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UnitOneEducationChineseHigherEducationFailstheTestByRobertHartmann(Adapted)OpinionpollsinChinainthepastyearhavegenerallylistedthecountry'shighereducationasoneofthethreemajortargetsofgrowingpublicdiscontent,withtheothertwobeinghealthcareandhousing.InChina,wherelearningusedtobehighlyesteemedbecauseoftheConfuciantradition,universitygraduateswereonceregardedasheaven'sfavoredoneswhowouldneverworryaboutemployment.Butthisyearseeingarecordhighunemploymentrate,quiteanumberofuniversitygraduateshavetakenjobsashousemaids,securityguardsorunpaidtrainees.Evenso,halfofthemorethan4milliongraduatesremainedjoblessmonthsafterleavingschool.Inlightofthis,MinistryofEducationofficialsinchargeofstudentaffairshavemadeapublicappealthatuniversitygraduatesshouldbepreparedtocompetewithordinarylaborersinthejobmarket,whichraisesthequestion:Ifauniversitygraduateislikeanordinarylaborer,whatisChina'shighereducationfor?CriticshaveconcludedthatthewholeofChina'shigher-educationsystemisproblematic,fromstudents'admission,totheireducation,totheirgraduation.Theentrance-examproblem.Thestrictunifiedexamhasbeenseverelyblamedbymanyineducationcirclesforbeingonlygoodatenrollingbookwormsandcreatinginequalityandinjustice.Tobesuccessfulinpassingtheentranceexam,youngstershavetoburythemselvesinbookstacks,completelydivorcedfromsocialreality,andstrivewithalltheirmighttoscoremorepointsbycomingclosertothestandardanswers.Moreoftenthannot,thebestperformersinsuchexamscannotstanduptoanoraltest,oranadmissioninterview.Theemploymentproblem.Whilehigher-educationenrollmentstillfollowsthemodeofplannedeconomy,theemploymentendhasbeenlinkedtoafree-marketeconomy.Thetwoareobviouslyincompatible.Theblameforthisemploymentcrisisseemstorestontheexplosiveover-enrollmentofstudents,withmanyinmajorsthatarenotdemandedinthemarket.Thequalityproblem.Ifuniversitiescanberegardedasfactories,thengraduatesaretheirproducts.Generallyspeaking,thetargetofuniversityeducationistoproduceeitherspecialistsorall-aroundpersonswithawiderbackgroundofknowledgeandpossessingdeeperintelligencereservesasrequiredbythesociety.Theformertaskusedtobetakenupbythespecialistinstitutes,andthelatterbytheso-calledcomprehensiveuniversities.InChinacurrently,however,thespecialistinstitutesproducestudentswithoutadequateandupdatedspecialistknowledge,whiletheall-aroundslackawideenoughoutlook.Moreover,whatthestudentslearninuniversitiesoftencannotmeettheneedsofthedevelopingindustries.Anexampleofthisisthetechnicalpeopleneededindevelopingonline-gameindustries