【10.12.02 纽约时报】大学文凭在中国等于什么？
本帖最后由 满仓 于 2010-12-21 14:09 编辑【中文标题】大学文凭在中国等于什么？
【原文标题】What Is a College Degree Worth in China?
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【原文链接】http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/12/02/what-is-a-college-degree-worth-in-china
10月份，安徽省省会合肥的一场大学生招聘会。
尽管中国持续地快速发展，但是很多大学毕业生暗淡的就业前景带来了潜在的经济问题。
据最新统计，中国大学毕业生的平均月薪只比中国农民工的平均月薪高300元人民币，约合44美元。最近几年大学毕业生的工资一直保持在每月1500元左右，而农民工的工资却逐渐涨到了1200元。
如果中国的大学生在巨额投资教育之后无法收回成本，那么大学学位是否还是一个学生值得追求的目标？这种不均衡的现象揭露了中国教育系统和经济发展的哪些问题？
改革私有经济体
Yasheng Huang是麻省理工学员斯隆管理学员的国际管理系教授，著有《有中国特色的资本主义》。
中国高等教育扩招通常被认为是大学毕业生待遇持续走低的主要原因，但是这种扩张供给的理论往好了说是片面的，往坏了说是有误导性的。
1998年，中国高校招生人数大约是1百万人；2008年达到6百万人。扩张供给的理论认为，1998年的招生人数是合理的，而后续的扩招超过了中国经济的发展步伐。
其实，更重要的原因在于需求方。尽管外国分析人士给中国的经济增长套了很多光环，但是这个国家的经济依然主要依靠密集型的劳动和低端的生产业。
尽管中国目前的知识产业在迅猛发展，但是绝大部分知识产业都集中在研究所和学术机构中，而不是在企业中。知识产业需要的是精英，或者仅需要极少部分的工人参与，因此这无法吸纳大量的大学毕业生。
另外一个对大学毕业生的需求来源是政府机构，但是中国已经有了一个世界上最大的官僚机构（之一）。基础已经足够大了，似乎不大可能继续膨胀。实际上，目前的情况是数百、甚至数千名中国大学毕业生在激烈地竞争一个公务员的职位。
至于中国的国有企业，也无法大量吸纳大学毕业生。尽管中国在研究和发展领域投入巨资，这笔资金大部分都会进入政府资助的研究机构，而不是直接投资企业。入职国有企业的大学毕业生一般都会进入财务、市场和人力资源等部门。
然而，中国企业呈现出极为明显的“顶光”模式——也就是说，他们的劳动力充足，但管理人员奇缺。原因在于中国的很多公司实际上就是工厂。他们接受来自海外的合同和产品要求，然后按此生产。几乎没有自身发展营销和产品研制的机会。
最后，服务行业是中国经济的阿喀琉斯之踵。以其所占GDP的比例来看，它远远低于印度、美国、日本和欧洲国家。实际上，中国的服务业，就其与GDP的关系来看，让中国更加类似于中东的石油出口国家，而与正常经济体大相径庭。
中国的企业和服务业管理体系的弱态发展是个复杂的问题，但是都与中国私营企业所面临的扭曲的金融环境有关。
中国的大学毕业生相比于私营经济的缓慢发展来说，的确是“过剩的”。除非中国采取大胆的变革，否则局势很难有所改观。
鲜有的机会
Gordon G. Chang是《中国即将到来的崩溃》一书作者，福布斯的专栏作家。
中国的大学学位很重要吗？如果你想到温州去掏粪，那么它很重要。浙江省这座经济繁荣的城市今年为5个掏粪工岗位公开招聘大学毕业生，有1100多名大学生前来应聘。在这种环境下，不上大学直接去做农民工似乎是个更加明智的选择。
加入中国人民解放军也是个不错的选择。在不久之前军队还无法招募持有学位的人，这种现象已经一去不返。2009年，有12万大学毕业生参军，这是上一年参军人数的三倍，是2006年人数的12倍。
