reputation of Confucius Institute among Chinese

[tallcity]

hello.. I really appreciate all the help CI has given me, and will continue to utilize its resources. However, I also tutor English to Mandarin/Cantonese speakers in the USA, and they advise me not to include any affiliation with CI in my ads. They say it has a reputation among young people of 不珍贵的教育 and 怪怪，and a feeling of 礼拜. Also, while on CI scholarship in China, my 阅读 teacher told us CI wastes 中国人 money. Any experiences or opinionsvto share?

[xuexiansheng]

I've taken CI classes in the past and had good experiences with the teachers. They were all intelligent, hard working and cared about the work they were doing. Where the criticism may come from is how they were treated by the management. They were under strict control of management and they seemed to have Chinese style working conditions (i.e. no freedom to chose what they want to pursue, little free time and long hours). The teachers that I became friends with said that, over all, it was a good experience, the pay wasn't horrible and it definitely gave them a unique experience living abroad and interacting with foreigners in a way they couldn't if they stayed in China. But, the ones I became friends with were there for multiple years. From what I heard, there is a fairly high turnover rate because some the teachers don't like the conditions, but some find it acceptable.

[陳德聰]

A small sample of my friends find it bizarre that they even exist in the first place. Two of them had no idea they existed, and yet another couple of them thought it was nice. My sample size is 7 Chinese friends. I think it's a big waste of Chinese money that fails miserably at propaganda, so that makes 8.

[Xiao Kui]

I've heard a lot of negative against CI from Chinese teachers in the US (and other Western countries), they are underpaid so many school districts will hire CI teachers (including where I'm from in NC) instead of hiring qualified Americans.  This is similar to how American companies hire visiting scholars on J visas rather than paying an American to do research. I have a pretty negative concept of CI due to this, but that's just my personal opinion.

[eion_padraig]

A former Chinese tutor of mine went to work at a CI in Mexico. She is the best Chinese teacher I've had out of 8 or 9 total. The pay is pretty low from what she says, but she has been able to travel around Mexico and certainly experience a lot for someone from the Hunan country side. She has been there for about a year and a half. I'd say she's a great representative for China too. 

I'd say it's comparable to teaching English in China for a few years, except for someone who wants to be a professional Chinese language teacher adding it to your resume would be beneficial if you plan to teach foreigners.

As for it's value in soft-power politics, I'd say it's under funded. That doesn't mean it's worthless. I'm glad the Chinese government has started the program, but I'm sure the running of the centers is heavily influenced by Chinese approaches to management so I bet there is a lot to be desired from an employee perspective.  

[abcdefg]

One of my language teachers in Kunming applied for a job with CI and was selected to go to the US. (Michigan State.) He said the salary was not high, but they would pay his tuition towards getting a Masters at the same time he was teaching Chinese.

 

Sounded like a pretty good deal for someone who was young and ambitious. He was happy there the first year, then we lost touch, so I don't have any long-term follow up. Hope it worked out.

[Chris Two Times]

That is a good deal to get a Master's degree from Michigan State paid for.

 

Warm regards,

Chris Two Times