1、1Is It Meaningful to Receive College Education?Given the fact that many college students have difficulties in finding jobs in the recent, thousands of high school students are reported to refuse to take the National College Entrance Examination. The news seems so convincing that many students, their
2、 parents, and the society reach the conclusion that receiving college education is a waste of time and money. Undoubtedly, these students can earn some money working in big cities or running their own business in the near future. However, I am of opinion that this view is myopic, which is to the det
3、riment of personal development and Chinas overall growth in the long term. Firstly, in terms of personal development, university is not a vocational training center despite the fact that a university diploma indicates graduates are more likely to find decent jobs. Instead, university is a place for
4、personal cultivation and improvement. In universities, students will learn to find their real interests, perfect their personality, and form right outlooks toward the world. Furthermore, students will learn to gather, analyze, and evaluate informationso that they can resolve problems in their lives.
5、 For those who are suspicious of the value of higher learning, to some extent, they can be regarded as plutolatry. They worship money and believe that money is everything in their lives. Secondly, in terms of national growth, the advancement of a nation is characterized by its greatness of high educ
6、ation. In this sense, universities are the centers of research and academic exploration. Take the United States for instance. Among the top 100 universities in the world, the majority of them are located in the United States. The advancement of US high education is indicative of the fact that those
7、universities produce the most Nobel Prize laureates in comparison with other countries. American universities also turn out to be a magnet for most smart students around the world. Those universities contribute tremendous share to the US growth through scientific and technological support. In China,
8、 if the belief that receiving college education is a waste of time and money can not be corrected in time, it is inevitable that China can only reap short-term GDP growth but will be deprived of opportunity to become a competitive international players in the long run, for the human resource will be
9、 drained eventually.In sum, receiving college education will benefit both individual and the country. Indicative of the dire job market for college graduates is not the uselessness of college education. Instead, college education means we should study harder to make a full preparation for the future
10、.2Are Nowadays College Graduates Not as Competent as Before?As an economic rule goes, when supply outweighs demand, the price decreases. The same seems true for the current situation for college graduates. Since 1999, the central government has implemented the Grand College Enrollment Plan, with the
11、 total number of college graduates on the increase in the following years. But the boomed economy does not provide enough jobs for those graduates coming out at a time. Therefore, many people reason that college graduates are notas competent as before for many of them have difficulties in finding jo
12、bs. But I disagree with this conclusion.Firstly, admittedly, there are some college graduates who are not competent, but these students can not represent all the students. Due to the Grand College Enrollment Plan, more and more high school students have access to the higher education. Inevitably, th
13、e standard has been lowered; otherwise, university can not admit so many applicants.While those smart students in high schools are more likely to have excellent performance, other not-so-good students would have difficulties in college learning. As a result, those graduates with bad performance in c
14、ollege can not demonstrate the value of higher learning to the society and hence they gradually form the incompetent image of college graduates.Secondly, those who hold this negative opinion do not take the social context into consideration. As is known, in the period when China carried out planned
15、economic policies, college graduates did not need to worry about their jobs, for “iron-bowls” waited for them after graduation. But after the reform of higher education, college graduates have to find jobs for themselves. When hundreds of thousands of graduates compete for a limited number of job va
16、cancies, there are inevitably many who can not procure ideal jobs. Besides, employment is always influenced by global and national economy. When economy slows down, the corporate world would not recruit as many employees as before. For example, in 2009, many college graduates, from both prestigious
17、universities and less-known universities, have difficulties in hunting jobs. In this sense, it is not college graduates that are incompetent, instead, it is the social context that is unfavorable to college graduates.As factors combine to lead to a result, one can not simply reach conclusions withou
18、t taking various factors into account. Otherwise, one would make reductionist mistakes. In this case, those who think college students are not as competent as before have made this kind of mistake. They just attribute college graduates difficulties in finding jobs to their incompetence, without expl
19、oring the social and economic situations.3Can College Village Heads Plan Really Help?Due to the Grand College Enrollment Plan, the number of university graduates has been on the increase since the central government started implementing the plan. Though the plan helps improve our national quality, i
20、t creates pressure for the job markets. With so many college students coming out at a time, many graduates have difficulties in finding suitable jobs. In order to create more jobs, the government encourages college graduates to work in villages of 28 provinces and regions with a view that rural admi
21、nistration will be strengthened at the same time. As a result, tens of thousands college graduates have been appointed as village officials in the rural areas. It appears that this plan helps alleviate the pressure caused by graduate employment, but I do not think the plan will work in the long run.