人民解放军——以及掏粪大军——之所以开始吸引大学毕业生，是因为其它领域几乎没有前途更加光明的就业机会。今天，他们已经在垂涎家庭佣人和保姆的岗位了。
专家说大学生毕业后的工资会逐渐上升，可是农民工和蓝领工人的待遇改善速度更快。这是为什么？北京蹩脚的人口政策制造出额外庞大的劳动力群体，现在这个群体中越来越多的部分开始退休。
他们退休之后，中国的劳动力规模将迅速萎缩。这个国家从2004年开始就呈现劳动力短缺的现象，只能期待新增劳动力尽快弥补缺口。中国的人口学家认为2013年到2016年之间可以解决这个问题。
不需要念过大学就可以得出农民工和蓝领的工资注定上涨的结论。急速萎缩的劳动力群体位于工资标准的最低端，而大学毕业生的数量在十年里以每年30％的速度上升。供需法则决定了低端人群的待遇会上升，有学历的高端人群待遇会下降。
有人说，中国的经济模式会向产业上游移动，低端的产业行为将转移到越南和孟加拉国。这是没错，外包服务的确有抑制工人的薪资增长，但效果不会很显著。只有工人的工资上涨到一定程度，而且预期会无限制地上升，公司才会逐渐离开中国，同时失去优越的基础设施和供应网络的巨大优势。在可预见的将来，蓝领工资上升的幅度将远大于高端人才的工资上升幅度。
今年8月份，在龙华富士康工厂的外面，我和我的妻子站在两个街边小贩面前。他们在人行道上铺了一块毯子，上面摆着小商品和木制玩具模型。其中一个说：“里面的工人很有钱”，而他们却没钱。和其它众多的街边小贩一样，这两个人在一个星期里没卖出很多的东西。其中一个是四川省的大学生，专业是石油；另一个希望成为一名工程师。他们说沿街叫卖是他们能找到的最好的工作了。
高分低能
Yong Zhao密歇根州立大学的教育学院特聘教授，《迎头赶上还是领路前行：全球化时代的美国教育》一书的作者。他经常发布有关教育问题的博客文章。
中国教育存在一个令人沮丧的矛盾现象。一方面，数百万大学毕业生无法找到工作——哪怕是待遇只比农民工高一点的工作。另一方面，愿意支付高额薪资的企业无法找到合格的员工。
中国的跨国公司在为自己的岗位招聘合格人员时一直存在困难。根据上海美国商会最近进行的一项针对美国公司的调查，37％的公司都认为无法找到人才是他们在中国运作中遇到的最大问题。另外一项由麦肯锡进行的调查发现，中国公司44％的高管认为，人才的缺乏是他们全球化道路上的最大障碍。
原因在于：应试教育环境。
中国发明了“科举”制度，也就是通过考试来选拔政府官员。这是一项伟大的发明，因为这可以让全社会的人都有机会加入统治阶层，无论其家庭背景如何。一个伟大的精英管理阶级应运而生。但是，这种制度逐渐进化成中国的噩梦，因为它已经变成了针对背诵孔子教条的考试。
2009年6月，四川成都的教师在分拣大学入学考试试卷。
“科举”已经消失，但其精神在中国依然大行其道，假借的形式是“高考”。这是唯一重要的考试，因为它决定了学生是否可以进入大学，可以进入哪一类大学。鉴于其定性一生的作用，高考成为了操纵整个教育乐团的指挥棒。学生、学生父母、教师、学校领导，甚至当地政府官员都齐心协力地获得更好的分数。在非常小的年龄，孩子们就不需要承担其它责任，或者被剥夺了做其它事情的权力，以确保他们只关注分数的高低。
结果是，中国大学毕业生考试分数都很高，但是能力很差。那些擅长考试的人进入了大学，在大学里还是研读书本上的知识。毕业之后，他们却发现公司实际需要的是考试分数之外的东西。这也就是为什么麦肯锡另外一份调查报告显示，只有不到10％的中国大学毕业生适合在外国公司工作。
中国的教育者已经认识到考高体系的问题所在，并开始试图转移人们对考试的过分关注。但是，寻找另外一些决定学术能力的指标需要花费一些时间，尤其是在一个有13亿人口的国家
分级教育制度
Qiang Zha是多伦多约克大学的助教，《21实际中国大学写照：向大规模高等教育前进》一书的作者之一。
具有讽刺意味的现实是，中国经济持续增长，其高等教育学历却快速地贬值。在教育和培训方面的投资对很多大学毕业生来说变得不划算了。为什么？中国难道不需要知识型工人吗？
