Adventures in China

I think one of the most amazing things about America (and a lot of the Western world in general) is our ability to clean our slate and start over. We have no trouble believing that a person can suddenly change their career, home, or interests at 30 years of age, 50 years of age, or 70 years of age. As a culture, we both accept that it is possible for a person to change and we give them the means to change. Schools accept students of any age. Some employers view career changes as a way to bring different skills into their workplace.

This ability to start over is an amazing gift our culture has given us. It does not exist in China. Because the educational system is so burdened, you may have to chose your career path by the age of 14. Even if you go to college and chose your field, you would not have the opportunity to go back to school once you have finished your education. In theory, older students can study at home and pass the tests to return to school, but in practice this never happens.

Actually, in practice, even highly intelligent, motivated people have very few options available to them. There are a lot of people in China and there are very few opportunities to begin with. Even the chance to succeed at one career is rare in China, when here, in the US, we can buy into the American Dream: anything is possible with enough effort. Often times, in China, it is the people who have the most connections (guanxi) that get the opportunities, not the people who are brightest or most motivated. There are the exceptions who manage to make it, but there don't seem to be enough opportunities to go around.

Employers in China only hire people trained specifically for the position they have openings for. The job market is so tight in China that there is not any opportunity to learn a new set of skills on the job because there is already someone trained for that job. Once a person is tracked onto a career path, it is virtually impossible to get off that path. I found it very sad to see very bright people trapped into careers they didn't enjoy. In fact, most of the people I encountered who did not enjoy their jobs were so used to not having a choice that they didn't even consider it important for them to enjoy their job, just that they did it.

I am so grateful that my culture has given me the sense that I can, and should, be happy in my career. I am grateful that I have the power and opportunity to change my career if I want to. I am grateful that those around me would encourage me to put the effort in to do what I want and not give me a defeatist attitude about my future. There is so much opportunity here, we all should be using it.