Chapter 5 Part 1: If you get married, who will you marry——On the career destination of language majors

Dear Teacher Xu: I am a junior student in the English Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University. My name is Ding Nan. (Xu Xiaoping's Note: With the consent of Ding Nan, here is her real name.) This summer, I participated in the New Oriental GRE training class. I was preparing for the test in September, but after ETS announced that it will change the written test, I have more time to review and think about what I want.I originally planned to go to the United States to study education. As for what to do when I return to China after I finish my studies, I have no idea at all.The reason why I chose to major in education is because many seniors and seniors have taken this path. They say that English majors go out to sociology, history or education.It is difficult to get out of other majors, and scholarships are even more difficult.

But I listened to a few lectures during the summer vacation, and I think your "study abroad must be directly linked to employment" is very reasonable.But it is quite difficult to actually operate, especially for students of my major.I have carefully "studied" your "Tuqiong Dialogue", your interviews on Sina, and your articles on the New Oriental website.At times I feel confident, and at other times I feel discouraged.In my major, it can be said that I can learn everything, or I can say that I have no major at all.Because the professional courses we have learned basically have no practical value (that is, some intensive reading, listening, speaking, background culture, etc.).The teaching level of the limited elective courses of economics is uneven. I really don't know how to compete with others after graduation with only one specialty in English.

Having said so much, you probably have an understanding of me.In fact, people around me will more or less have my doubts.I have many classmates from the English department of different universities, and we are often "lost" together.My main problem is that as an English student, I have no other professional skills and background.If we choose to go abroad, what major can we study?What about the employment prospects after returning to China? If you choose employment, how can you ensure that you can enter a foreign company?If not, what else do you need to learn?After working in a foreign company for several years, can you solve the problem of tuition fees for MBA in the future?Hope my question is not too broad.Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read my letter, and I hope you can answer my questions.

Ding Nan Dear Ding Nan: Your letter has a huge social commonality, so I want to answer you well.At this moment, what I think of is you and more friends who are as confused as you and who are not willing to lose in language majors.It is a good thing that you are troubled by studying abroad.If you are not impulsive and excited about the trends and fashions happening around you, and eager to try, such people are generally old comrades who have passed menopause.Old comrades have only the past and no future, so they only have regrets but no worries; young people have only the future and no past, so you only have worries but no regrets.I am happy for your troubles.

Your thinking about studying abroad is fundamentally wrong.This mistake is: taking studying abroad as the purpose, rather than taking the major and the employment of the major as the purpose.You ask me: If you go abroad, what major will you study, and will it be easy to find a job when you return to China with this major?The absurdity of this question is like asking you, if you get married, with whom?Married will not have a happy life?There are so many men and women in the world. Before getting married, they must first lock in a love target, so that they can talk about courtship, sex, marriage proposal, and marriage.How you live after marriage also depends on what kind of animal is holding you into the bridal chamber.

The same goes for studying in the US.As a college student who learns English and goes abroad to study for a graduate student, you must first have a specific professional goal linked to employment and career before you can consider whether to study in the United States.The specific method is: ask yourself what occupation you want to engage in in the future, and then determine the major for studying abroad that can ensure the qualifications for this occupation.You must first decide what career you want to pursue, then decide what degree to pursue, and then decide what kind of experience to gain.Instead of the kind of reverse thinking expressed in your letter, take education as a goal instead of career as the orientation of struggle.

This is a typical Chinese student’s academic unconsciousness—a pursuit of academic qualifications that is divorced from career goals, like a blind man feeling an elephant, crossing a river by feeling stones, and a youth guerrilla.Career goals are the center of life pursuits, not that cute and hateful academic qualifications.Academic qualifications serve careers, rather than careers sacrificed for academic qualifications.The inversion of these two relationships may be one of the biggest differences between Chinese education and American education.It is one of the root causes of the suffering of Chinese students and the motivation of American students on the same path to study.

