Did you think about life after graduation before graduating from college? Lots of students in Nanjing Normal University have. The word “graduation” is a symbol of choices to be made; the start of something new.
As there comes an end to the beautiful life as a student, it is also naturally a time for reflection. We think back to the ugly uniforms which we had to wear, the imitating of some Chinese teachers’ local dialect, or the rushing to the dinner hall the second the bell rings as if we had starved for years. Graduation means to turn what was once part of life into memories. Somewhere down the timeline, those memories become dreams, as the door to the adult world opens and we step out from under the wings of a safe community to face everything that is all too real.
When this correspondent asked college students about the expectations their families had for them, all of them stated that “to have a good life” was uppermost. While some parents still hope their offspring shall become graduate students, so as to have more opportunity for jobs with better pay, it is the students themselves who make the choices. In The Nanjinger’s focus group comprising students with a sports education major, a certain pragmatism in their choices was very evident.
Professor Liu Dongcheng holds a doctoral degree in sports now teaching economics in Nanjing Normal University. Having been teaching there for over 10 years, he noted, “Back then, when I graduated from university, we couldn’t choose jobs. The jobs were all distributed to us by the government in the fourth year of college”. With vocations allocated based on a student’s major in college, the word “graduation” was digestible for Chinese university students as it represented fewer choices to be made. When the government changed regulations to make it optional for students, it created more people with ambition, most of whom choosing to find a job themselves or to go back to university to learn, but some choose to make their own career. This led to an opening of multiple choices after graduation.
Nowadays, partly because of population growth in China, it is even harder to find jobs. More students choose to opt for a steady job which offers them a regular salary. Professor Liu refers to the “iron rice bowl”, the symbol of a job for life meaning that one will never be unemployed in China. Student Lin Pengfei is an advocate of the iron rice bowl, mentioning, “I want to go back to my home town to be a PE teacher. It is a steady job and I will have normal holidays like summer holiday to have other working experiences”. The need for survival and the importance of starting a family felt by the Chinese means, when graduation comes, dreams are often defeated by reality. Another student, Huo Liang, said, “I have thought about going abroad for future learning in the first year of college, but many aspects made me change my mind”.
On account of pressure and the need for a steady job, many graduates do not have a job based on their major. “Nowadays, students are in a contradictory situation”, Professor Liu describes of their predicament. They admire and long for the idea of starting their own career, but their minds also lean toward working as a civil servant where they can actually see their future with a family, little worry about basic needs and a bit of amusement once in a while with the people they love, perhaps travelling to another country to spend their summer.
These days, becoming a teacher, doctor or public servant has become the top choice for college students. Another PE major, Chen Xu said, “I want to be a graduate student. Staying in school for a longer time allows for a better opportunity to be a public servant which has a steady and higher salary”. Some parents agree. Student Shao Zhenzhu said, “My father wants me to be graduate student”. Yet the reality may be very different. Professor Liu continues, “Going back to study after university does not necessarily mean a better chance of a decent job, at least for PE majors”. Being a graduate student does mean a higher educational background but it also turns one into a job applicant who is older and with little work experience.
Age is a big problem, especially for females, and when coupled with the lack of experience it can lead to a lower salary or less opportunities for work. Professor Liu showed his wisdom when he said, “The career choices are different for different majors, and sometimes it depends more on luck to get more and better opportunities”.
Tellingly, the focus group students were asked to use a short sentence or a word to describe how they feel about graduation. Lin Pengfei described, “the start of a new journey”, for there are still things to learn and challenges to face. Shao Zhenzhu mentioned, “plentiful”, and stated, “I want to get a steady job like a trainer of a private gym close to home and soon start my own family. Being a trainer allows me to know more people which can help broaden my views”. Finally, Huo Liang simply said, “change”, in recognition of the pressure he might face from a prospective mother in law. He concluded, “I don’t really have a goal; after graduation I might even start by looking for a job matching my major”.
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