Chapter 14 Part Two: The Future of Vocational High Schools is Vocational Education

Dear Teacher Xu: I graduated from a vocational high school and now I am facing a choice in life, I hope you can help me. I am a traditional, rule-abiding, high-minded girl.I never want to cause trouble for others, and I seldom quarrel with others.I am a person who does not want to express myself, and sometimes even suppresses my emotions too much.I have a strong self-esteem, and I have a good face, and I am a person who pursues perfection. Over the years, although the living conditions in my family have been excellent, I have never felt happy. I feel that I am always full of worries, and I am not at all lively and cheerful as a child should be.It can be said that I have lived with low self-esteem in the past ten years as a student.My academic performance in school has always been average. Although I usually work hard, the results of the exam are not always satisfactory.

Since I am not the kind of person who is willing to express myself, I am naturally not a popular person in front of the teacher.But I am a very strong person, I hope that I am better than others in everything, and at the same time I hope to get attention.But there is always a gap between the ideal and the reality. In addition, my math performance has not been ideal these years, which makes me feel very inferior.I always feel that I have encountered more difficulties than others, and I always complain about the unfairness of fate. After graduating from junior high school, I was admitted to a vocational high school and studied secretarial work.The life of the vocational high school is quite peaceful. I studied for two and a half years, and in the last six months I went to work for an internship.Another girl in my class and I came to our internship unit, a private air ticket agency, full of longing for the future.We were so disappointed when we got there.In a bungalow on the street, there are only two computers in the room. As for the employees, there are only three with our two girls.The owners are a couple.Well!Mom and pop shop.No way, if it comes, it will be safe.So we started a half-year internship.Although it is half a year, we seem to have experienced a century.Our job is to sell tickets and deliver tickets to others.

I still remember that it was winter, and it was snowing in the sky. I rode my bicycle through the streets and alleys, and I still had thousands of yuan in air tickets.In fact, it doesn't matter if you are tired or tired. What we can't accept the most is the attitude of the proprietress towards us.Acrimonious, almost like a dominatrix.Almost eating us.From morning to night, we were all in fear, afraid that we would be blamed for what we did wrong.We both thought about quitting many times, but we had to.Because if you don’t work until the end of the internship, you won’t get a diploma.We stuck with it anyway.This internship is a physical and psychological test for me, and it is a valuable experience in my life.Because after that time, no matter how difficult the environment is, I am not afraid anymore.

The sky is unpredictable, and the world is changing.First, my father lost his job, and then my grandfather suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital. One after another, the peace of our family of four was broken.At that time, the family was busy with grandpa's illness, but in the end, grandpa's illness stabilized.But this disease has sequelae, and someone at home must take care of it.So Dad shouldered the heavy responsibility. For a person in his 40s, it is the golden time for career development, but in the face of career and family, Dad resolutely chose to take care of Grandpa.

After experiencing these things, I feel that I have matured a lot.In the past, I would complain about the injustice of fate and give up on myself in the face of difficulties, but now I can't.Because I finally understand that although a person cannot directly choose his own environment, he can choose his own thoughts and thus shape his own environment.I have to be responsible for my own life, and I will never allow my life to be spent in vain and mediocrity, and I must let myself spend this life in happiness.So I want to design my life well.Because I want to make my family live a happy life through my own efforts!It is for these reasons that I am so anxious to ask for your guidance.

Last year, I participated in the adult college entrance examination and was admitted to Renmin University of China majoring in international trade (specialist).Because it is an evening university, there are only a few evening classes a week.Some friends around me advised me to find a job so that I could study while working.But I have my own plans.I don't want to look for a job during these three years.There are several reasons for this: 1. Studying while working is bound to affect learning, and sometimes class may be delayed due to work. 2. I want to use these three years to study English by myself.Because with the entry into the WTO and the success of the Olympic bid, English has become a skill that modern people should master.More importantly, I want to get myself out of the narrow living world by mastering English, so that I can develop myself better. (Because there are too many such examples around us: Wu Shihong, as well as many teachers from New Oriental)

3. I want to use my spare time to read more books.Because the more people read, the less they will be troubled by the external environment, the less they will be overwhelmed by loneliness, and more importantly, reading can increase wisdom and enrich the soul.In fact, I am not opposed to employment itself, I just want to gain skills through charging to make myself more competitive in the future.Teacher Yu Minhong proposed that if you want to live better, you only need to acquire a few skills.The first is natural ability, the second is technical ability, the third is knowledge ability, the fourth is the ability to deal with society and people, and the fifth is physical endurance and psychological endurance.Without these abilities, even if you are placed at the top of society, you will be kicked down by others and smashed to pieces.So I have to exercise myself to have these abilities.