在过去的十年里，中国高等教育的招生人数翻了不止7倍，现在每年有大约6百万毕业生。难道这些人不应当因为手中的文凭而收获回报吗？难道他们应当被当作廉价的大白菜吗？
问题的大部分原因在于中国高等教育的结构性扭曲。
在迅速扩张的环境下，高等教育体系出现了分级制度。在这种层级分明、上下悬殊的等级制度中，一小部分精英国立大学（大约100所左右）在等级制度的最上方，他们受到一些保护，免受过度扩张的冲击。与此同时，绝大部分（95％左右）的地方性大学和学院不得不想办法容纳扩招的大部分生源。
精英大学享受政府的强力资助，占有了大量的公共资源。而地方性大学大部分被丢在一边，他们只能依靠市场规律，也就是招收越来越多的学生，来保证自己的收入水平。
这种越来越大的差异无疑会导致很多高校教育质量的恶化，尤其是在那些新成立的私立高校中，他们严重缺乏合格、有经验的师资。
更加糟糕的是，很多高校喜欢增设“软”专业，比如财会、商业管理、国际商务、外语等等。这些专业既受欢迎，又不需要过多的资源投入，以此作为扩招的应对方案再好不过了。这些专业的毕业生曾经是就业市场的宠儿，但是，过量的供应最终导致了与需求的巨大差异。
随着市场经济的发展，中国就业市场呈现出分化的形势。那些精英大学的毕业生和学习“硬”专业的学生，比如科技专业，在主力就业市场中会找到更好的机会，因为社会上有对他们的知识和技能的强烈需求。
地方大学的毕业生和那些学习“软”专业的学生被挤到次级就业市场中，那里的特点是低工资和高人员流动率。
尽管如此，中国愈加成熟的经济模式必定会提供越来越多的机会。那些持有大学学历的人——无论其专业如何——最终会受益。从长远角度来看，大部分大学毕业生的工资水平还是会有改善的。
毕业生的经历
我们收到了无数来自雇主、教育者和学生们的信息，他们描述了对中国教育体系和毕业生的看法。以下是一些精品评论。
中国人与西方大学毕业生
我对于雇用中国毕业生和西方毕业生的看法是，有了中国毕业生，可以保证有人在每天8小时中勤奋地工作。但是，你需要管理他们，给他们很多指导。西方毕业生中，大约75％都是废物，因为他们态度散漫，缺少最基本的知识。而剩下的25％则是纯金。他们有策略地解决问题，渴望向你展示自身的优秀品质，迅速地接受新的任务和挑战。
我希望这可以揭示西方教育体系中的缺陷——持续挑战优秀的人才，但是让普通学生放任自流，导致他们对自己的能力过分自信。
－J，北京
当学校领导开上宝马的时候
在过去十年中，我有7年时间在中国教授英文和历史，所以我对中国教育体系的优势和劣势，有一手的资料可以分享。我的观察如下：
1，或许最重要的一点是，中国和美国对大学教育的看法完全不同。在中国，大学和高考是很多学生学习生涯的顶端。大学的荣誉对于学生和家长们都是至关重要的，而大学中的教育质量并不是大家最关心的事。
2，很多私立大学就是文凭工厂。如果你知道，无论自己课程分数如何，总是可以拿到学位的，谁还会去学习呢？教职员工也缺少提高课程水平的动力，因为家长和学生关注的是学位，而不是高质量的教育。
3，高校中存在一些混乱的经济现象，这在发达的西方国家中是完全无法容忍的。我曾经听说有家庭贿赂教师和管理人员，让他们的孩子可以拿到及格的分数。学校的钱都花在美化学校操场和组织员工出游上，而不是改善教师的待遇。而且，学校的高级领导开着非常高档的汽车，然而众所周知他们的薪水根本无法负担这样的消费。
— David Straub，杭州
成绩不好？买一个！
很多有才华的中国学生的成绩都被偷走，转卖给党员，然后党员的子女就可以上大学了。所以，所受的教育无法转化成经济利益，我一点都不奇怪。就我和中国人一起工作的经历来看，他们会毫不犹豫地拿走别人的成就，交给另外一个人。
你甚至连自己到手的东西都守不住。
并不是说美国教育就是一尘不染、廉洁奉公。只不过要想直接拿走别人的成绩并转卖可没那么简单，因为并不是一次考试和一套成绩单就可以决定一切。
— Robin，哥伦比亚
他们很聪明，工作很努力。