Of course you have to ask: Where does the career goal based on the professional characteristics of language students come from?There is only one possibility for this source, which is to come from life practice, from life thinking, and from market demand.Its most important source comes from your work experience.I am fortunate to know a girl who studies English in your school. She also has no professional direction in the first few years of college.However, during her summer job at the university, she went to a financial company as an intern. Since then, she has fallen in love with the financial career, determined to work in finance, and was admitted to the International Finance Graduate School of China Finance Institute.After working in the People's Bank of China for two years after graduation, seeing the inseparable relationship between finance and law, she was admitted to Yale Law School and won most of the scholarships, thus building her life platform.I interviewed this amazing girl.I published the interview with her in the book "Study in America" ​​published by Peking University Press in 2000.

This is an example of a foreign language student finding a financial job through a summer internship and establishing a career in finance and law.I also have a friend who was actively engaged in the department’s blackboard newspaper and Peking University’s school magazine while he was in the English Department of Peking University.This job was originally an excuse for college students to have excess energy and find a partner, but he found a taste for it, and since then he has determined to engage in news writing and has made many friends in this regard.Before he graduated, he was admitted to the journalism department of Columbia University in the United States and became a professional journalist. (The only pity is that because he has no real media experience in China, he stayed in the United States to work after graduation. He wanted to come back but had no chance. He is still wandering all over the world, unable to find his own foundation).

This is the story of a foreign language student entering the journalism industry through campus activities. I also have a friend in the English Department of Peking University, who stayed at Peking University to teach public foreign languages ​​after graduation-this job should be the most common, the most ordinary, and the least romantic job for foreign language students.But this guy saw the society's need for English learning in teaching, so he plunged into the rapids of English teaching—just like he plunged into the river to catch fish and shrimp when he was a child.In the end, after fighting for ten years, he created New Oriental and became Yu Minhong.The work he has done so far is still public foreign language—providing first-class English training for the Chinese public to connect with the world.