But I have a few concerns: 1. With the expansion of university enrollment year after year, the number of university graduates has increased year by year since last year, causing great employment pressure. Even full-time college students may not be able to find a job, let alone a student who graduated overnight ? 2. If I do not look for a job within three years, it means that I will not have contact with society and people within three years. Is this bad for me? 3. Is it necessary for me to learn another self-examination major?Now there is a Sino-British cooperation with a double degree in business management and financial management, which I think is very good.

What do you think I should do?Do you think my plan works?Looking forward to your reply. Gao Zhi Dear Gao Zhi: You asked me in the letter: Do you want to give up your job, devote all your energy, and face the wall for three years to study for a college?My answer is a firm no. I suggest that you find a job immediately, pursue further studies while working, and strive to become a person who wins employment competitiveness, a confident and happy person in the professional field within three to five years.At the same time, it also becomes a person who does not stop on the road of further study and has room for development.

From your experience, I know that you have not been so smooth in your studies.The world is like this: some people are tall, they play basketball; some people have smelly feet, they play football; some people are good at mathematics, some people like words; For example, you are not good at it. It doesn't matter if you're not good at school, now that you've made it this far, you should think hard: what am I good at?Where should I light the torch of my youth?Instead of unimaginatively tying yourself to the altar of school education and continuing to suffer at the stake.The days of Joan of Arc are over, you don't have to be martyred for a degree.

