Informative and Surprising Essay
English 100
05/05/09
Before I came to the United States, a lot of my friends had already been abroad, and many of them are preparing to do it now. I asked a few of them why they wanted to study abroad—one thought Gaokao(Chinese SAT) was too hard, she didn’t think she could get into the best university even if she tried her best; another one said his current college was too average, he felt himself a loser if he stayed. And they asked me, “and you?” I smiled and replied to them by something conventionally vague and much more the same. Though it’s not the answer I want, it’s true that we all agree on the unspoken theory—high education record is the top priority in life! But why is that?
There’s an old saying in China, “To be a scholar is to be the top of society”. Apparently, high education record, as a symbol of success in Chinese culture, means a decent and high-paid job which leads to a perfect mate and a comfortable life, which is everything we are going after. Professor Xin remarked in his essay that in Chinese traditional thought, it was supposed to be the start of “a bright future” when someone gets a foot in the door of a prestigious academic institution and is dignified with a Master or Doctor’s degree; especially to some poor farmer’s kids, this kind of achievement even glorified their family name --the parents must entertain lavishly for celebration like a big feast, only feel more honored (Xin).
However, in the money-oriented society, not judging the value of “success=money”, the convinced belief that “high educational qualification=good job=high pay=success” doesn’t necessarily apply anymore. This doesn’t happen by chance. In theory which is already proved in statistic, the more education people receive, the more relative income they will get (Xin); everybody knows that. But we don’t know the differences between incomes among these people are not as big as we expect. What’s more, this theory is just “an overall trend”, which doesn’t adapt to everyone; also, a so-called “high income” is measured in individuals’ life (Xin). In practice, people also start to be aware of the new equation—high academic qualification=high unemployment or underemployment.
The DGBAS (Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics) of Taiwan showed, “from January to November in 2008, the average unemployment rate of young people between 15 to 29 years old has reached 8.25%”, and the rate of people who “have university education or above” is 9.33% (Zhong). How could this phenomenon happen? The basic cause is—“Oversupply of labor market” (Zheng), in other words, there’re too many well-educated people to get limited jobs. Imagine one day, everybody gets a university diploma, most people are graduates, what do you think will happen?—The society will apparently be out of order, no one wants to do the cheap labor work because they think they deserve better. It will only result in waste and worthlessness of the education qualification. This imagination is growing nowadays; high education is losing its upper hand.
China mainland is more or less the same employment environment as Taiwan. The hype of “A Beijing University[1] graduate selling candied haws stick”[2] event in 2006 may have passed, but similar news keeps popping up, and the complaints from students and parents won’t stop (Xin).At the same time people start to think about a concerned question—Is prestigious university out of date?
It has become a common and terrible belief that if you want to go to college, you have to go to the elite college. As I remember in my high school in China, every year during the graduation season we can see a lot of posters and banners hung between buildings and walls say “Cheer for X’s admission to Beijing University ”or “Congratulations on X’s being the top in Gaokao in our Province”. What we hear are all praises about how many students have gotten into the best colleges, and the teachers always ask us to learn from those very few top students. Besides, students from different schools often compete which school has more students enrolled in prestigious university even if it has nothing to do with them. It seems like, in people’s subconscious, only going to those elite universities means being useful and getting “a golden passport to success” (Easterbrook). In Alan Krueger and Stacy Berg’s research in 1999, they found that students who were able to get into an Ivy but chose a “less sexy” one, had “the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite colleges” (Easterbrook).Apparently, success is not so relevant to a school’s brand or fame, it’s up to you, your ability and talent. And it’s not the top college make the students capable; they’re already elites even they don’t go to the elite schools.
During Loren Pope’s writing of Who’s Who[3] in 1990, he found out the fact that “the glamour schools were losing their status as the gatekeepers of accomplishment”. And today, as the “non-elite school” have greatly improved their quality of academic input, more and more employers don’t value applicants’ above their famous school background, “some may even avoid candidates from the top school, on the theory that such aspirants have unrealistic expectations of quick promotion”(Easter). The people who have that “expectation” are over-reachers, they think themselves above the business and aren’t easily satisfied with what they have; this often happens in China, that’s why even elite students from top colleges ending up with “underemployment”. Chinese’s “elite college complex” is not realistic, and it could be even harmful for students--they could repeat year and year in school with extreme pressures and hard work just to make their “top school dream” come true, and after that, there’s even no guarantee for them to get a good job!
