'Most parents think the ideal job is to sit in an office all day'

Updated: 2015-07-27 07:43

By Tang Yue(China Daily)

  Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按钮 0

YIN YIMING, 22

Graduate of the dual vocational education program by Tianjin Sino-German Vocational Technical College and Bosch Rexroth (Beijing) Hydraulic Co. Ltd.

I was enrolled in the program in 2012 and had a chance to go to Bamberg in Germany for six weeks last summer to study.

To be honest, it was really beyond my and my family's expectation, and I was so thrilled as one of only two students selected. You know, normally in China, only students in universities have access to exchange programs to study overseas. Who has ever heard of a chance like that for vocational college students?

The experience was really eye-opening. The dual vocational training has a history of more than 100 years, and every part of it well developed. There is lot for us to learn. There was not only a training center for the students, but also an establishment called the junior factory, where students in the last year of the three-year program can finish some easier parts of a real production.

The sense of responsibility and the respect they show to each other was very impressive. We needed to buy new SIM cards and enable them when we first arrived, and they gave us very detailed step-by-step guidance on how to do it, which was very caring.

In China, parents still hold great sway over their children's choice of study and profession. Unfortunately, most parents think the ideal job is to sit in the office all day rather than work in a plant. I'm afraid many of them don't really know what is going on in our classroom and in today's factories. It is different from the old days, when it required a lot of labor but not much skill and when it was poorly paid. Not all students in vocational school are second tier; you have to be smart and hardworking to be a good technician.

People now keep talking about upgrading manufacturing. Without enough talent in the industry, it will be castles in the air.

I became a full-time staff member this month. I'll try to learn as much as I can from the job. At the same time, I am considering doing a degree in automation, or one that is engineering related, as well as improving my English. You have to keep studying if you want a better career; that's true for any profession.

Yin Yiming talked to Tang Yue.

'Most parents think the ideal job is to sit in an office all day'

8.03K