The Bridge over the River Kwai.

The School library has a copy of the novel, for which that famous movie is based, The Bridge over the River Kwai.  I wonder if the novel has anything to tell me about my predicament or position at the school.  I am the head foreign trainer.

As the head foreign trainer, I am almost in an impossible position.  I have to try to satisfy both the Chinese management and the Foreign staff. 

I really should be worried about improving our students' English, but the Chinese management makes decisions that bewilder us foreigners.  For example, the decision to make someone's wife a Vice President at our school.  I can't defend that sort of thing but being here in China I have to accept it and hope it does not make work intolerable.  Also, Chinese management asks us to do things on very short notice.  As the foreign staff correctly say good teaching involves planning which is hard to do in the short notice time they give to us.  In these situations I can only hope the foreign trainers can work together the best they can to make the most of an bad situation.  The foreigners do have to accept that it will be hard for us to change the Chinese habits on this.  But, I always feel I am the teller of bad news.  When the Chinese management tells me something they want us to do, I hesitate to pass on the information because of the scoffing I hear from the foreign staff.

So I sometimes feel like a stooge for a despotic or corrupt Chinese management . 

But then the foreigners I work with aren't so perfect either.  Currently, we are having a flap about dress codes for the foreigners at the school.  The Chinese management wants us to wear ties.  Some foreigners do not want to.  Some of the foreign trainers brought this on themselves by insisting on wearing the most casual of clothes.  I choose not to renew one teacher's contract because his shabby appearance was offensive to me.  Other trainers I was glad to see leave our school because they were essentially tourists in China, not the least interested in teaching.  And of course many foreigners who come to China to teach English are alcoholics, druggies, playboys or loser-misfits.

I feel sometimes like I am looking after over-grown undisciplined children

In the story ,The Bridge over the River Kwai, Colonel Nicholson deals with a despotic Asian by insisting on discipline and doing things according to regulations.  The Colonel's stand on doing correct procedures causes consternation for both his Asian captors and the foreign prisoners for whom he is responsible.  He is in a very lonely position.  And of course, in the story, he is ultimately undone by the bigger need to defeat the Japanese as the bridge he built is destroyed.  Was he a stooge or wasn't he?

Thankfully, I am not at war with the Chinese and my ultimate objective is to have our students' English improve.  There is something maybe to be said for the Colonel Nicholson approach in my situation.  With the Chinese, I have to insist on certain things.  I also have to try and work out some compromises sometimes.  But I have to tread carefully.  I also have to insist that the teachers do their job as best they can and suck it up when necessary.  That is, I must insist that the teachers do have some discipline and professionalism in the face of our crazy management.