我是美国一所文科学院的化学系教授。我曾经在北京待过13个月，在中国科学院的一家研究所中做纳米技术的实验，与员工和研究生紧密合作。
我在那里遇到的年轻大学毕业生比我在美国的学生工作努力得多，他们的数学水平非常高，他们的英文阅读理解能力可以和我在美国的学生媲美，他们对于成功的渴望程度也要高很多。当然，这仅仅是在北京，不代表整个国家的水平。但是毫不奇怪的是，美国研究生课程非常受中国学生的欢迎。我爱与这些学生在一起工作。
我在北京时，正好遇到金融危机，中国的学生得到的就业机会比美国的博士生还多。当美国公司削减规模的时候，它们的知识财产和科学设备都被中国买走。
在十年时间里，世界的制药中心将不会是美国，而是珠江三角洲。那么世界的绿色科技中心、超级计算机中心、高速铁路中心、纳米科技中心和化工生产中心呢？新毕业的博士生要到哪里去找工作？在未来十年里，这些问题的答案就会出现在中国的某处。
— Jiminoregon，俄勒冈
官僚和作弊
教师是政府聘请的职员，待遇微薄，收入水平类似于护士、警察和邮递员。因此，除了一少部分神圣地投身教育事业的人之外，中国95％的教育工作者都是在混日子，对工作毫无兴趣。
课程也是由同样缺乏献身精神的官僚机构所强制安排的。入学考试机制遍布作弊行为，穷人因此受害。机械记忆方法让学生有良好的记忆能力，也滋生了作弊行为。不需要思考，只需要记忆。
街边就可以买到假文凭，大部分人就以此度过一生，学历的价值因此更加贬值。持有这张纸——还不是学位——雇主就认可你。人力资源专业在中国就是笑话，雇主的面试技巧也同样是笑话。成功的人是你要巴结的对象，不是你学习的对象，所以文凭一钱不值还有什么奇怪的呢？
— Sinoman，深圳
迟来的青春期
当我在中国读书的时候，我有一名非常优秀的导师，他教我如何记住单词，如何准备考试。当我们外出消遣的时候，他与外部世界完全隔绝的状态让我极为吃惊。中国城市中很多中产阶级家庭的孩子在大学毕业前从未做过任何工作。
在我实习的中国工程公司中，那些工程师的行为更像是孩子，而不是专业的技术人员。游戏、约会、酗酒这些行为都会严重影响它们的工作习惯和道德规范。当然，这些事情也同样影响西方工人，但是实话说，我们大部分都在十几岁的时候学会了如何应对排斥、消沉、一事无成和电脑游戏。中国的孩子没有享受过这些乐趣，所有当它们工作的时候，这些行为就自然而然地出现了。
— Starvosk，纽约
为什么学位是值得努力争取的？
过去十年里，我一直住在深圳，香港北部的经济特区。这里，跨国公司和大型国有企业的白领岗位只开放给持有大学学历的人。一句话，如果你没有学历，你就无法获得面试的机会。初级工作岗位待遇一般在500到3000元（375美元到450美元）之间，包括医疗保险、年假（尽管极短）和每周5到6个工作日。工作3到5年之后，幸运的白领员工可能会获得一个中级的管理岗位，待遇大约是5000到15000元（750美元到2250美元），当然还要加上给供应商业务所得到的回扣收入等等。我认识很多年轻的白领，它们在北京、上海和深圳都有房产，年龄一般都不倒30岁。
深圳的出租车司机每月大约挣3000元（375美元），一周工作7天。在中国生活的28年中，我与数千位出租车司机交谈过。深圳很多的出租车司机在工作5到7年之后，都可以在湖南、四川、湖北的家乡盖起一间房。（当然，5到7年没有休息日地驾驶出租车会导致各种长期疾病。）
深圳工厂的农民工每月挣1000到1200元，每周工作6到7天。她在整整一天中，可以每分钟重复一次机械的动作。因为所有的管理岗位都被香港和台湾的男性所占据，所以女性在工厂中的出路只有两条：到质控部门工作，或者与她的经理睡觉。这在深圳的工厂中毫不奇怪，因为这里的女性人口（18到22岁）数量是男性的7倍。
希望这可以解释为什么中国人想要上大学。
— Bruce，深圳
原文：
A job fair for college graduates in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, in October.
