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The majority of foreign teachers in China work in the private sector, either for language schools or international schools. Public schools – most of them university-level jobs – are rarer and often coveted. But working in public schools in China, though desirable, entails negotiating some strange obstacles. Cheating, bribery, and lack of support in the classroom can seriously frustrate teachers. Here are a few of the most common challenges for teachers in Chinese public schools.

1) Classroom environment
Most public school teachers teach ESL or other English communications courses. Although nationally required, English isn't considered a post-graduation money-maker. Therefore, many students don't take it seriously. They prefer to spend time on core subjects – math, economics and science – instead of classes that seem unrelated to their future careers.

At universities, it is common for non-English majors to skip some, if not all, of their English classes. Students take turns going to class and report back to their classmates. Others simply never show up until finals week, when they expect to be able to sit the exam. The lack of motivation frustrates teachers who want to cultivate a regular classroom community.

2) Bribes and gifts
If they never show up to class, students have to find other ways to pass English. Their lack of motivation means that they sometimes turn to bribery to achieve good grades.

Students trade subtle – or not so subtle – gifts to teachers for better marks. These gifts can take the form of fancy dinners out, luxury goods, or most blatantly, money. Jason (a pseudonym), a former university student from Dandong, admitted that he gave his teachers elaborate gifts in exchange for higher grades. Louis Vuitton handbags were always a good choice, he told me, because not many people in Dandong had access to the coveted brand.  Jason went on to a post-graduate degree in the United States; before he left, a teacher warned him not to try a similar tactic with his American professors.

In many Asian cultures, offering gifts to educators is an old tradition based on respect. Foreigners should be careful to distinguish between this type of giving – which is made in appreciation – and one which has expectations attached.

Parents also engage in gift-giving, although it often takes more subtle forms. Rather than asking for grades, they may request that their student, "who has poor eyesight," be placed at the front of the class. A red envelope of money pads the request.

Bribery often goes the other way as well, with teachers demanding payment to pass children or provide high marks. In 2008, the LA Times reported that a boy in Foshan was beaten to death after his parents refused to pay an extra $3,900 "fee" to the middle school. While the violence may be unusual, the presence of under-the-table monetary exchanges in public education is fairly common.

3) Lack of institutional support
Public school administration has a reputation for hands-off management. While this can make for a flexible classroom environment, allowing the teacher to develop his or her own ideas, it can also mean a lack of support. Teachers may find managers unresponsive to requests for assistance, and they may encounter resistance trying to alter the status quo. Like institutions everywhere in the world, schools often settle into comfortable routines – and the reliance on bureaucracy makes it difficult to break these habits.

At times, upper management may be more than simply laissez-faire; they may make inappropriate requests of the teachers. A high school teacher in Liaoning province, who asked to remain anonymous, said that her boss had hinted that he would provide bonuses should any of the female staff be willing to go home with him. She pretended not to understand the insinuations.

4) Pushing students through the system
A common complaint in both public and private schools is that students are pushed to graduate regardless of skill level. In private schools, which make money by churning out graduates, the motivation to push students ahead is mostly financial. In public schools, financial pressure may be slightly less, but nevertheless, teaching is often viewed as a service: students pay for a diploma, rather than earn it. The expectations of parents and students mean that teachers must pass students who are not actually ready to move on.

In some cases, teachers may be asked directly to mark up poor students to a passing grade. Alternatively, after turning in final marks, the teacher may learn that the administration "adjusted" the grades to better reflect the school's criteria – thus passing students who would have otherwise failed.

5) Plagiarism
Often complained about but rarely dealt with, plagiarism and cheating are probably a teacher's most common challenge. Because copying does not hold the social stigma in China that it does in the West, many students simply don't understand the problem. Teachers find that they must ingrain the concepts of intellectual property, paraphrasing and citation.

Because of the pressure on exam scores in Chinese schools, many students cheat. In 2009, high school teachers in Jilin province were arrested for selling earpieces and receivers for students to take the national college entrance exam, gaokao. Students were also caught copying down the answers and selling them to other test-takers. While everyday exams may not exert the same pressure as the gaokao, they still often encourage cheating.

Students will sometimes pay proxies to take exams for them. Many universities fight this by requiring students to produce photo identification before final exams. A well-placed red envelope, however, may encourage the test administrator to look the other way. Public university teachers, who often invigilate general exams, might encounter these forms of persuasion.

Plagiarism at university level has become a national concern. A National Public Radio report from the US quoted Yang Yusheng, a law and politics professor at China University of Politics and Law. The professor estimated that over 50% of the essays in his first class had been copied off the Internet. Rather than turning in original research, students may slightly alter previous papers or use bits and pieces from other sources. Teachers in China must remain aware of this tendency in order to maintain academic honesty at the college level.

With all these scandals, public schools in China might seem like cesspools of corruption and indifference. But though these challenges exist, they don't dominate a teacher's workday. Most Chinese students are diligent and respectful. Daily life as a teacher holds more minor hurdles: catching students' interest in the classroom, helping a struggling student or grading that pile of essays before tomorrow. However, when accepting a job, foreign teachers should be aware of the particular challenges of public education in China.

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Keywords: challenges teaching in china scandals Chinese schools public school teaching in china Chinese educational system