Jobs Attracting Drop-outs

At quitting time, a throng of very young workers walked tiredly out of the gate of the Lihua Printworks, a township enterprise in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, Guangdong Province. Fifty per cent were only 13 years old on the average, while the oldest were no more than 17.

    The teen-agers had to work 14 or 15 hours a day. They started at 7 a. m. every day and had to work until noon. After a one-hour lunch break they worked to 6 p.m. and then had another one-hour rest. Then they went to supper and went back to work again for three or four hours.
    Although life was very hard, none of them left. They earned 100 yuan a month. "I have much more money than my father, who is a middle school teacher, ?a girl said proudly.

    In Linxia, the capital of Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province, dozens of mosques were erected, attracting both tourists and pedlars. At the stands that sold beef, vegetables, fruits and books, children were doing business. The oldest were no more than 16 and the youngest about six. One child weighed a kilogram of apples on his balance scale. When he lifted it, the pan of the balance touched his feet. He staggered among the bustling crowds of tourists crying out for business.

    Since the Spring Festival of 1988, more than 1, 000 primary and middle school students at Yulin prefecture in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have left home to work in factories in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Dongwan County in Guangdong Province.

    Twelve students from the Xingchang Middle School in I.anzhou, Gansu Province, quit school. They left a letter that said:"Dear teacher: We are grown up. Since you taught us to be independent and selfsupporting, we are beginning now." These children, whose parents are all well educated, were good   students in their class.

    Not far away from Xi' an, an ancient capital in Shaanxi Province, there was a cave dwelling in which more than 30 youths were living. They were all boys between the ages of 11 and 18. "we came out to find a new life," said one boy. But life was not as beautiful as they had dreamed. They had no job and no money. Eventually, they gathered there.
    In Guangzhou 77 per cent of the juvenile delinquents under 18 were found to be truants.

    China News Service reported that it,s very difficult for well-known professors in the universities in Guangzhou to enroll their students.When a medical college planned to enroll 33 students, only 26 people applied .
    In March, 1988, a post-graduate majoring in mechanical engineering in Shanghai Jiaotong University, who came from a remote rural area, asked for permission to quit school. He said that for the sake of changing his backward hometown, he decided to return and do something for it. But he did not go back home; he became a businessman in Shanghai.

    "After three years of study, we will finally get our master's degree and 86.50 yuan as a monthly salary. That can not buy two sweaters. Knowledge is too cheap, "said a graduate student who had quit school.
    In 1988, when the State Commission of Education decided to try a new method of job assignment in some universities, letting the graduates choose their own jobs, and vice-versa, it unexpectedly disrupted the education process itself. Every college student and graduate was busy looking for jobs. They had no time to study.

    "We have no iron rice bowls. The earlier we find a job the better," said a student. A wave of quitting school and going into business has swept the campuses of many universities and colleges in China.
    After the chaotic 10-year-long "cultural revolution'? China had a shortage of 60 million engineers. Now it seems there is a second crisis. Only 11. 8 out of every 10, 000 people are receiving a higher education, 429. 1 studying in high school and 1, 324. 7 in primary school. More and more illiterates are living in the society.