While China's economy keeps growing at a rapid pace, the dim employment prospects of many of its college graduates pose a potential economic problem.
According to recent statistics, the average Chinese college graduate makes only 300 yuan, or about $44, more a month than the average Chinese migrant worker. In recent years, the wages of college graduates have remained steady at about 1,500 yuan a month. Migrant workers' wages, however, have risen to 1,200 yuan.
If China's graduates are unable to capitalize on their costly investment in education, then is it worthwhile for students to obtain a college degree? What does the imbalance say about China's education system and its economy in general?
Reform the Private Sector
Updated December 4, 2010, 12:15 AM
Yasheng Huang is professor of international management at Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of “Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics.”
The expansion of China's higher education system has frequently been mentioned in connection to the lackluster earnings of its college graduates. But the supply-side explanation is at best incomplete and at worst misleading.
In 1998, China enrolled about one million college students; in 2008 this figure was more than six million. The supply-side explanation assumes that the 1998 enrollment number was just right and that subsequent expansion outpaced the needs of the Chinese economy.
The more important part of the story lies on the demand side. Despite all the hoopla that foreign analysts have heaped on China’s growth, the economy remains driven by manual labor, low-cost and low-margin manufacturing.
While China is currently producing knowledge at an impressive rate, the vast majority of the knowledge production takes place in research institutes and academic institutions, rather than in firms. Knowledge production requires an elite but an extraordinarily small number of workers. As a result, it cannot absorb many college graduates.
The next source of demand for college graduates is government agencies, but China already has one of the largest -- if not the largest -- bureaucracy in the world. The base is already so big that it is unlikely to grow even more. In fact, now hundreds and even thousands of Chinese college graduates compete with one another fiercely for one civil service position.
As for China’s corporate sector, it is also not a huge source of demand for college graduates. Although China spends a lot of money on research and development, most of that spending takes place within government-sponsored research institutions, not within firms. The part of the corporate sector that employs college graduates has to do with finance, marketing and human resource management functions.
However, Chinese firms are extremely "top-light" -- that is, they have many workers but very few managers. The reason is that many of the Chinese firms are really factories. They receive export contracts and specifications and then they produce products accordingly. There is very little need for them to do their own marketing and product development.
Finally, the service sector is the Achilles’ heels of the Chinese economy. It is very weak and small, much lower, in terms of ratio to G.D.P., than India, United States, Japan and European countries. In fact, China’s service sector -- in relationship to G.D.P. -- makes China closer to oil producing countries in the Middle East rather than to any normal economy.
The reasons for the managerial underdevelopment of Chinese corporate sector and its small service sector are very complex but they all have to do with a distorted financial regulatory environment faced by Chinese private-sector firms.
The supply of Chinese college graduates is only “excessive” relative to the underdevelopment of its private sector and there is little possibility for change unless China undertakes bold reforms.
Few Promising Opportunities
Updated December 4, 2010, 12:53 AM
Gordon G. Chang is the author of "The Coming Collapse of China" and a columnist at Forbes.com.
Is a Chinese college degree important? It is if you want to shovel excrement in Wenzhou. The prosperous city in Zhejiang province this year advertised for college graduates to fill eight spots collecting “night soil.” More than 1,100 of them applied for the jobs. In these circumstances, skipping college to work as a migrant laborer looks like a smart career move.
So does joining the People’s Liberation Army. It wasn’t long ago that the military couldn’t attract degree-holders. No more. In 2009, 120,000 college graduates joined the P.L.A. That was three times the number in the preceding year and 12 times more than in 2006.
The People’s Liberation Army -- and the armies of night soil collectors -- have begun to attract college graduates because few promising opportunities are available for them in other fields. These days, they'd even covet jobs as domestic servants and nannies.
Experts say that salaries for college students generally rise after graduation. Yet the pay prospects for migrants and blue-collar workers may be even brighter. Why? Beijing’s poorly conceived population policies created an extraordinary bulge in the work force, and the members of the bulge are now retiring in great numbers.
As they retire, China’s work force will quickly shrink. The country has been short of labor since 2004, and the number of workers will level off soon. Chinese demographers think that will happen sometime between 2013 and 2016.
It doesn’t take a college degree to figure out that migrant and blue-collar pay is set to increase. The pool of laborers that is shrinking the fastest is at the bottom end of the wage scale. The number of college graduates, however, has been soaring by about 30 percent a year this decade. The law of supply and demand says that lower-rung pay packets will climb -- and the salaries of degree-holders will fall.
