 The love of money …… |
Ask what Chinese students want to do with their life these days and you’ll elicit one sure answer - they want to be rich. Several times I have tried to generate a sensible discussion, or a reasonable outlook from students, on things such as job satisfaction, making the most of what they’re good at, and what should one do with one’s life, but each time the conversation has very quickly, but annoyingly reverted to a simplistic monologue about money. Students equate good job and job satisfaction with simply making money, to the exclusion of all other options - indeed, one of my younger, female students only last week proudly told the class that she wanted an office job, because she didn’t want to work hard, although, she wanted to be paid a lot of money, so she could buy a house and a car - and that was her life mapped out until retirement.
High on the job want list is - wanting to work in ‘international trade’, though it is never explained what ‘international trade’ actually means or what it entails - students try to persuade me that working in international trade pulls in the big bucks and that it involves working in an office, and in even more vague terms involves salesmanship, but that’s as far as we get. Vying for second place is always a toss up between being an ‘interpreter / translator’ and being a ‘businessman’, though again exactly what is meant by businessman is again left conspicuously vague. It’s not unknown for my female students to assert that they want to be a ‘businessman’, although, this might reflect the overwhelming maleness of Chinese society. Coming in a comfortable third is the ever-popular choice of ‘tour guide’ with possibly teacher or ‘boss’ bringing up a reluctant rear.
Some of the weirdest responses I’ve had were one humourless, girl was adamant that she wanted to be a spy, and one girl who wanted to bake bread - though, quite how leaning English enables better bread making escaped me. One young man, some time ago now, impressed upon me his desire, or rather his burning ambition, to become an Internet billionaire, though with further probing it turned out that he hadn’t actually used a computer; which reminded me of a young man who professed that he wanted to be a captain of a ship, as his chosen career - but that might have been the week when the film Titanic was showing. One young man said to me quite sincerely that the job he envisaged was to travel the world and take many beautiful pictures - I listened attentively, but I couldn’t help thinking privately, don’t we all.
The students that I have encountered by all accounts have had little, if anything at all, in the way of careers advice from either the education system or outside, supporting agencies. I have noticed that often the names of individual jobs escape students. It is normal for students to say that their parents are workers, or that their father is a businessman. Students demonstrate little knowledge of the world of work, both in terms of pay and conditions and general tasks expected.
In my writing lessons, as part of my job letter-writing skills, I have asked students to think about the skills and abilities necessary for jobs, such as teacher or manager, but students have struggled with this exercise. Students have difficulty in thinking in terms of skills and abilities, which is reflected in their letter-writing skills. Many students write in their job application letters - please give me a chance - presumable in the hope that an employer will take pity on them and help them on their way to a better life. I have, therefore, spent some of my time trying to persuade student to think about the skills and abilities they have and match them against the skills and abilities necessary for the job they wish to pursue. Matching skills and abilities has become the cornerstone of successfully completing a typical job application form in Britain.
However, I am left wondering, how does this all-excluding desire of making money at the expense of other values and virtues from the mass of people fit in with China’s history - hasn’t there been an historical turnabout to all that has passed? What’s happened to the little red book waving generation that wanted workers to unite and take on the power of the rich and powerful imperialists and change the world? I am beginning to wonder how much power lies in the hands of advertisers in China who feed upon the dreams and ambitions of people who see material possessions as the source of all personal happiness in the world.
When writing this blog entry, I had a chat with another overseas teacher about avaricious students and their love of the pursuit of money. The overseas teacher mentioned something in passing that caught my interest. He put to me that, if somebody was in dire straights, that is, they had nothing, then money would make them happy; but, there comes a point where happiness levels out - about the place when basic needs are fulfilled, and the principal of diminishing returns begins. Let’s face it, if you were hungry and had to sleep on the floor, possibly outside with no blankets, then money is going to improve your life to the point of making you happy, but after basic needs are accounted for, you would have to think hard about how money bring happiness.
