The Filipino issue

Thursday, 15 February 2007

Page 2 of 2

If given the choice, parents will undoubtedly choose unqualified Harald from Denmark, who has never taught anyone in his whole life and who thinks EFL stands for European Football League, over Felicito, even when the latter is a top-class children's teachers with all the necessary qualifications and a better accent than the aforementioned smorrebrod. By the way, I've got nothing whatsoever against Scandinavian teachers, it was just an example. Actually, I've got nothing against any teacher, as long as they behave professionally and do a good job. Unfortunately, the customer is always right.

Finally, there is the salary. Schools that employ Filipinos as well as Thai and Western teachers often have a three-tiered pay scale, with Thais at the lower end and Westerners at the higher end. If a Thai teacher makes let's say 10,000 baht a month, the school would probably pay a Western teacher around 30,000 baht and try to get away with paying the Filipino teachers around 20,000 baht. Is this fair? Well, on the one hand Filipinos aren't native speakers, so a slightly lower salary might be justified. On the other hand, non-native Western teachers are paid as much as native speakers, so it's not justified. Western non-native speakers are paid as much as native speakers because they have an extra quality Asian don't possess: their skin colour. Is this fair? Probably not, but that's the way it is and it's not about to change overnight. If the aforementioned (fictitious) school pays the Filipino teacher 25,000 baht, I guess that quite reasonable. Should they try to get away with paying a salary of 15,000 baht or less a month, that's robbery. Also, let's not forget that Thai teachers are often paid what some would call a pittance. This is true if you compare their salary to that of foreign teachers. In Thai society though, it's unfortunately not thought of as unusually low, it's a normal salary. Considering some Thai teachers' English proficiency, it's probably way too much.

Republished with permission from the author:

Mr. Philip Roeland
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The article first appeared in Ajarn.com

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