Some say China’s dynamic economy will “upscale” so fast that bottom-tier manufacturing will migrate to Vietnam and Bangladesh. Yes, outsourcing will act as a brake on worker compensation, but the effect will not be great. Companies will move out of China -- and lose the substantial advantages of superb infrastructure and large networks of suppliers -- only after wages have risen substantially and it becomes clear they will climb indefinitely. For the foreseeable future, blue-collar wages will go up at a far greater rate than higher-level compensation.
My wife and I stopped to talk to two peddlers outside the Foxconn plant in Longhua this August. They had laid out a blanket on the sidewalk to display their wares, balsa model kits. “The workers have lots of money,” said one of them. They, on the other hand, did not. The pair, part of a bigger group of street hawkers, had not sold many kits that week. One was a college student in faraway Sichuan province, majoring in petroleum. The other hoped to be an engineer. They said peddling was the best job they could find.
High Test Scores, Low Ability
Updated December 4, 2010, 12:53 AM
Yong Zhao is the University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University. The author of "Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization," he often blogs about education issues.
There's a frustrating paradox in Chinese education. On the one hand, millions of college graduates cannot find a job -- at least a desirable job that pays substantially more than what a migrant worker makes. On the other hand, businesses that want to pay a lot more can't seem to find qualified employees.
Multinational companies in China are having a difficult time finding qualified candidates for their positions. According to a recent survey of U.S.-owned enterprises conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, 37 percent of the companies that responded said that finding talent was their biggest operational problem. A separate study by McKinsey Quarterly found that 44 percent of the executives in Chinese companies reported that insufficient talent was the biggest barrier to their global ambitions.
The explanation: a test-oriented educational environment.
China invented the keju system, which used tests to select government officials. It was a great invention because it enabled talents from across the society to join the ruling class regardless of their family backgrounds. Hence, a great meritocracy could be created. But it evolved into a nightmare for China as the system gradually changed into one that tested memorization of Confucian classics.
Teachers sorting college entrance exams in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, in June 2009.
Keju is dead now but its spirit is very alive in China today, in the form of gaokao, or the College Entrance Exam. It's the only exam that matters since it determines whether students can attend college and what kind of colleges they can attend. Because of its life-determining nature, gaokao has become the “baton” that conducts the whole education orchestra. Students, parents, teachers, school leaders and even local government officials all work together to get good scores. From a very young age, children are relieved of any other burden or deprived of opportunity to do anything else so they can focus on getting good scores.
The result is that Chinese college graduates often have high scores but low ability. Those who are good at taking tests go to college, which also emphasizes book knowledge. But when they graduate, they find out that employers actually want much more than test scores. That is why another study by McKinsey found that fewer than 10 percent of Chinese college graduates would be suitable for work in foreign companies.
Chinese educators are well aware of the problems with the gaokao system and have been trying to move away from the excessive focus on testing. But seeking other valid indicators of strong academic records will take time, especially in a country of 1.3 billion people.
A Stratified Education System
Updated December 4, 2010, 12:53 AM
Qiang Zha is an assistant professor of education at York University in Toronto, and a co-author, most recently of, “Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In the Move to Mass Higher Education.”
It is ironic that as China’s economy keeps growing, the degrees produced by its colleges seem to be rapidly losing their value. Investment in education and training are not paying off for many college graduates. Why? Does China not need knowledge workers?
In the past decade, Chinese higher education enrollment soared more than sevenfold, and the system now produces close to six million graduates a year. Shouldn’t these graduates be rewarded for their education credentials and qualifications and not be treated “as cheap as cabbages”?
The problem is due largely to a structural disorder in Chinese higher education.
With the quick expansion of higher education came stratification of the system. Chinese higher education has grown to be steeply hierarchical, with a small number of elite national universities (around 100 in total) sitting on top of the hierarchy and protected from overexpansion. Meanwhile, the majority (95 percent or so) of local universities and colleges have to accommodate most of the increased enrollment.
The elite universities enjoy strong state patronage in terms of higher concentration of public resources while the local ones are largely left to rely on market forces, which means that they have to take in more students in order to secure their revenue.
This widening gap inevitably led to deterioration of the quality of higher education in many colleges, especially the newly created ones but also the private ones, which suffer from a severe shortage of qualified and experienced teaching staff.
