Graduates Face Many Barriers in Job Hunting (. ,{x)H
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It is graduation time again. Whether joining the social workforce or pursuing advanced studies, about four million Chinese graduates will soon turn a new page in their lives. Still, no matter what, campus life will remain deeply etched on the minds of China's former students. What lies ahead for the country's graduates? f qol-{F.V
Statistics released by relevant departments of China show that in 2006, graduates from all Chinese colleges and universities numbered 4.13 million, up 750,000 from 2005 with a growth rate of roughly 22%. Hence, the employment tension further intensifies. Meanwhile, various intangible barriers exist in social relations, regional restriction, permanent residency and university's reputation have made the graduates' job-hunting process tougher. b/=>'2f
Some analyze that against the backdrop of intensified employment tension for university graduates, needy students from rural and urban areas usually find themselves in relatively inferior positions. 0LP>3"Sm
Some graduates realize that in order to get a job, they have to sign some "unfair treaties" that promise not to take the postgraduate exam or leave the company within several years, or they have to pay 5,000 Yuan for breaching the contract. Some recruiters even declare openly that they only need students from famous universities, so graduates from other schools are not even entitled to apply. 1mx;b)4t
Currently the contradiction in China's higher education has transferred from entering to leaving a university and from the difficulty in enrollment to employment after graduation. It has become a common phenomenon that "graduates become jobless". Should this problem not be tackled rightly, the employment issue would turn into a new factor that causes social instability. ZXWm? 9uw
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College—A New Experience {|Fn<&
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Living at college, first of all, gives me a sense of responsibility, of being on my own. My parents aren’t around to say, “No, you’re not going out tonight” or “Did you finish your homework?” Everything I do has to be my decision, and that gives me the responsibility of handling my own life. During the second week I was at college, I had to go out and look for a bank where I could open an account. Before that I looked in the phone book since I had no clue about any banks around here or where they were located. I went to the bank and made decisions for myself—whether to have a checking or savings account and whether or not to get a MASTER card. BagV
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Friendly people: that’s another aspect I like about college. On my first day (and even now) people were nice to me. I came to Marymount University here in Virginia from New York and – even though I’d been here before—I was a bit confused about where I was going. My mother and I drove in, not knowing the building we were supposed to go to, and the guard was especially nice: with a smile, he told us what building we were looking for and where we could park our car. Some upperclassmen saw me and asked, “Are you a new student?” When they found out I was looking for my dormitory, one said, “Oh, just follow us; that’s where we’re going.” Even now I feel comfortable in the dorm because there are friendly people around to talk with. `P;uPQDzZ3
Finally—to add to my likes of college—I love having Saturdays off. Also, I love to sleep in, something I couldn’t do in high school. W1O m$S1
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How Can We Finance Our College Education? r / L
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Nowadays, tuition fees for college are much higher than ever before. How to finance our college education has become a matter of concern for many students, especially those who are from the remote areas. E^m2:J]G
Actually, there are many ways to solve this problem. We can get the money from our parents. We can apply for a loan especially set up for college students. We can also acquire the money entirely by ourselves, keeping a part-time job in our spare time and doing a full-time job in summer and winter holidays. Or we can ask our parents for most of the money and earn the rest in our spare time in college. IPnx5#eB
As far as I am concerned, I prefer the last way. I don't want to depend entirely on my parents, which will be a burden to them. Nor do I want to work in my free time for the tuition alone, because I would like to have enough time for my school work. If my parents pay most of the tuition for me, I will work part time for the rest and this, I believe, can make my college life rich and colorful.