This appendix has been added, because there was an interesting article in the Daily Telegraph that caught my interest. The article explained that household wealth and expenditure in Britain has doubled between 1987 and 2006, but despite this increase in wealth levels of contentment have remained virtually unchanged. Indeed, people’s satisfaction levels have hovered around 86% since 1973, despite overall wealth increasing. The statistics cannot be so easily dismissed, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) proposed them.
The plot thickens; as I have since read that there is an economic theory that seeks to legitimise this concept, called the “Easterlin Paradox”. In 1974, Richard Easterlin proposed in his paper, “Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot”, that contrary to what people expect, happiness at a national level does not increase with wealth once basic needs are fulfilled. Though there are challenges to how Easterlin measures happiness, not least with how people can demonstrate an increase in happiness, once they have reached the highest available score in being happy. However, subsequent economic experts in this field have tried to improve and refine the idea, which governments take seriously.
When I reflect on Britain, it does seem that people were happier in the 1970s, with happiness peaking in 1977, when people’s basic needs were basically met, but people had less of what there is available today.
You can read the article in the Daily Telegraph at:
We're wealthier than in 1987, but no happier
8 Comments - Add Public Comment or Send Private Message
Add Comment
All Comments
April 5th 2008 - tracy:
We all have little sense about "bussinessman","work in an Internet Agency",what are the specific things to do if I get such a job.That may be one reason we cannot associate our interest with the job.
Tracy thanks for your comment and the time you have taken to read my blog. In my experience there is a difference between ‘working from an office’ and ‘working in an office’. I have done both in my working career. Jobs such as Salesperson, Social Worker, VAT Inspector etc may work from an office, but their job skills lies outside of the office, and in addition they may receive office support from other people. In this sense, an office is there to support that particular worker. If your job is office based then you would be tied to the office, which is a different situation; not least because possibly your manager would be in the same room watching over you all day. Office based jobs in Britain today have undergone what is known as ‘proletarianization’, which basically means office based jobs pay less, work longer hours, have less autonomy, workers are over-supervised, job security is not guaranteed, tasks have become simplified and repetitive and so forth. Some critics have equated modern day office jobs, as the modern day factory jobs. There has been some moves to make office jobs more ‘worker friendly’, by having such things as flexitime, crèches etc, but in my experience these things have been amply provided for only to the higher paid workers working in an office. What would be great for my students would be for them to have some career guidance. In Britain, you can always go to the nearest Careers Office and seek out help either by yourself, or by the experts who work there, concerning any job or career you are thinking of taking up. They typically have literally tons of information. When I graduated from university all the students had the opportunity to have a series of lectures from the Careers Office and afterwards their office was made available for anyone to go along and have a chat with them. I even did a computer-based test, which adamantly stated that I should become a teacher - so they can’t be all that bad!
April 7th 2008 - john mcneill: Careers and ambition.
Yes, I remember that we had Caeers advice when I was a teenager too, where you REALLY saw what every job involved. I agree that Chinese Students have little idea about what is involved in the real working world.
In my teaching time in China, I did a survey of what students wanted to do and got some very naive responses such as "A boss, because they don't do any work and get a lot of money". The rest of his survey was blank.(Maybe he forgot to delegated the work!)
Of course, I blame Deng Xiaoping for bringing the American TV drama 'Dynasty" to Chinese TV. It was supposed to warn the Chinese people about the decadent and evil ways of capitalism, but instead, it became a lifestyle program and EVERYONE wanted to become a capitalsit!
Can this be reversed?
John
John mcneil: thanks for your comment. Yes, you make a valid point I think. I can’t help but think of China when the name Eduard Bernays, the father of public relations / advertising, is mentioned. Bernays, being the nephew of Freud therefore being acquainted with Freud’s ideas, certainly know how to create, manipulate and control the burgeoning dreams and desires of the masses in an expanding capitalist market. I have no doubt China will have its very own Bernays soon enough, if not already, now that market forces are, or have become, a normal state of affairs in China. It is strange isn’t it, that I too have lost count of the amount of students who have said that they wanted to be a ‘boss’ so that they could do less work, when in reality a ‘good boss’ would be the first to arrive and the last to leave? One of the best programmes I have seen for a very long time was called, ‘Triumph of the Nerds’, which charted the growth of people such as Bill Gates, and many others, from drop-out university students to world suppliers - and the one thing they were not, were lazy in any sense of the word. If anything, the world did not go round fast enough for these guys, who took on the might of big business and won. By the way John, please come back to this college and be a teacher again, we all miss you here.
