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September 5, 2013

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Home » Opinion » Opinion Columns

The ‘right’ parents trump diplomas in the job market

By Wan Lixin | September 5, 2013, Thursday | Print Edition

Ling Ling, a girl in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, has been admitted by a college, but her father refuses to provide her financial assistance, Chengdu Business Daily reported this week.

The strange thing is that the father’s decision is not driven by his economic circumstances, which would be understandable, but based on his belief that “going to college is useless.”

When contacted by the Daily, the father was adamant.

“I do not agree to her going to college precisely because of my affection for her,” he was quoted by the newspaper as saying. He explained that he himself came from a rural family and wanted his daughter to live the plain life of an ordinary person, who sometimes must live hand to mouth.

If she goes to college and fails to find a job after graduation, she would certainly feel very miserable and depressed, her father said.

In short, he would not allow her to attend college for fear she “might go farther and fare worse.”

In a online opinion poll conducted by the newspaper, more than 10,000 people were asked about the case. Seventy-one percent said that “going to college is not the only way out.” About half supported the father’s decision, saying that society as a whole is a better college.

At the same time, a smaller percent of those surveyed said going to college is more than an economic investment. Fifty-five Chengdu locals promise to pay for Ling Ling’s college studies from their own pockets, if her father continues to refuse.

I do not think Ling Ling’s father is grossly wrong in his views, but the truly amazing thing is he should allow a vital decision of his to be shaped purely by such views.

Idealism vs pragmatism

One key to survival in modern society is to maintain a proper level of cynicism about the gap between what is politically correct and what is commonly practiced.

Academic excellence has never been the stated goal of any education, especially alongside such goals as social obligations, dedication, loyalty, and so on, but most parents have little difficulty in scheduling their kids’ lives.

Chinese are by nature not a demonstrative people, but occasionally we are not afraid of parading our aspirations in public.

According to the Xinmin Evening News on Monday, on the first day of the new school year, two pilots were invited to a primary school in Jing’an District to lead a crowds of students in a ritual to “let fly” their folded paper airplanes, so that their “blue dream” would soar and come true in the campus.

With this lofty show, I hope the students’ parents would think twice before dragging their children to extracurricular cram sessions in the future.

So from early on, the best Chinese students have learned the art of differentiating between what is correct and what is right. And none drives this home better than the repeated calls by the education watchdog to “substantially lighten school burden.”

We hear this every year at this time, and only the most benighted would take it seriously.

So if education can foster noble, humanistic impulses, why do Ling Ling’s father and many of his supporters believe that college education can be less than useful? Traditionally the education experience afforded students the opportunity to be equipped with correct values, to discover their passions, and to be prepared for life of meaning.

That is long a thing of the past. Education today, from kindergartens on, revolves around the narrow aim of supplying the students attractive employment credentials.

Today even that aim is increasingly questionable. Although many argue that education is more than an investment, the investment part of the education is quickly crowding out other factors shaping yesterday’s education.

Unlike 30 years ago, a college diploma is no longer the guarantee of decent employment.

Today only the graduates from a few elite colleges can hope of good (read: well-paid and secure) employment. The disturbing fact is that in spite of steady expansion in college enrollment in recent years, the proportion of rural students is declining steadily.

According to reports by the People’s Daily on May 26, the proportion of rural students is about 10 percent in Beijing University, and 17 percent in Qinghua University.

Which means elite education is now more or less the preserve of the elite.

The decline of education as an effective economic investment has grave consequences.

For instance, the beneficiaries of education are constantly haunted by the specter of failing to produce good returns on the investment of their parents. The decline also makes it easier for powerful officials to adorn themselves with whatever credentials they think necessary.

Good connections

Take the latest example of Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, who is being investigated for serious disciplinary violations. Jiang reportedly has a bachelor’s degree in industrial economic management from Shandong University, and the equivalent of a master’s degree from the Party School. As a matter of fact, Jiang got a degree from the university after studying there briefly as a cadre in early 1980s.

It does not take much imagination to suggest that for the moneyed and the powerful, a diploma has not been a problem for some time.

When it comes to employment, almost as important as a good college is good guanxi, which generally means good parents and family connections.

It was recently reported that JP Morgan Chase was being investigated by US authorities for hiring the sons and daughters of senior Chinese officials, apparently in hopes of winning deals from major state-owned enterprises. That’s encouraging news, but apparently not enough to change Ling Ling’s father’s mind.

Which means that while we should still defend the core values of true education, we need not pretend we do not know why her father doesn’t want Ling Ling to go to college.

The correct response is not to blame the father, but the social conditions that engender such concerns.

 

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