Chinese education leads to narrow career paths

• Source: Global Times
• [21:43 November 01 2009]
• Comments

On the upside, there are many choices and those who choose to study something out of interest know what they are taking on.

It is still seen as something of a failure not to find employment in the field you studied, but even more flexibility is required.

More and more "normal" careers, more and more, are not even expected anymore. With this, insecurity is on the rise, but so are the creativity and thrift necessary to make a living working on what you want to do.

In China, guided by parents who grew up in difficult times, and following the notion that marriage is out of the question if the male partner doesn't have stable employment, the young seem to be chasing after a dream that is (outside of government employ) even more elusive.

Things are rather similar in that connections (guanxi) and luck are needed to find employment. However, with the focus being so strongly on stability, both parents and children are looking for fixed career paths.

The idea is that if you can only get into a good school and university, study hard without question, and then find a little help, you will get that job. As a side effect, opportunities are missed, diplomas count more than actual knowledge, and creativity is stifled.

To develop the country further will take well-educated people willing to think outside standard career paths, able to apply and deepen the skills and knowledge they are gaining through their college education.

As a teacher, and a foreigner to boot, I can bring in new perspectives. Ultimately, however, it is up to the new wave of students to find their own strengths, and to the society to at least allow them to thrive, and better still to support them.

At the very least, we need to supply young people with practical skills as well as theoretical knowledge during their studies. We also need to help them find out what their strengths and interests are, and how they could use them in new and growing fields.

The author is an Austrian ecologist and cultural anthropologist working as German lecturer at Xiangtan University, Hunan. His website is www.positive-ecology.org