From: Alienthe@hotmail.com   
      
   FixinDixon wrote:   
      
   >>Education and career structure varies around the world. Just   
   >>to return to Japan (for that extra Cyber-point) the time at   
   >>University is a time of freedom. It is murder to get in to the   
   >>elite universities but once in life is actually rather good and   
   >>many have a job as well (or "arbaito" as they call it). These   
   >>can often be mundane jobs, yet after graduation they might go to   
   >>the ministries or megacorps. On retiring many start a corner   
   >>shop or something similar. The point is, their career path is   
   >>changing across time, while other countries it is more or less   
   >>set and continue at the same level. It seems to work for them,   
   >>why don't you think it will work in the West?   
   >>   
   >   
   > It does work in the west.  I'm at uni, and just about everyone I know   
   > HAS to have a job to put food in their mouths.  Personally, I've   
   > worked in PR, warehouse stacking, bar work, data entry and   
   > tele-marketing, and I'm willing to bet that a lot of other students   
   > have worked in many different jobs as well.  We're all going into   
   > fields to use our degrees and yes, some of the jobs we've taken are   
      
      
   Interesting. It didn't use to be like that; I guess the   
   student loan system has something to do with it. I used to   
   be in academia and in the UK about 10 years ago and students   
   (especially undergrads) then rarely had part time jobs.   
      
   > related to our prefered field.  Once we enter a job, we do move around   
   > a bit.  For example, my father (Geography degree) started work with   
   > Customs and Excise, then worked with a computer company, then moved   
   > into telecommunications, then bought a residential home full of people   
   > with Altzeihmer's.   
   >   
   > The point is not that it doesn't/won't work in the West, because a lot   
   > of people change careers and become successful (Vinnie Jones or   
   > Michael Ballack for example).  The point is that the people who do   
      
      
   My point was not that people do/don't change careers, rather   
   my point was that in the West the level tended to be generally   
   level or upward while in Japan a salariman might on retiring   
   from his corporation job end up doing something very different.   
      
   Also the UK changed a lot under Thatcher; it used to be that   
   a degree in, say, ancient Hebrew, might be all the qualification   
   needed to get a job in the civil service. These days it is   
   different though transition period had some oddities and that   
   many from the old days are still in the system.   
      
   > become successful are the ones who are willing to put the effort in   
   > and change to something and do well at it.  Japanese culture   
   > encourages hard work.  Western culture does, but only on an economic   
   > level, not on a social level as in Japan.   
      
   Very, very broadly, I might agree. Of course there are   
   variations such as Western cultures that have more emphasis   
   on culture than others.   
      
   ==<)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)