Worse still, many of these colleges favored adding “soft” programs, e.g., accounting, business/public administration, international commerce, foreign languages, etc. These popular programs require modest resources, thus providing an effective means for fast expansion. Graduates of these programs used to be welcomed into the job market. However, the proliferation of these programs has created a huge discrepancy between the supply and demand side.
With the market economy developing, divisions in China’s job market naturally emerged. The elite university graduates and those who studied “hard” programs, i.e., the sciences and technology, found better opportunities in the primary job market where there's great demand for their knowledge and skills.
The local college graduates and particularly those who studied “soft” programs are more likely to be pushed to the secondary job market, which is characterized by low wages and high levels of labor turnover.
However, as more opportunities become available in a maturing Chinese economy, those who have college degrees -- regardless of their field of discipline -- will benefit. In the long run, it is likely that the wages of most college graduates will improve.
What the Graduates Go Through
Updated December 10, 2010, 05:42 PM
We received numerous stories from employers, educators and students on their experiences with the Chinese education system and its graduates. Here are excerpts of their comments.
Chinese vs. Western Graduates
My observation from hiring both Chinese and Western graduates is that with Chinese graduates, you get a much better guarantee of someone who will actually work hard at their task for 8 hours a day, but, you will need to supervise them and give them a great deal of guidance. With Western graduates, about 75 percent of them are completely useless because they are so undisciplined and lacking in basic knowledge. The remaining 25 percent, however, and pure gold. They attack problems creatively, are eager to show you their best and rapidly take to new tasks and challenges.
I hope this can point out some of the flaws in the Western education system that challenges the best, but leaves the average students coddled and overly confident in their abilities.
— J; Beijing
When Schools Officials Drive BMWs
For seven out of the past ten years I’ve taught English and history in China, so I have had a firsthand view of the pros and cons of China’s education system. Here’s a few points I wanted to bring up:
1. Perhaps most important is the huge difference between how Chinese and Americans value an university education. In China, high school and the gaokao exam scores are the apex of many students’ education. While the prestige of the university is very important for parents and students, the quality of education that a student receives at university is not always of the greatest concern.
2. Many private universities are simply diploma mills. There is little reason to study if you know you will receive your degree regardless of your class performance. In turn, faculty and administrators lack incentive to improve their programs because parents and students often are more concerned about receiving a degree than receiving a quality education.
3. There is a degree of economic mismanagement in high schools and universities that would not be tolerated in a developed Western nation. I have heard stories about families bribing teachers and administrators so that their children can receive passing scores. Money is spent on projects beautifying school grounds and for administrators' travels, rather than on salaries for the faculty. Also, top school administrators all drive very fancy cars, yet it’s widely known that their salaries could not possibly permit them to buy such vehicles.
— David Straub; Hangzhou, China
Poor Academic Records? Just Buy One
Many talented Chinese student have had their records stolen and sold to Communist party members, so that the party members' children could attend college. So, it doesn't surprise me that the value of the education attained doesn't mean much economically. From my experiences working with the Chinese, they don't see any problems taking someone's achievement and giving it to someone else.
You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
Not that the U.S. system is particularly clean and uncorrupted. It's just that it is more difficult to directly take someone's records and sell them since there isn't one test and one set of records that determines everything.
— Robin; Columbia, Mo.
They're Smart, and They Work Hard
I am a chemistry professor at a liberal arts college here in the U.S. I lived in Beijing for 13 months while doing research in nanoscience at one of the institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I worked closely with faculty and graduate students.
The students and young college graduates that I came to know work much harder than any of my students here. Their math skills are much higher. Their English reading comprehension is comparable to that of my students here. And their drive to succeed is much higher than that of my students. Of course, this was in Beijing, and not representative of the entire country. But it is no surprise that U.S. graduate programs are heavily populated with students from China. I love working with these students.
The Great Recession struck while I was in Beijing. The students there had more job opportunities than new Ph.D.s here in the U.S. This is still the case. While U.S. companies were downsizing or folding, their intellectual property and scientific equipment was being bought up by Chinese capital.
Within ten years, the center of the world's drug industry will not be in the U.S., but in the Pearl River delta. So will the world's center of green technology, supercomputing, high speed rail, nanotechnology and chemical manufacturing. Where should a new Ph.D. be looking for a job now? In ten years time, we will know the answer to that question will be somewhere in China.