Not only the “elite college complex”, but also advanced degrees gave Chinese students a mistaken idea that it’s never hard for graduate students to get a well-paid job. In old days, a Master or Doctor’s Degree means knowledge and respect. However, there’s an ironic phenomenon called “high degree discrimination” in employment today. To employers, high degree means “high cost” (pay), “high age”— aiming at women Doctors, who have possibilities of giving birth to a child, and “zero experience”—aiming at students who attach more on theory but lack of practical skills (EOL). Now a lot of graduates have descended to an inferior position, choosing the job they thought too cheap that a Bachelor or even a college student can do; the advanced theory they have learned were completely left behind. It’s just how the society works despite the cruelty.
From theory to practical situations, and from “elite university effects” to “advanced degree discrimination”, indications showed one fact that a high education record doesn’t necessarily bring money and success. In addition to money, what about the well-educates’ inner life, does the high academic qualification bring them a successful emotional life?
Here are two news titles--“More and More highly educated people use drugs in Beijing” (Beijing Daily Online). “Highly educated women become obsessive-compulsive disorder of the ‘susceptible’” (Oriental Today). We don’t even need to talk about serious drug problems or psychiatric disorders; we just need to see some pop words in the media to know how the true life of well-educated people and how they are considered and biased in this society. For example, “The Left” or “3S” (single, seventies, stuck) is used to describe those elder unmarried girls who were born during 1970s and highly educated. A lot of them from elementary school to graduate school, basically never had a deep relationship with anyone of the opposite sex. That long-term isolation makes them have a “love phobia” (Bl.gov.cn)—being afraid of falling love or not knowing how to love. With “3 high” (another pop word, indicates high education, high position, and high pay) but with no love or confidence, are they successful? I don’t think so.
“Direction is more important than efforts,
Ability is more important than knowledge,
Healthy is more important than achievement,
Life is more important than qualification,
EQ is more important than IQ” (Gu).
I think these golden sayings are the most important meanings of this research paper.
At last, on the whole, my conclusions are--Education record is a study experience, and high education record is just a reflection of one’s academic attainments. It’s nothing but a proof of the past. There’s nothing wrong about going after high education record, but it shouldn’t be everything we’re going after-- If you do, it’s not only success you lose, but also yourself.
Works Cited
Easterbrook, Gregg. "Who Needs Harvard?" College Admissions 2004 October 2004 Atlantic Oct. 2004. The Atlantic. 3 May 2009 .
"Graduate students facing employment problem--'high degree discrimination'" Graduate studies news. 4 Nov. 2008. Eol.cn(China Education Online). 03 May 2009 .
Gu, Binglin. "The headmaster of Qinghua University gave advises to his graduates." Education Campus. 5 Sept. 2005. Aweb.com.cn(China Agriculture Web). 03 May 2009 .
"Highly educated people have 'love phobia'" Psychology science. 11 Sept. 2008. Bl.gov.cn. 03 May 2009 .
"Highly educated women become obsessive-compulsive disorder of the 'susceptible'" Obsession. Ed. Huaiqi Wang. 4 Aug. 2005. Linzi Counselling. 03 May 2009 .
Xin, Lijian. "High Academic Record? High Income." Lijian Xin's blog. 16 May 2006. Usors.cn. 03 May 2009 .
Zhang, Weina. "More and more highly educated people use drugs in Beijing." Legal news 29 Oct. 2004. Hbfz.gov.cn. 3 May 2009 .
Zheng, Juanfeng. "High level of education = high unemployment?" Work 26 Aug. 2008. The Liberty Times, Taiwan. 3 May 2009 .
Zhong, Lihua. "Dim future of pay/ highly educated youth unemployment rate 9.33%." Life 21 Jan. 2009. The Liberty Times, Taiwan. 3 May 2009 .
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