I am a foreign teacher in China. I start work at 9am, I have a two-hour lunch break from 12 noon, and then I leave at 4:30pm. I go home to my apartment, play with my kids, see my spouse and visit friends. I even have enough disposable income to go do fun things every weekend.

我是一名在中国的外籍教师。我早上9点开始工作，有两个小时的午休时间，下午4:30下班。我回到我的公寓，和我的孩子们玩，陪伴我的爱人，拜访朋友。我甚至有足够的可支配收入每个周末去做有趣的事情。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


My Chinese colleagues typically arrive at 7am. They get a 30-minute lunch break and then leave at 5:30pm or later. Most go home to rented apartments, but some stay at very basic dorm-like accommodation provided by the school. I’m sure they fantasize about one day having a disposable income.

我的中国同事通常早上7点上班。他们有30分钟的午饭时间，然后在下午5:30或更晚时候才下班。大多数人回租房子住，有些人住在学校提供的非常基本的宿舍。我敢肯定他们梦想有一天能挣到足够花的钱。

Like most foreign teachers in China, I work alongside many just-as-qualified, hard working and brilliant Chinese teachers who toil for longer hours for less pay than me. Salaries for foreign teachers in China tend to range between 15,000 and 30,000 RMB a month, depending on the type of school and the workload. This usually averages out to an hourly wage comparable to, or better than, what teachers are paid in the West.

像大多数在中国的外教一样，我和许多同样合格、勤奋、才华横溢的中国教师一起工作，他们干的多，领的少。根据学校类型和工作量的不同，中国外籍教师的月薪通常在15000至30000元之间。平均到时薪来算的话，相当于或优于西方教师的工资。

Most Chinese teachers, however, are lucky if they can scrape 8,000 RMB a month, even with a university degree. And aside from the classes they teach, Chinese teachers often have other duties to attend to, like answering the phones or monitoring lunch times.

然而，大多数即使有大学学位的中国教师运气好的话每月就挣个8000元人民币。除了他们所教的课程外，中国教师通常还有其他职责要做，比如打各种电话或管着学生按点吃午饭。

A foreign friend of mine was once grumbling about the lack of interest her administration seemed to have in the grades she gave her students. “Do they care at all how I teach, or if my students actually learn anything?” she mused after a staff meeting. “It’s as if they hired me to put on a foreign clown show.”

我的一位外国朋友曾抱怨学校行政部门似乎对她给学生的分数不感兴趣。“他们是否关心我的教学方式，或者我的学生是否真的学到了什么？”她在员工会议后沉思，“就好像他们请我来演外国小丑秀一样。”

As a foreign teacher in China, it’s easy to feel guilty when you know colleagues you respect are paid a fraction of your salary for working arguably harder. But should you? Economics dictates that your salary is not really related to theirs. Chinese teachers are not paid any less because foreign teachers are paid more. To think that schools would pay the Chinese teachers more if foreign teachers took a pay cut is a nice daydream, but capitalism doesn’t really work that way.

作为一名在中国的外教，当你知道你尊敬的同事比你更努力工作但得到的报酬只是你工资的一小部分时，你很容易有愧疚感。但你是否该内疚呢？从经济学的角度来看，你的工资与他们的工资并不相关。中国教师的工资并没有因为外籍教师的工资更高而减少。认为如果外籍教师减薪，学校会给中国教师更多的工资，这是个白日梦，资本主义并不是这样运作的。

In fact, for some schools, it could even be argued that the sole reason the Chinese teachers even have a job is because the school was able to recruit a few foreign teachers. The focus for many non-public schools, which are of course businesses in their own right, is to sell classes, typically English classes, taught by foreign teachers. Without the “foreign clowns,” the school itself may not survive.

事实上，对于一些学校甚至可以说，因为学校能够招聘一些外教，这些中国老师才有工作。许多私立学校（当然它们本身就是企业）的重点是销售由外教授课的课程，尤其是英语课程。没有“外国小丑”，学校可能都活不下去。

Because of this, I personally try not to feel too guilty when I hear my Chinese colleagues talk about the big ways in which their low salaries affect their lives. This is easier said than done, however, as often, it’s not just that they can’t afford an outfit they like or that they have to save up longer to buy a scooter. It’s that their present and future stability is in jeopardy.

正因为如此，当我听到我的中国同事谈论他们的低工资对他们生活的影响时，我个人尽量不要感到过于愧疚。这说起来容易做起来难，然而，通常情况下，这不仅仅是因为他们买不起自己喜欢的衣服，或者为了一辆踏板车不得不存更长的钱。他们现在和未来的稳定都处于危机之中。

When asked if she planned to stay a teacher, one of my Chinese colleagues replied, “On 5,000 RMB a month? How can I buy a house? No, this is not a job for my future.” Another colleague told me of the pain of being apart from both her husband and child, as both parents were forced to stay at accommodation provided by their workplaces as their salaries were too low to afford rent for a place of their own. As is the case still with many migrant workers in China, my colleague’s son is being brought up by her mother in her home town.

当被问及她是否打算继续当老师时，我的一位中国同事回答说：“5000块一个月？我怎么能买房？我的将来不能靠这份工作。”另一位同事告诉我，与丈夫和孩子分开的痛苦，因为夫妻俩都被迫住学校宿舍，因为他们的工资太低，租不起房。与中国许多农民工的情况一样，我同事的儿子交给她妈妈在家乡养大。

Because so many talented and qualified Chinese teachers find it hard to secure their futures or enjoy a normal family life on a meager salary, they eventually turn away from education, ultimately hurting the students that could have benefitted from their expertise.

如此多有才华的中国教师发现，他们在微薄的工资上看不到未来或过点正常日子，因此他们最后放弃了教育事业，最终伤害的还是本可以从他们的专业知识中受益的学生。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


While I try not to feel personally guilty, I do wish capitalism worked differently. I wish that parents and schools understood the importance of good Chinese teachers and rewarded them accordingly. A good education in China is about so much more than the foreign clown.

虽然我尽量不让自己感到内疚，但我真的希望资本主义能换种方式运作。我希望家长和学校能够认识到一个好的语文老师的重要性，并给予他们值得的奖励。在中国，好的教育远不是只靠外国小丑的。