China’s tutor ban adds to surge in PhDs competing for high school teaching jobs, renewing debate on job competition and qualifications
- At one high school, four of the seven final applicants for a biology teaching position held doctorates
- China’s tutoring ban has left thousands unemployed and narrowed career prospects for the millions of graduates the country churns out each year
The revelation that most of the newly-hired teachers at a high school in China hold PhD degrees has triggered a national debate about the intensely competitive job market and the national obsession with higher academic qualifications.
Among the seven candidates for the final round of interviews for the position of biology teacher at the school, four have PhD degrees, said Gou Xiaoxue, a master’s degree graduate from Beijing Normal University who was interviewed for the position last month, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.
“The competition is tough,” Gou said. “I heard that for the chemistry teacher position, all the candidates are PhD holders.”
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The school, whose name was not revealed, hired four people to teach biology, three of whom have PhD degrees, according to Gou.
The report soon became a top searched news item on Weibo, with 130 million views. More than 14,000 comments were left on the original story post.
“I don’t think the higher academic degree a person has, the better he teaches,” one person wrote. “The important thing is whether these candidates are good at teaching students.”
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