This is a model for foreign language students to find a career in life through work practice. The above three stories actually illustrate a thought, the most important thought that I have advocated when I was doing study abroad consulting at New Oriental for many years: the life design of studying abroad should be to accumulate Chinese experience for Chinese opportunities, and to obtain Chinese experience to capture Chinese opportunities .Studying abroad is just a catalyst, a link, and a relay between Chinese experience and opportunities. In other words, for you language majors, including many social sciences, humanities and engineering college students, if you want to study abroad and have a bright future, it is best to have some work experience in China.Work experience will often become your major for studying abroad, and it will often be your career after studying abroad.In this way, your troubles surrounding studying abroad will be easily solved! Therefore, for you and all the students who have not yet found their "study abroad major" and "employment goal" after studying abroad, whether you are a first-year freshman or a fresh graduate, my suggestion is: go deep into social practice, whether it is a summer job , Campus work and post-graduation work are all available, go for an internship and work yourself.In the process of internship and work, discover your own interests, discover your strengths, discover your weaknesses, discover your dislikes, and finally discover yourself—find your career goal that you want to pursue in your life, and in the process of this career goal On this basis, decide what major you want to study abroad. Let me tell you a most unromantic but exciting story of "practice leads to future": Being a tutor is an experience that almost every college student has.What is there to be excited about being a tutor?However, I personally know at least two or three friends who have established chain stores and large companies as tutors, and have become millionaires (mother-in-law) in the tutoring field.These guys have no plans to study abroad.But I told them that tutoring in foreign countries is actually as developed as in China.There is a company called "Sylvan Learning", which is a listed company on Wall Street, and its tutoring branches are all over the world (this company is said to have an investment relationship with ETS-to be tested).It can be seen that even in the field of tutoring, there are outstanding colleagues in the world for us to learn from!You should also continue to go abroad for short-term study abroad.Go to learn scriptures like Tang Seng, but travel a thousand miles faster than Monkey King.It is conceivable that if the above two friends who are tutors really listen to my advice, they will go out every year for inspections to see how the extracurricular tutoring industry is done in foreign countries. These ideas and methods learned from abroad will have a great impact on their business development. What a push there will be!However, although a person needs to continuously improve in his life, the only regret is that studies and career are sometimes a pair of natural enemies.Take this end and leave that end.How to balance our continuous learning and the needs of earning a living and starting a business is another major topic, so I won't talk about it here. In this era of great change, there is a characteristic of anxiety, and everyone is impetuous.Once, I told three beautiful girls from your school the idea of ​​"practice leads to future, work is gold". I hope they will work in China for three to five years, accumulate experience and money, and prepare for going abroad.They suddenly said: Teacher Xu, we are all girls. Girls go abroad after 25 years old. They are so old, it is difficult to find a partner!The implication is that they may be willing to follow my advice and stay in China for three or two years, but Mr. Xu, I must provide them with a guarantee of three guarantees of love, otherwise, they will leave the country immediately. So I said: Why do you want to study abroad?I feel that I am not capable enough to realize my dreams.To realize your dreams is to realize yourself.What you are looking for now should be "self", not "object".If you find an "object" before the "self" is realized, and this object cannot synchronize with you on the road to self-realization by leaps and bounds, the final result must be that you find yourself, he loses self-confidence, and finally the "object" falls behind --divorce.This is why the divorce rate of international students is so high. I hope you don't learn from your three beautiful but anxious female seniors.Pursuing studying abroad for the sake of future is a good thing, but forgetting the purpose of studying abroad "career" for the sake of studying abroad is the biggest foolish thing.Focus on going abroad instead of "experience" which determines the future of the pursuit of life, go abroad in a daze, study in a daze, stay abroad in a daze, few people like this are happy and successful.Even if he thinks he is happy and successful, the sacrifices and gains in his life are definitely not as cost-effective as my design.Studying abroad also has a cost-effective problem.The cost-effectiveness of studying abroad is the cost-effectiveness of youth and life.In any case, we must invest cautiously and estimate rigorously. I've never been against people going abroad.I am an advocate of studying abroad in China.I just use my experience and wisdom to tell you a more cost-effective plan for studying abroad.Come to think of it, it wasn't such a great idea—it always made me feel very inferior. Am I digressing?I don't think so.My theme is: language students who do not have a major in foreign language colleges want to go abroad. It is best to discover their major through work practice and accumulate experience in this major, and then decide "what to study abroad". Wait a moment!Who said that students in foreign language colleges "have no major"?Isn't language a profession?Especially an English student like you?Foreign language learning in China is becoming a prairie fire.You who are learning English are the fire that people are vying for.Necessity is the mother of success.You are the denominator of success.If a student who learns English cannot see the great prospects of his major in China today, he is simply a person who has lost