People are expressing dismay at how many elite college PhD grads this middle school in Shenzhen is hiring. A couple of points to give you more context: 1. Shenzhen Middle School is not just any school; it's a top school in the country 2. Teaching is a coveted job in China, especially at a top school like this. It's got pretty good pay and high status, as well as great benefits. Now, there are also issues because you're dealing with very picky parents and it's incredibly competitive 3. Teachers' kids usually get preferential treatment to get into the school they teach at, which is no different from the US and is a huge incentive 4. Have you looked at the teacher makeup of elite high schools in the US? There are plenty of Ivy grads 5. Have you guys actually looked at what Chinese kids are studying these days? Maybe you should look up my tweet on how myself, my PKU colleague, and our spouses (one Ivy, one PKU) were all stumped on their eight-year-old's math tutoring homework 6. If it's not obvious by now, this is a very competitive job, and the credentials reflect that. The takeaway really should be: Why are American parents so often not that interested in the academic credentials of their kids' teachers? My observation is that over the past couple of decades, somehow we have decoupled education from academic rigor. I can't understand this, but many parents I meet will literally tell me that they don't know, for their kids' elementary education, if academics is something they really need to focus on.