,whichhavetogettheirhumanresourcesfromnon-officialschools.Thefinancialproblem.Underthetrendofeducationindustrialization,annualuniversitytuitionfeeshaveskyrocketedtobetween5,200and8,000yuanperstudent,about20timeswhattheywere10yearsago.Howcanloworevenmedium-wagefamiliesaffordsuchhighfees?Whereistheequalityoftherightofeducation?Chinaisknowntopossessampleforeign-currencyreserves,butstatisticsshowthatgovernmentinvestmentineducationamountstoonly3.3%ofgrossdomesticproduct,considerablylowerthantheglobalaverageof4.2%.Itwasreportedthatin2003thefeescollectedbytheuniversitiesaddedupto40billionyuanandyetthetotalgovernmentinvestmentwasonly70billionyuan.Theonlywayoutrestructuringofthesystem.Alltheseproblemsconsistinanoverallcrisisfacingthehigher-educationsystemduetoitsirrationalstructure.Thegovernmentstilldecidesthenumberofstudentstobeadmitted,imposesaunifiedentranceexam,anddetermineswhatsubjectsauniversitymayteach.Thisplannededucationcannotmeetthedemandsofthejobmarket.Tofacilitategenuineprogress,thegovernmentneedstolaunchathoroughrestructuringofthesystemtorelaxitsunnecessarycontrolsontheuniversities,toincreaseitsfinancialinput,andtogiveschoolsfullautonomytopilottheirownreforms.Unit1教育中国的高等教育不胜考验改编自RobertHartmann去年中国的民意调查都不约而同地将该国高等教育列为老百姓不满意度日增的三大目标之一（另外两个分别是医疗保健和房价）。以往中国人受儒家传统思想的影响，信奉“万般皆下品惟有读书高”，大学毕业生曾被捧为“天之骄子”，丝毫不用担心就业问题。但今年高失业率创下了记录，使得不少大学毕业生委身去做保洁员、保安，甚至是没有酬薪的实习生。即便如此，4百多万毕业生中还有一半毕业头几个月还找不到工作。鉴于此，教育部主管学生工作的官员公开呼吁大学毕业生应该做好在职场与“普通劳工”竞争的准备，这就产生了一个问题：如果大学毕业生和“普通劳工”一样，那中国的高等教育还有什么意义呢？批评人士总结说整个中国高教体系都是毛病多多，从学生的招收录取，到课程设置，乃至毕业去向。入学考试问题严格的统一考试制度被认为只适合招收死读书的人，制造不平等和不公而受到教育界许多人的严词抨击。为了顺利通过高考，年轻人不得不埋头于书山题海，完全与社会现实脱节，使出浑身解数为一个目标而奋斗—向“标准答案”再靠近一点，分数更高一点。这样的考试取得最佳成绩者常常在口试的时候，或者录取复试的时候败下阵来。就业问题高等录取这一块仍然沿袭“计划经济”的模式，而就业端一直与自由化市场经济挂钩。二者显然不相匹配。导致这场就业危机的原因似乎是学生人数的过度扩招，而且很多学生所学专业根本就没有市场需求。质量问题如果可以视大学为“工厂”，那么毕业生就是“产品”。通常大学教育的目标要么是培养专才，要么是培养全才，即有较广泛的知识背景，具备社会所需的较深智力储备的人。过去培养专才的任务是由专门研究型院校承担，培养全才的任务则由所谓综合性大学承担。然而当前在中国，专业研究型院校培养的学生不具备有充足能力、专业知识前卫的学生，“全才”们的视角不够宽广。而且，学生在学校学的知识常常无法满足新兴行业的需求。比如说网游开发行业所需的技术人员，不得不从民办高校招聘。资费问题在教育“产业化”的大潮下，每年大学学费和杂费一路高涨，已经涨到每人5200到8000元不等，大约是十年前的20倍。低收入工薪家庭，甚至中等收入的工薪家庭如何能支付得起如此高的学杂费啊？到哪里能找到教育平等权呢？众所周知中国拥有巨额外汇储备，但是统计数据表明政府的教育投资仅为国民生产总值的3.3%，大大低于全球平均值4.2%。据报道，2003年大学所收学杂费总额400亿元，但政府教育经费总投入却只有700亿元。唯一出路—重整教育体系结构不合理，使高教体系面临一个整体危机，才出现了所有这些问题。中国政府还在指定招生人数，实行统一入学考试，决定大学所开课程。这种计划型教育无法满足职场需求。为了取得真正的进步，政府需要彻底重整教育体系，放松对大学不必要的控制，增加财政投入，使学校有充分的自主权去试行自身改革。UnitTwoCareerChoices&EmploymentImproveYourResume----TipsforStrongerResumeBrandingByMegGuiseppi(Adapted)Itgoeswithoutsayingthatifyoucanwriteagoodresum