his money and vision. It turns out that the blind spot of the mind and the blind spot of vision are equally terrifying and dark! "If you are given three days of light", you will carefully recognize those currency symbols. Don't tell me you're not interested in teaching English.There are not many people in the world who really "love" their major.Just look at today's Yu Minhong, who no longer lectures!But everyone needs to make a living.When Yu Minhong founded New Oriental, it was just for one word: to make a living.The only difference between him and countless English teachers who are unsung heroes is that he has done a good job in the New Oriental cram school, making this "employment" for making a living a "profession" that he can engage in all his life, and it has become a reflection of himself. The "career" of life value.Employment for survival—occupation for lifelong development—career for the value of life—this is the basic track of the life development of every highly educated person, and it is also the theory of life value that I invented.Sorry, I have to repeat this theory of mine here. The "cause" that embodies the value of our life, the so-called cause, valuable cause in English, is actually contained in our employment first.The ancients said: "Three hundred and sixty lines, the number one scholar will emerge from the line." Industry, this is a classic platform for making a living.Can a person who has become a "champion scholar" in the industry have no value in his life? !The most important life mission of today's young people is not to find happiness.This is not the nature of life.The essence of life is to maintain and develop life itself.To maintain and develop one's own life, the basic premise is not interest, but survival.Why worry?Only Du Kang; how to survive?Only work.Only by working can you have money to buy Dukang to relieve your worries. By the way, Li Bai drank binge all his life, even when he didn't have a job, what would he do if he didn't have money?He persuaded people to sell the things at home to buy wine for him.There is a poem as proof: "Why does the master say that he has little money, he must buy it for his discretion. Five-flowered horses, thousands of gold furs, Hu'er will be exchanged for fine wine"... Throughout the ages, people are encouraged to sell things and buy wine for him to drink instead of Li Bai is the only person called a scoundrel by history! Closer to home.Teaching English is one of the biggest and best ways to earn a living—a career—for English students.In this sense, studying English teaching abroad (TESOL in the United States, ESL in Canada, TEFL in the United Kingdom, and TESOL in Australia, all of which can be read with a master’s degree), as well as the English teaching-related things you mentioned in your letter A master's degree in education is also a wonderful choice for English students.In the future, how many New Orientals, how many English teachers are needed, and how many new-type school education managers are needed in China!Voila, your employment and career problems are almost solved!congratulations. Once a person confirms what he is doing, he must devote himself to doing it seriously.A person who does one thing repeatedly is a genius at that thing.So, don't say you lack talent for teaching English.Up to now, I still feel dissatisfied that Yu Minhong, who has not been pursued by a girl for four years in college, can become a generation of English teaching masters. You—I guess you must have been in a relationship, and you have more than Teacher Yu once you have a relationship—you have a more promising future. !Because, people who know how to fall in love must know how to make the other party happy or make the other party unhappy.It's pretty much the same as teaching.To teach English, as long as you treat students with one-third of the passion and love, passion and devotion, is there any reason why you can’t teach English well? A lot has been said above about teaching English.Actually, I'm just talking in English!I also encourage language students to go into any other applied industry. Wang Huiyao, a representative of "New China Entrepreneurs", said that MBA is a generalist education.In fact, English talents are a kind of generalist with great powers.By the way, Wang Huiyao himself is a graduate of the English Department of Xi'an Foreign Languages ​​University - worked in the Ministry of Economics and Trade to find a career path in business management - went abroad to study for an MBA, and thus achieved success in his life struggle. To paraphrase the old saying of wisdom: three hundred and sixty lines, every line needs a foreign language.Everything is a place where students from the foreign language department can become champions.Taking advantage of the fact that China's education system is not so perfect, the talent training system is not so comprehensive, opportunities and loopholes coexist, make full use of the flexibility and versatility of your own language learning, choose an industry, and stick to it. As long as you stay underwater for long enough, when you float up, your hands must be full of live and alive seafood.Well, I've said enough.In the face of employment, what to do and what to learn, I can't describe here one by one, and it is meaningless to say it.Because practice brings true knowledge and experience brings success.In this era of rapid changes in values ​​and talent opportunities, the most important thing for a young person is to have the vision to capture opportunities—this is the vision of the first of the four IONs of talent success that I proposed in "Tuqiong Dialogue" . Those who pursue success first need to have a vision.But where does vision come from?From the market, from money, from business awareness, from social development trends.As the great river goes east, there will always be people who cannot see the future and make wrong choices and will be overwhelmed by the era; there will always be people who see the opportunity and jump into the sea to become a wave-maker who rides the wind and waves.How to choose an industry, how to grasp opportunities, how to pursue value... What is involved here is the values ​​and outlook on life that determine our destiny. This mission cannot be fulfilled in this letter.I will continue to explore this issue with you elsewhere. "Tuqiong Dialogue" basically clarifies