Comments on: David Brooks Knows China (Circa 1997)

By: taylor

taylor — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 01:32:58 +0000

“I thought a lot of what he wrote was thoughtful”

really? This article is just a rehash of the Asians=hard working Americans=creative spirit stereotype, presented as a platitude to Americans worried about competing with China. I guess it’s thoughtful to the extent that David Brooks had to imagine himself as a party member, but that wasn’t a good thought to begin with.

By: chriswaugh_bj

chriswaugh_bj — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:11:01 +0000

Yes, but government jobs are still highly sought after. They provide a lot of stability that is so rare in a rapidly changing society, and they offer kick-arse benefits that you don’t get elsewhere.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:00:49 +0000

I think Matt is right on point…

I had a contact teacher who came crying to me (a whole different situation in itself) because she failed her Test to get into a Masters school because of Politics. She got a perfect 100 on the English part and a 98 on the Foreign Language other than English part (Japanese in her case.) But only a 62 in Politics. Not having a high enough Politics score made her have to wait out another year, study intesively another year (so determined she was to pass it that she quit her secure teaching job) just to get 2-3 more points on the Politics part so she could obtain a Masters. (Over the top, a bit, Chinese, definitely.)

I know we shouldn’t get caught up in anecdotes but I just wanted to reiterate Matt’s point and something we can all ::sigh:: at because I am sure most readers of this blog have been a teacher/student in China at one point or another.

Rick
Shenzhen, China

By: En Ming Hee

En Ming Hee — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:05:08 +0000

He has just described Singapore, NOT China. Apparently some alternate continuum has swallowed him up and in that continuity, China has been renamed Singapore…

By: eric

eric — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:30:33 +0000

the elitist crowd takes forms other than the skulls and bones.
in a sense, china’s more of a land of opportunity than america is.
to think that mark zuckerburg (who, incidentally, went to harvard) would break into the ranks of upper east siders.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:05:03 +0000

@China Convergence

I didn’t know that. Incidentally he (Fred Smith) was on Fox News Sunday this past weekend. Not sure what that means…

By: China Convergence

China Convergence — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:38:45 +0000

“If you think of the most successful companies from the last 20 years (Google, Yahoo, Intel, etc), how many were started by Skull and Bones members? I’m guessing zero.”

Fred Smith is a member, but it’s been 37 years since he started FedEx. So you may be right.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:48:39 +0000

You are right that American corporations have lobbyist working for them exerting influence in the government. But in China, the lobbyist working for you are likely government officials, and not outside of the government trying to influence it. Your payment to your lobbyist can be reported as legitimate business expenses in the US, while you don’t report any expenses on the government officials doing your bidding in China. The lobbyists in the US are on a list with the government in the US, while your lobbyists in China are on the payroll of the Chinese government.

By: Matt in Chongqing

Matt in Chongqing — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:01:00 +0000

Something else to note about these “Second Tier Schools” is that many of the students who end up in these schools do markedly better in certain sections of the Gaokao than in others. Maybe they do great on the Math section and the English section but absolutely mess up the Politics. While there scores on the other sections might earn them entry to 北大, their low score on Politics, or whatever it might be, keeps them to a secondary school.

And like you correctly noted, this in no way is a marker of a life with an absolutely unfortunate future.