Hsinchu American School in Taiwan
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midwesthopeful
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 3:21 pm
Hsinchu American School in Taiwan
Does anyone have more information on this school - Hsinchu American School in Taiwan?
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Teachermom
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:14 am
- Location: Asia
I knew someone who worked there 2 years ago. She was happy with the school and the admin. It's a small school, so she was teaching lots of different subjects--lots of prep work. She also had a significant ELL population in her classes.
The school doesn't have a bad reputation, but is definitely not a tier-one school.
Hsinchu is a very safe and livable place, with beaches and mountains easy to get to, and a growing downtown area with plenty of restaurants. It doesn't have the diversity or bustle of Taipei, but doesn't have the pollution, either.
The school doesn't have a bad reputation, but is definitely not a tier-one school.
Hsinchu is a very safe and livable place, with beaches and mountains easy to get to, and a growing downtown area with plenty of restaurants. It doesn't have the diversity or bustle of Taipei, but doesn't have the pollution, either.
Figure I should reply a bit on this as I have a bit of insight from applying to one of the schools I will talk about, know a person who used to work at a different one, and know a ex co-teacher who had a child who actually went to one of these schools.
Have a bit of knowledge here;
There are three international schools in Hsinchu. It's a complicated story about how they were formed. A simplified version goes as follows. First there was the Hsinchu American school. The principal of it was unhappy for some reason with the school, as were a number of the staff. She split off from the school to form a different school, the Hsinchu International School. After a few years, for some reason, she was unhappy yet again. So she took some of the same teachers and formed ANOTHER school, the Pacific American School. This chaos now has produced three competing international school in Hsinchu, an area with a significant population of expats but also a large number of super-rich Taiwanese kids. Since it's the big thing for Taiwanese to get face by going to a good school, they all pretty much market themselves well.
So the situation as it stands isn't that great as far as teaching goes in my opinion. Three international schools in one city opens the population to getting a good education potentially, but in practice the teachers aren't really regulated and the schools face little oversight. It depends to a great degree on the individual school. As there are not stringent requirements in Taiwan (that is, there is a lot of backdoor dealing and unqualified/skirting of rules) there are also some rather bad behaviors going on at these various schools. Depending on the school, there have been revolving teachers (they quit and are replaced each year) due to skipping of budget pays and outright contract disputes and disqualification. There have also been allegations of cheating on tests. If true, and if found out, then this could have severe repercussions on test-taking in Asia; if one school is found to have opened AP tests and revealed test answers to students before exam, for example, then not only that school but just about every school in Taiwan might have to face new requirements for future tests. This situation (previous cheating) is why many Chinese students have to travel to Hong Kong just to take the SAT, and it'd be sad to see it repeated in Taiwan. A person gave me some of these sad truths and it reflects badly on the named school (which obviously I would not reveal). This same test-cheating school was supposedly a school where there were no real rules, where students were given easy A's, teachers dummied down lessons, and where basically the students were spoiled beyond belief. This could all be rumors, of course, and I would not name this school.
I know quite a bit more but would be hesitant to speak except in PM.
Have a bit of knowledge here;
There are three international schools in Hsinchu. It's a complicated story about how they were formed. A simplified version goes as follows. First there was the Hsinchu American school. The principal of it was unhappy for some reason with the school, as were a number of the staff. She split off from the school to form a different school, the Hsinchu International School. After a few years, for some reason, she was unhappy yet again. So she took some of the same teachers and formed ANOTHER school, the Pacific American School. This chaos now has produced three competing international school in Hsinchu, an area with a significant population of expats but also a large number of super-rich Taiwanese kids. Since it's the big thing for Taiwanese to get face by going to a good school, they all pretty much market themselves well.
So the situation as it stands isn't that great as far as teaching goes in my opinion. Three international schools in one city opens the population to getting a good education potentially, but in practice the teachers aren't really regulated and the schools face little oversight. It depends to a great degree on the individual school. As there are not stringent requirements in Taiwan (that is, there is a lot of backdoor dealing and unqualified/skirting of rules) there are also some rather bad behaviors going on at these various schools. Depending on the school, there have been revolving teachers (they quit and are replaced each year) due to skipping of budget pays and outright contract disputes and disqualification. There have also been allegations of cheating on tests. If true, and if found out, then this could have severe repercussions on test-taking in Asia; if one school is found to have opened AP tests and revealed test answers to students before exam, for example, then not only that school but just about every school in Taiwan might have to face new requirements for future tests. This situation (previous cheating) is why many Chinese students have to travel to Hong Kong just to take the SAT, and it'd be sad to see it repeated in Taiwan. A person gave me some of these sad truths and it reflects badly on the named school (which obviously I would not reveal). This same test-cheating school was supposedly a school where there were no real rules, where students were given easy A's, teachers dummied down lessons, and where basically the students were spoiled beyond belief. This could all be rumors, of course, and I would not name this school.
I know quite a bit more but would be hesitant to speak except in PM.
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Teachermom
- Posts: 59
- Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:14 am
- Location: Asia
aahz is right on most counts, but one bad school in Hsinchu shouldn't make you run from all the rest, some of which are quite good second-tier schools. aahz, since Midwesthopeful is asking about a particular school, you should be clear at least about whether the problems you heard about are from that school specifically, or just another school in the same city.
Actually, there are only 2 international schools in Hsinchu that are WASC accredited...Hsinchu International School and International Bilingual School, Hsinchu, which aahz hasn't mentioned. I know teachers at both of these schools, and though they have the usual second-tier school issues with management, etc, they are FAR better than the awful stories that aahz is describing.
Actually, there are only 2 international schools in Hsinchu that are WASC accredited...Hsinchu International School and International Bilingual School, Hsinchu, which aahz hasn't mentioned. I know teachers at both of these schools, and though they have the usual second-tier school issues with management, etc, they are FAR better than the awful stories that aahz is describing.