Ann Hui
Lose this, and forget about your future
We’re told that education is more than a piece of paper. Not everyone has that luxury
Imagine going to school for 18 years and having no proof of it afterwards.
That’s the situation some Chinese university graduates are currently facing. As the New York Times reports, losing your ‘file’ in China (a sealed envelope handled by Chinese government officials containing the sole existing record of all of your credentials) can mean losing your future.
In this case, Xue Longlong, along with 10 or so other college graduates with once-bright futures, had their files “lost” (they suspect they were stolen and sold), thus losing proof of their university education and any hope of finding well-paying jobs. Now, they’re struggling to pay off their student debts while working low-paying gigs.
Xiaomei, Longlong’s sister, is quoted as saying that although she once thought that she, too, would go to university, she’s now reconsidering because of what happened to her brother.
“I want to quit,” she said during a school lunch break. “My brother graduated from college. What good did it do him?”
Here in North America, we’re always being told that postsecondary education is about higher learning, and not just a piece of paper. We’re always reminded that our motivation should be a desire to learn and expand our minds, rather than simply to get a good job.
Elsewhere in the world, this story reminds us, not everybody has that luxury.
First, a bit about me
I wear a lot of hats. Both literally and figuratively. Literally, to rub it in to my sister, who has an abnormally large head and cannot wear hats. In return, she ridicules my cankles. Don’t cry for me. It could be worse. But I digress. Figuratively, because at the moment, I’m a summer news reporter [...]
I wear a lot of hats. Both literally and figuratively.
Literally, to rub it in to my sister, who has an abnormally large head and cannot wear hats. In return, she ridicules my cankles. Don’t cry for me. It could be worse.
But I digress.
Figuratively, because at the moment, I’m a summer news reporter here and also master of journalism at Ryerson. During school months, I’m a TA and occasional government worker, too.
In the past, I’ve also worked here, here, and graduated with a political science degree from UBC.
I may be a newshound, but I’m no ambulance-chaser. Some journalists like the hard news stuff: the corruption, the police shoot-outs and the three-car highway crashes.
Not I.
I like the strange stories—the town convinced that’s there’s a leprechaun in the tree, the mysterious cow that washed up on Victoria’s waterfront, or the woman who builds cat condos in Toronto.
That’s what I plan on writing about here: strange, quirky stories in a campus setting. I’m thinking this should work, because most students are young.
And, well, young people sometimes do strange things.
