This summer I accepted a position at the Oxbridge China Student Education Project, or OCSEP for short. What I agreed to and what I ended up doing were not exactly on the same page, but then again, that’s China. I taught children in Chengdu, Sichuan, as well as Shanghai, ranging from ages 5 to 18. The courses assigned to me to teach were Academic Skills as well as Western creativity. Now, before I begin to sound like a resume, I’ll tell you why I thought this experience was actually valuable for me. I know this won’t come as a surprise, but Chinese parents will pay anything to get a foreign teacher in front of their kid. The organization I worked for, OCSEP, capitalized on that like nothing I have seen before. The company only hires student interns from Ivy League schools, Oxford, Cambridge and a few other high-prestige institutions. It then advertises these students as highly trained teachers who will no doubt be an aid for your child when applying to university abroad. I have loved my time at NYU Shanghai, and it has made me want to work with younger kids, exposing them to the potential of a global education. When I arrived in Shanghai, I was provided no training before leaving to teach in Chengdu. I thought this was odd, considering I was advertised as highly trained. I didn’t even have any lesson plans, or an idea of the age or level of the students. The next day I started classes, and it was a disaster. Try teaching academic skills to a rowdy bunch of seven-year-olds that just learned the alphabet. Rather than frustrated, I felt awful. The students were provided a teacher who had no ability to handle them, nor even speak to them beyond some basic Chinese. I knew that the student’s parents were paying upwards of six thousand RMB a week just to participate in this camp. Some flew to Chengdu from Hangzhou or Inner Mongolia, and were staying in a hotel for half of a month just to participate. And while I tried the best I could, and the kids had fun, I know I was not worth the $1000 price tag. I think many businesses in parts of the developing world will use a foreign face as a symbol of success. Sure, let the Harvard graduate, or the Cambridge Barrister come in and fix the problems. In reality, titles and nationality mean absolutely nothing when it comes to certain issues. People in China are paying for their kids to sit in front of a completely unqualified foreigner, so that they can say their kid has been exposed to Western culture. I guess that's true, if the Western culture is foreigners capitalizing on the damage inflicted upon developing countries during colonization. It’s just a whole new wave of colonization, and I spent the summer being paid for it. I know a native Chinese person could have done my job way better than I did, and I urge people participating in these programs to reevaluate why they are there. I think many of these programs could potentially be worthwhile if the teacher is qualified, but make sure you do your research before you start.This article was written by Maggie Walsh. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch.Photo Credit: ocsep.com