Since you have not found your breakthrough in your studies from junior high school to technical secondary school, why not take advantage of the opportunity of just graduating and give yourself a chance to prove your excellence again—to find your self-worth at work?I believe that since you are a girl who "strives to be strong and pursues perfection", then, if you put this strength into your work, you may find the goal and direction of your struggle and become a successful and confident woman in the professional field. You are studying at a vocational high school, and a vocational high school has special value.It is a very serious and stupid strategic mistake to go to junior college immediately after graduating from vocational high school.By doing this, you have completely denied the role of vocational high school - vocational high school is not a preparatory course for junior colleges!Just as colleges are not primary products of undergraduates, technical secondary schools, junior colleges, undergraduates, masters, and doctors, each degree level, are indispensable in the talent value chain of a civilized society. Without any type of talent, this society will not be Integrity, civilization will be broken! Vocational high school has its unique value—it cultivates medium-level technical personnel, provides the society with active skilled workers and junior staff, and makes all areas of society have a labor force that has been trained, understands technology, and has a starting salary that is not so scary. In Switzerland, a country with the highest quality of life in the world, 70 to 80 percent of junior high school graduates choose various vocational high schools to complete their employment education.From then on, my life went on like this.Look, your road of life is the green education channel of the Swiss, congratulations! I do not deny that everyone wants to go to Peking University and Tsinghua University, and I do not deny that a high education is a kind of pride worth pursuing.But, please tell me, why do most people go to vocational high schools in a small Swiss country that has contributed so many high-quality products to world civilization and its own quality of life is also the best in the world?If the Swiss can do it, why would you do the opposite? Let me generalize this question and ask a bigger question: In China, a country whose quality of life is the lowest in the world, why can't we learn a little from Switzerland in this respect? The country has its difficulties, but since you have found me, you should listen to me, follow the life path guided by the vocational high school, and go on in the professional field.Live a fulfilling and satisfying life, and walk a life path of active work and continuous improvement. The sentiment reflected in your letter is actually a fatal impetuous and vanity sentiment in the field of Chinese education.A well-behaved technical secondary school student still shoulders the heavy burden of the hope and happiness of a not-so-smooth family, but refuses to create value through work to start a life, but spends three years ambitiously striving for what has been and is being done. A college diploma that makes countless people feel more inferior and depressed!Oh, I'm so mad! Since we were not born with psychic gems in our mouths, we can only polish our life diamonds by our own efforts.Don't cry for the unequal or even cruelty of fate. In the face of a bleak life, the only thing we can do is to reject its contempt, challenge it, and use our abilities to prove our success! The battlefield of this challenge, for you, is in the professional field and in the office building, not in the classroom, let alone in the degree. As you said, so many college students can't find jobs, and so many undergraduates have no way to make a living.In this desperate army, an unconvinced you came arrogantly and arrogantly. As a result, it is very likely that you, like them, will fall into a greater predicament in life. So your best way out now is to start working immediately instead of meeting three years later.Three years later, you will be older than now, your motivation will definitely be weaker than now, your self-confidence will probably not be as strong as it is now, and your newborn calf's bravery and fighting spirit that is not afraid of tigers may be worn down by the dull study of junior college Feelings of inferiority and failure. Especially, when one day in the future, one of your technical secondary school classmates brings his wealth and happiness to you, for fear that others will show off in front of you without knowing it, your self-confidence may collapse at that moment.The lost youth is gone forever; the lost self, even if he finds it again, is already full of scars. Starting to work, not to start studying, is the beginning of your happy life. Let me tell you a real little story here: In a department I was in charge of at New Oriental, there was a girl who had much worse conditions than you in all aspects.She is from a rural area and does not have a Beijing hukou, but she has a child and a husband who is also from a rural area.When she came to my company, she started as a typist and just typed out forms for several years.But guess where she had dinner afterwards? ——She started working at New Oriental with a monthly salary of more than 800 yuan, typing forms and filling out reports, and then began to manage customer information, and then was responsible for document collection, and finally became a document management expert.Three years later, her income reached nearly 4,000 yuan.Her ability to handle professional documents makes her one of the most inseparable people in New Oriental Consulting.Many colleagues in Beijing have been eyeing her, trying to poach her. This is a success story.This girl is just the most ordinary girl.However, this is the brand-new green channel for talents in the new economic era, showing its brilliance and calling to you and to many less fortunate people like you (less fortunate people like you)! There is nothing wrong with the plan you envisioned to improve your ability by studying secondary school to junior college, or even college to undergraduate (thank you for not mentioning this plan here).Man is a product of the education he has received.Those who are educated by wolves are wolf children who eat meat; those who are educated by Harvard are nasty "Harvard girls".But there is a basic mistake in your thinking, which is to forget that "work" is also a kind of education, and put all your hopes on continuous "reading and learning", closed reading, continuous accumulation of knowledge, and obtaining a higher degree superior. Your plan denies that the purpose of learning is to use, and the process of using is to learn this truth!Mao Zedong said: "Reading is learning, using is also learning, and it is more important learning." In fact, my consultation was nothing extraordinary, I just applied Chairman Mao's words to my thoughts.Stand on the shoulders of Chairman Mao and build a pergola to look forward - where is the road!How can I not be confident! One day in the second half of 2002, I met Mr. Jiang Jianning, President of China Youth Travel Agency, on a CCTV dialogue program.CYTS is actively opening travel branches in various communities in Beijing to deliver travel services directly to consumers.This episode of the dialogue program is about employment issues.At the recording site, Jiang Jianning said to a laid-off female worker who was unemployed at home: You can consider finding a job in such a tourist shop, and then slowly accumulate experience. In the end, if you can become a store manager, it is also a very good job. The way out! The travel branch business of CYTS is a pioneering work in China, and its development prospect is definitely very good.How many tourist shops like this will be needed in Chinese society in the future?You happened to be doing airline ticketing during your internship, which is the same thing as traveling.Compared with that laid-off female worker, your age advantage and educational background are much stronger than her!If from now on, you apply to work in a branch of CYTS (or any other travel agency), do the ticket business down-to-earth, and have great ambitions to be the store manager, I firmly believe that you will succeed in a very short period of time.Be a store manager, be a director, be a district manager, be a regional manager! ——that is, in charge of several branches in a certain area.Then, travel at public expense twice in three days - definitely not for corruption, but for business growth.Look, what a cool day it is! Finally, I want to say that I understand your desire to read more books.Reading is always a good thing.Reading can increase wisdom, but work can also enrich and beautify the soul.Because working is beautiful and helping people is beautiful.When the tourist groups go back and forth happily under your arrangement, your life will be like those people you helped, always laid out with green mountains and green waters, dotted with exotic flowers and plants everywhere, showing you all the time. Famous places of interest, your life will be like the road of tourists, always amazed, always novel, always the beauty of encounter and joy of reunion... I envy you, Xu Xiaoping