— Jiminoregon; Oregon
Bureaucratic and Rigged
Teachers are government employees who are paid next to nothing, similar to what nurses, police officers and postal workers are paid. Consequently, except for the blessed few who are committed to education, the other 95 percent of educators in China are just scraping by and have no interest in the job.
The curriculum are mandated by bureaucrats, equally lacking in dedication. The system of entrance exams is rigged against the poor, and the rote memory methodology rewards good memory and cheating. Thinking is not required, memorization is required.
A fake degree can be bought on the street corner, and most people lie on their resume about their degrees anyway, further depreciating the value. Having the piece of paper -- not the degree -- is what employers require. The Human Resources profession is a joke in China, so interview skills on the employer side are a joke as well, and since getting ahead is a function of who you suck up to, not what you are capable of, why should it be a surprise that a degree is worthless?
— Sinoman; Shenzhen, China
Delayed Adolescence
When I studied abroad in China, I had tutors who were startlingly good at what they did, offering tips on how to memorize vocabulary or study for tests. When we went out for drinks though, it was really startling how insulated they were from how the actual world works. Many middle-class Chinese kids from the city have never worked or held a job until after they finish college.
At the Chinese engineering firm I interned at, the engineers acted more like children than serious professionals. Video Games, dating drama and binge drinking have severe effects on their work habits and work ethic.These things affect Western workers too, of course, but honestly, most of us learned how to deal with rejection, getting dumped, getting wasted or playing too many video games in our teenage years. Chinese kids have had no such luxury, and that behavior comes out when they start working.
— Starvosk; New York City
Why a Degree Is Worth Having
I have lived in Shenzhen, the Special Economic Zone north of Hong Kong, for the last ten years. Here, tens of thousands of white-collar jobs at multinationals and big state-run firms are open SOLELY to college/university degree holders. If you haven't got a degree, you can't get an appointment with Human Resources. Period. Entry-level jobs often mean a salary of 500-3,000 yuan ($375-$450), including medical insurance, paid (albeit short!) annual vacation and a 5-6 day workweek. With 3-5 years of work, a lucky white-collar employee can hold a middle-level management job that pays anywhere from 5,000-15,000 yuan ($750-$2,250) a month, plus benefits like kickbacks for favoring a given vendor, etc. I personally know dozens of white-collar workers who now have a mortgage in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, and most of them are under 30.
A taxi driver in Shenzhen earns around 3,000 yuan ($375) and works 7 days a week. I have spoken with thousands of taxi drivers during my 28-year stay in China, and a good portion of those in Shenzhen have enough money to build a house in their hometown in Hunan, Sichuan or Hubei after 5-7 years of work. (Of course, 5-7 years of driving a taxi without rest can result in all sorts of long-term illnesses and disability.)
A migrant worker in a Shenzhen factory earns 1,000-1,200 yuan a month and works 6-7 days a week. She may well perform the same motions every minute and hour throughout the working day. There are only two ways up in a factory for a female, since almost all management jobs are held by Hong Kong and Taiwanese males: earn a posting in the QA/QC department, or sleep with your manager, a common occurrence in the factories surrounding Shenzhen where there are 7 females (aged 18-22) for every male on the site.
Hopefully, this helps explain why the Chinese want to get an university education.
— Bruce; Shenzhen, China 南科技大学，希望是中国教育改革的一大步。。。。。。。。。。。。 很香 天天为纽约时报愁得慌，怎么解决它的盲人摸象问题啊？ 看照片，说话的都是些什么样的人呢？ 本帖最后由 半杯酒 于 2010-12-22 13:30 编辑
感谢上帝，让这些NC继续NC去吧~~永远不要醒来
\|/ 烧香~~ 农民工工资现在一天都110了~ 高分低能？
这话很像没有能力拿高分的人说的。 有不少论点还是比较客观的 等于加入共青团或者共产党，有总好过无，即使冠冕堂皇，即使言不由衷，即使没有多少意义 我非常不喜欢这篇文章的潜在意思，好像解放军是低学历人才可以进的。好像大学生是因为混不下去才参军的（尽管这是一个可能的原因）
喵 现在年轻人都说: 结婚只是一张纸而已. 那文凭也只是一张只纸. 你的财产也是几张纸而已, 不如考虑给我!!
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