What is the guiding principle followed by bright young college-educated people working in the information technology industry today? Most -- 42.5 percent -- chose the idea of “survival of the fittest” as their “favorite life motto” in a recent survey conducted by the China Youth Research Center. Some 87.8 percent of those surveyed have received at least three years’ higher education.
Most of the high-tech whiz kids who took part in the survey revealed aggressive and competitive personalities. For example, in their responses to “how to achieve your life goal,” some 54.6 percent chose the answer “by personal efforts.” What would they do if a promotion opened up at work? Some 63.5 percent said: “Compete to try to get the job.” If they were to face competition from more competent colleagues, most -- 70.5 percent of the young people surveyed -- chose this solution: “Work harder to outscore them.”
Among the youth surveyed, nearly half held bachelor degrees, about 10 percent master’s degrees and a little over 2 percent held doctorate or post-doctorate degrees. And another some 25 percent had received at least two to three years of higher education. Though highly educated compared to workers in most industries, the information technology workers still want to learn more, according to the survey: Some 95.3 percent said they wished continue their studies so as to master new knowledge and technology required to keep up-to-date with the IT industry’s rapid development and progress.
(新华社 [Xinhua News Agency], translated by Alex Xu for china.org.cn, June 3, 2002)
