This is in response to “You give customers what they want - it’s a business” (Postbox 17th March 2011). Comparing the hiring process of Hooters to a school in Thailand is not only illogical but also utterly tasteless. Yes, some schools are businesses, but some are also government schools. They don’t need to market or advertise to get more students. There’s no profit even if they hire a Hooters waitress as a teacher. You are probably forgetting that education is a basic human right, not a business. That is why there should be no discrimination when it comes to hiring teachers. Yes, I agree that native English speakers should be more “preferred” by schools to teach English, but as long as he/she has the proper teaching credentials and experience, not some dude who used to manage a Hooters franchise. So if there’s no luck finding a reputable NES teacher, why not hire a competitive NNES teacher?

Again, if you put “NES Only” and not “NES preferred” then you are limiting yourself to handful of NES applicants, plus a large chunk of unqualified NNES who are too ignorant to understand “NES Only.“ If you try changing it to “NES Preferred” then you will still get the same amount of NES applicants, same big chunk of ignorant NNES, but this time, with another handful of NNES but competitive enough to teach like a NES.

But will all those emails fill up your inbox? Yes they will. Would it consume your time to go through all of them? Yes it would, and you should. If your job is to choose the right candidate, then choose wisely by going through each and every resume. Why? Because it is the right thing to do.

What is wrong is making a comparison between Hooters and Thai schools. Hooters require big chested ladies because they effectively capture the male market while schools hire teachers, NES or not, as long as you’re an effective teacher. Students or parents may demand skin color, but they don’t know how to run a school. A school with competitive NNES teachers can be more profitable in the long run than a school with NES teachers that are incompetent.

It may be silly for a Thai school not to place “NES Only” in their job ads, but education is not a silly thing, and if they really want their kids to be educated like the rest of the world, they should start learning how to look beyond skin color.

Sar C. Astic