Absolutely. Recently, one of my student's parents (he is 5 and learning and remembering site words now)... suggested that the material be harder because he is not learning fast enough. He is doing so well and now learning to read. It's too bad she can't understand this.

Parents are not teachers but they think they know how others should teach.

Another point is parents think because the child finishes a book 'fast' that they have learned. What they don't realize is that the faster you go the less likely they will retain much of what they have learned. Especially in an ESL setting. You have to go much slower and repeat and repeat and review so that it is finally part of their memory. I'm glad I don't teach anymore.

The GTimes article seems to be a hint of things to come. The news in China tends to celebrate the English skills of Chinese. In the run up to the Olympics in Beijing, it was widely reported that 25% of the cities residents spoke English.

While I have met several Chinese with excellent English skills, a few have even been ESL teachers, they have been relatively few. Certainly not enough to meet the need for capable English teachers.

My guess is that there is a desire is to reduce the number of foreigners in China and this is just a first step. The writer of this article has less than six months in China so the sources for her writing is a tad suspect.

Geezer is most likely right, the article was a hint. Sometimes "foreigners" writing articles in Global Times probably dont even exist.