where I have to choose whether to accept such job or not but this is to say that I do understand those Filipino professionals who stomach working as a servant.