Submitted By: Rob Belloni

In America, we take career choice for granted. From an early age we are often asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up.” This article, by Li Yuan at the Wall Street Journal points out that for most teenage Chinese, career choice is determined by their parents.

We also learn that for college age Chinese students, there is an expectation that they will provide for an extended family which may include parents and in-laws. Talk about the opposite of America, where parents are expected to help students all the way through college, and often beyond.

I can see good and bad arising from this societal norm. The good is that the careers advanced by the parents are money makers; careers that will provide benefit to the economy. I can’t recall ever seeing a homeless Chinese person in the US, and I’m sure this is one of the reasons. The bad is that for the individual student, their life may turn in to misery if they are doing something they detest.

In my unscientific opinion, these sort of norms tend to flip-flop between generations, and it will be interesting to see what the next generations of Chinese and Americans decide is appropriate for their children. In talking with my friends in their early 20’s, many of them seem to be floundering around wondering what to do with their lives. They want to do something that makes them happy and makes the money. But the reality is that to get the money, they have to do something undesirable. One trend I see as a result is that this age group is spending more time in school to avoid starting undesirable careers. If things don’t go well for them, when the time comes to leave the nest, they may take a more Chinese approach with their own children.

For the Chinese 21 year-olds just entering the work place and discovering that working 70 hours a week for a consulting firm isn’t all that fun, they may decide to offer their children a little more choice when the time comes. The gentleman interviewed in this article already went this route himself, and seems likely candidate to advocate broad choices for his own children.

In conclusion, I would simply offer that life should be a balance. The “Mr. Rodgers” approach of telling everyone they are special and they can do anything they want to is a one-sided approach that can have detrimental effects. At the same time, offering your child no choice and telling them exactly what they must do is equally one-sided, with accompanying drawbacks. It will be interesting to observe how these two demographics interact when they meet around the water cooler. Something tells me they will learn from each other, and find solutions for life that meet in the middle.