what we should choose and what we should not blindly follow.If you go back to read "Tuqiong Dialogue" after reading this letter of mine, you will definitely have a new feeling-to use the trust of the students in me to promote your own book, it is shameless and do what it is-who let Why did I write this practical case of "My New Oriental Life Consultation" before more excellent books appeared?For the future of the students, I can only make this sacrifice... Guilty, and proud of it! I don't think I need to answer the second question in your letter related to studying abroad.Once you have experience and a major, you will have a career direction and happiness. When you return to China or stay abroad, you will have a full future guarantee, and you will no longer need to ask Mr. Xu... Wait a minute!I suddenly discovered that the premise of the necessity of Teacher Xu is the unhappiness of the students!It's terrible, help... that's all for today.I will look for another opportunity and carefully answer your questions about whether it is necessary and how to enter a foreign company. Teacher Xu Dear Teacher Xu: thanks for your reply!It means a lot to me!To some extent, it marks a turning point in my life choice - without it, I would choose another path - although I can't predict whether the blind study abroad path will really help my development, but What I am sure of is that the path of "China's opportunity theory" you emphasized will never be a wrong path. My question was so "ridiculous" that I almost laughed when I re-read it now.It can be seen from this that the confusion of myself and the generation of young people around me is deep.We grew up in the era of reform and opening up, but we still receive a lot of traditional education from our parents.Fierce competition and the ardent hopes of our parents often make us lose ourselves.We are impetuous, restless, troubled... We are eager for a way to show ourselves and realize our self-worth!To be honest, nine out of ten college students today have no plans for their future, and some only have some abstract goals.Herd mentality and comparison mentality abound... I can’t deny that, so do I.When I first decided to go abroad, the biggest reason was probably that my former high school alumni went to the United States, Canada, and New Australia, which made me yearn for it.Later, when I went to university, under the influence of some kind of psychology, I ranked the major destinations after graduation: going abroad first, postgraduate entrance examination second, and finding a job last.Hehe, it's ridiculous to think about it now, how can these choices be graded?Some returnees can’t find their own position, and there are many postgraduates who don’t have a job, but those with work experience have a unique advantage... The so-called correctness is relative and must be witnessed by the market. However, when I told the above remarks to my classmates who planned to go abroad together at that time, they shook their heads—"How can undergraduates compete with graduate students in finding a job?!" or "If I can't go to the United States, I will go to Canada or Australia , I must go out anyway!" "According to what you said, I will be in my twenties when I go abroad again, and I won't be able to take those tests..." Mr. Xu, I now deeply understand your anxiety!These classmates of mine are excellent, but they firmly bind themselves to diplomas and gold-plated study abroad, and refuse to devote themselves to the broader world of work practice. Therefore, this is what I would like to suggest to you: publicize your "China Opportunity Theory" more widely!Don't let smart Chinese students waste their precious youth! ——I thought of Ke Lian, Le Yiyin and Shi Yu in "Tuqiong Dialogue Records", and couldn't help shivering...a small mistake in choice can have such a profound impact on a person's life... From this, I thought of what you have always advocated-career goal theory.I think this is your most pointed exposition besides "China's Opportunity Theory".Its importance lies in the fact that its scope is not only about whether to go abroad or not, or whether to study abroad or not, but how to reach the end in a planned way throughout the whole life.In this sense, the social benefits it brings will shelter more than one generation! ——Perhaps I feel like flattery when I say this, but my previous generation can prove it!Aren't they the ones suffering the pain of unemployment and layoffs?Of course there are historical and social factors, but their lack of reasonable career planning cannot but be said to be a major reason.Just because our parents have already learned such a lesson, our generation should avoid repeating the same mistakes. A person's life consists of many aspects: career, marriage, family, friends and so on.Among them, career is not only the foundation for people to survive, but also the basic way to realize self-worth.I remember reading a survey. Among the unemployed Americans, the vast majority of people feel frustrated not because they have lost a job, but because they feel unemployed because they feel that they are no longer useful.I think the Chinese should be the same.For our college students, although it is not yet unemployed, the distress and hesitation of not being able to find one's own position is even worse.How to find career goals?After reading your writings and letters, based on my own understanding, I can summarize it as: market + interest.I think this market does not refer to a popular industry in a narrow sense, but any industry with development potential for different people, even archaeology.Archeology may be out-and-out unpopular in the eyes of many people, but if you are interested in it and seize the opportunity to study it, it is also a good profession.The problem is, Mr. Xu, we are still too young, how can we seize the fleeting opportunities?How to have the vision you proposed to grasp the social development trend? —These questions may be too broad and not your obligation, but I still hope that you will give me some advice and give me some pointers. This letter is so heavy, but yours is so witty and serious.Please forgive me, Mr. Xu, I'm just an ordinary college student with anxiety!I look forward to the day when my reply to you will also be in a relaxed tone, and that day will be the day when your theory will be verified again. Ding Nan