For the past five years, Catrina Cowart started most of her days at 5 a.m. with a live-streamed call from China. Through a tutoring app called VIPKid, the freelance writer in Lexington, Kentucky earned $21 an hour teaching English to Chinese kids, more than what she would have made at a local school. But her routine ended this summer after Beijing decreed a large portion of its $100 billion private education sector illegal.
In moves that were much harsher than expected, Chinese regulators in July banned institutions teaching the school curriculum from raising capital, going public or even making profits. Also prohibited was the hiring of foreign tutors, who over the years made billions of dollars for burgeoning startups like VIPKid. While Beijing’s ban was intended to prevent companies from capitalizing on parental paranoia, tens of thousands of American instructors paid a toll. For Cowart, losing the steady income stream is manageable, but what’s more difficult is cutting ties with her students, many of whom had been with her since they were toddlers.
"It’s upsetting. I do miss them. I feel bad about it,” Cowart said in an interview, after wrapping up her last class. "I hope they can get in touch with me.”