In 1988, when the State Commission of Education decided to try a new method of job assignment in some universities, letting the graduates choose their own jobs, and vice-versa, it unexpectedly disrupted the education process itself. Every college student and graduate was busy looking for jobs. They had no time to study.
"We have no iron rice bowls. The earlier we find a job the better," said a student. A wave of quitting school and going into business has swept the campuses of many universities and colleges in China.
After the chaotic 10-year-long "cultural revolution", China had a shortage of 60 million engineers. Now it seems there is a second crisis. Only 11.8 out of every 10,000 people are receiving a higher education, 429. 1 studying in high school and 1, 324. 7 in primary school. More and more illiterates are living in the society. 2. Those Who Do Not Want to Go to College.
According to the August 10th issue of The Youth, out of 30,000 school graduates in Shanghai who could take the college entrance examination this year only 23,000 sat for it. what happened to all the others? Allowing fro 2,000 who were exempted from the examination and went straight to college for their brilliance or for whatever reasons, we still have 5,000 unaccounted for. In other words, more than 16% of school graduate who got good marks and were qualified to take the entrance examination gave up the chance of going to college. This is certainly a new phenomenon ever since 1977 when competitive entrance examination was restored, but the question is, "Is this going to be a growing tendency?"
To answer this question we have to look into the reasons why the students gave up the examination. Did they give up out of their own free will or were they under some sort of coercion? A simple clear-cut answer, I am afraid, is impossible to find. Different groups of students give up the examinations for different reasons.
Those from the key schools (and they are mostly brilliant students), give up for the simple reason that they want to go abroad. Once they become college students, they are bound by certain regulations which make it very difficult, if not impossible, for them to leave the country. Then there are those who think there is not much point in going to college anyway because you can hardly ever get an ideal job after you graduate. The pay is low and more often than not the job is outside your field so you get the frustrated feeling of having wasted four precious years of your life in college. Besides, there is always the danger of your being assigned to post in another part of the country, so why not be practical and look for a well-paid job straight after middle school?
Craduates from ordinary middle schools gave up their chances because they lacked self-confidence. "Why try when I stand very little chance?" Not. Only the poorer students themselves thought this way, some teachers even did their best to dissuade them from taking the entrance examination. If they could not increase the number of successful candidates from their school, they could at least decrease the number of unsuccessful candidates by not allowing the poorer students to sit for it. In other words if they could not increase the absolute number they would raise the ration of successful candidates.
What do teachers generally think of this new phenomenon? Some are frankly worried. "Such students lack drive and want to take things easy. This is a reflection of looking down on knowledge, and should be taken seriously." Other teachers think there is nothing to be alarmed about. "Don’t we often tell the students that going to college is not the only road they can take? Society is made up of different strata of useful people. Now that the students have made their own choice in finding their place in society, why make such a fuss about it?"