22、Firstly, after serving as village officials in the rural areas for two years, the majority of those college village officials will start to look for jobs in the job market again, aggravating the pressure of the job market. Some may argue that the number of those village officials who enter the job m
23、arket again is balanced by the number of new college graduates who would be appointed as village officials. The truth is that while those students have spent two years in the rural areas, they do not gain enough experience in the corporate world and are likely to forget what they have learnt in coll
24、ege. In this sense, they are not guaranteed to find decent jobs again. Besides, when working in the rural areas, these students with higher degrees are respected by village people, and are likely to get accustomed to feeling superior to people around them. One can imagine they would probably be frus
25、trated when they work with those who hold the same college degrees or even higher degrees.Secondly, when the supply of college graduates and the demand of our society are unbalanced, the imbalance can be obtained by increasing available jobs or decreasing the supply of college graduates, which means
26、 the reduction of college enrollment. Given the fact that the economy slows down in the recent, it is difficult to create more jobs. While offering good terms for graduates such as well-paid salary and residential certificate guarantee, the government can create more jobs in the short term, but does
27、 not provide long-term remedy. In this sense, the plan does not solve the fundamental imbalance between the supply and the demand of college graduates.In sum, the plan to encourage college graduates to work in the rural areas can only provide a temporary remedy for the job market. I think the govern
28、ment should recognize the fundamental imbalance and find the way back to elite education.4Should Traditional Chinese Etiquette Be Taught in Class?Throughout most of Chinas long history, the relationships between people were based on carefully prescribed forms of behavior, that is, etiquette. Learnin
29、g and following etiquette is so important that people are always judged by how closely they follow these rules of behaviors. For those who do not follow those prescribed rules of conduct, they are regarded as uncivilized arbarians. However, as China has been increasingly entangled in the global vill
30、age, many Chinese people, especially the young, have lost some traditions because of the influences of Western cultures. According to a famous professor, the majority of Chinese college students have not had systematic training on traditional Chinese etiquette. As for me, traditional etiquette shoul
31、d be taught in class.Firstly, if college students can receive a systematic education in traditional etiquette in class, they can get more prepared for the future. As is known, college students usually have learnt some traditional etiquette through daily interaction with friends and relatives, but th
32、e process is time-consuming. They have to be sensitive enough to observe other peoples behaviors and then know what proper behaviors in different social situations are. Sometimes the learning process is by trial and error. They can only form right behaviors after breaking the rules of conduct and be
33、ing corrected by the costly consequence. If they have already taken a systematic etiquette course in college, they can follow proper etiquette and have a more guaranteed future. Secondly, as these meticulous rules of conduct have been formed throughout Chinese history, they are unique Chinese charac
34、teristics and are inseparable to Chinese culture. With the advent of globalization , western culture is so influential that many young people often look to Western customs and etiquette as being fashionable. For example, nowadays most young women in Chinawould like to wear western-style white dresse
35、s and veils at wedding while traditional Chinese weddings feature red gowns for brides and white is an absolute taboo. In the long term, if the trend to adopt western etiquette can not be curbed, the Chinese generations in the future will lose their cultural identity. Furthermore, the extinction of
36、Chinese etiquette will be to the detriment of the diversity of global culture. To some extent, the course can serve to arouse college students cultural pride and help to preserve and further develop Chinese culture. In conclusion, taking traditional Chinese etiquette in college will not only make graduates more prepared for their future, but also can constitute an important measure for college students to form Chinese cultural identity and therefore to preserve Chinese tradition and further develop it.