April 7th 2008 - Jackie zhang: a good topic
I am very familiar with your outlook that your students are far from reality that they inevitably envisage in the future. Because most of your students don't have any experiences in job evaluation for their own abilities, they just position their future jobs after those people who have direct influence on their soul right now. From the answers of your students, we can get a in-depth idea that money/wealth will be the ultimate target in the career among the college boys/girls. We can't say that is false outlook, because money is really vital for the life. However we should link money payment to performance and value that you add to the society. Currently education agencies of government lack of emphasis on promotion of personal obligation to community and the whole world. On the contrary western community did a real good propoganda on self-responsibility to maintain social equality, benevolence and helping one another.
Real or not, thoughts solely about money are the only thoughts rattling around student’s heads presently, and that in itself will have consequences. There is no doubt that some of my student will not, for what ever reason, achieve the levels of wealth they currently pine for. This is the point at which for me, education has a value of its own - education is a wealth onto itself, not a means but an end goal - but am I too romantic. Jackie, I’m sure you’ll forgive me, if I comment that some of your ideas seem as if they come directly from the Communist Party Manifesto. I am surprised that you didn’t write: “each according to his ability, each according to his needs” - which is fine, but few systems or countries have achieved anything like this I think? If the western world, or the eastern world for that matter, is telling us anything presently, it is telling us that rewards are not linked to performance that betters society. How much are Chinese footballers paid these days? The west has especially lost the initiative on that score, which is more the pity. However, you’ve made an important contribution to the blog.
April 10th 2008 - Tracy: career guidance
I have heard about the career guidance when I do listenning comprehension.There was a test about it .Can the guider give you the right suggestion that which job you are suitable for?After all ,they donnot know you ,they donnot know what you are good at or what your potential is.
Tracy: I have noticed that all kinds of interesting facts are banded around during listening exercises, but listening exercises are no substitute for professional career guidance, as I’m sure you are aware……….
A good career advisor will help you yourself discover what is the best job or career for you; not to find you a job specifically. Career advisors use all manner of methods to help you find the best career. They may offer a one-to-one professional chat, with the use of an endless supply of written material specially designed to help you understand the world of work and what the career you are thinking of will entail. If you, for example, were thinking of a military career, then you really need help in choosing the right part of the military that will offer you the right skills: army, navy, air force - commissioned or non-commissioned rank / leadership / practical hands-on / supporting role etc. A good career advisor should be knowledgeable and experienced about the world of work and how to seek out the right information……….
A computer based programme may be used in which you are asked a whole series of questions about your skills, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and so on. The computer will then generate a list of jobs or careers you may be suitable for……….
A good career advisor may help you in learning for yourself the right route to a chosen career. They will help you find out what are the right qualifications and the right experiences to have to gain a position in your chosen career. If you wanted to be a psychiatrist, for example, what qualifications would you need? How long would it take to become a fully qualified psychiatrist? ……….
You may need more information about what companies have or offer a particular post or job you are interested in. A good career’s office should be stacked with high quality, up-to-date material and information to help you find the information that is going to help you get ahead……….
Finally, you may at some stage in your life want to change careers. Again, you may need help in deciding what new career to follow and what kind of vacancies exists? Ultimately, the choice of career lies with you, the job of a career advisor is to support and guide you.
All Comments
China's Flag
Map of China
Copyright notice.
The text and photos of article remain the copyright of the Author (John Nanchang China). Under no circumstances should the photos or text be used without the express written permission of the Author (John Nanchang China). If you wish to use or publish photos or text from this article - please
Contact John Nanchang China.