Very interesting comments. In comparision, Singaporean students seem absolutely much more prepared to take on the world.
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Excerpt:
Close to a quarter of its young people are unemployed, but they're too busy burning cars to look for jobs. They're protesting a new policy allowing workers under age 26 to be hired for a two-year trial period during which – quelle horreur! – they could be easily fired.
"We're not disposable – we deserve better," said another student, Aurelie Silan. "Aren't we the future of France?" Yes, mademoiselle, you are.
That's the problem. What kind of college student wants a lifetime employment guarantee for the first job out of school? France's future is a generation of students whose idea of a good career – chosen by 75 percent of them in one poll – is a government job.
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Who moved my fromage?
By John Tierney
As student protesters and workers try to paralyze France, I don't suppose many of them are looking to America to come to their country's aid. Nor do I suppose many Americans are in the mood for a new Marshall Plan. But I have a modest proposal anyway.
Someone needs to rescue France from its self-proclaimed malaise.
Close to a quarter of its young people are unemployed, but they're too busy burning cars to look for jobs. They're protesting a new policy allowing workers under age 26 to be hired for a two-year trial period during which – quelle horreur! – they could be easily fired.
This policy, intended to encourage companies to take a chance on inexperienced workers, is being denounced for producing "slave jobs." It would be "like living beneath a guillotine," said Charlotte Billaud, a Sorbonne student.
"We're not disposable – we deserve better," said another student, Aurelie Silan. "Aren't we the future of France?" Yes, mademoiselle, you are.
That's the problem. What kind of college student wants a lifetime employment guarantee for the first job out of school? France's future is a generation of students whose idea of a good career – chosen by 75 percent of them in one poll – is a government job. The leaders of the French Revolution called for constant daring: "L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace." Today's street protesters are inspired by the motto "Contre la Precarite." Against Precariousness!
When French young adults were asked what globalization meant to them, half replied, "Fear." Beneath that facade of arrogance, the French are suffering from a condition apparent to any American. They have low self-esteem. They're not feeling empowered. They need that great engine powering our economy: the American self-help industry.
The French produce great Camembert, but they haven't absorbed the wisdom of Spencer Johnson's modern classic, "Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life." They haven't heeded Donald Trump's instructional CD, "Think Like a Billionaire." They haven't memorized Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" or Anthony Robbins' "Awaken the Giant Within." A few
French men and women have looked across the ocean for guidance – Robbins says he has advised Francois Mitterrand – but the French masses still haven't awakened their inner giants. And they won't, unless we help them help themselves by sending over the titans of the American self-actualization movement.
This Marshall Plan B wouldn't cost American taxpayers much beyond a few French lessons, plane tickets and hotel rooms.
The only serious objection I expect is from Americans worried about our GNP: Could the American economy struggle along without these gurus? But I think we're ready to go it alone, thanks to the billions of dollars of wisdom we've already stockpiled.
We've learned secrets like "Be Proactive" and "Think Win/Win" (two of Covey's seven habits). We now realize, thanks to Robbins, that "the past doesn't equal the future." We've paid $19.95 for Johnson's revelation: "Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese." We can afford to share this knowledge with the French. If they understood Covey's radical Win/Win theory – "Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial" – French students might not be marching now. They might wonder why they'd want to spend the rest of their lives (well, at least until they retire in their 50s) working for someone who doesn't want them around.
If the French students studied Johnson – "The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese" – they might even consider the possibility of changing jobs.
We could send them French versions of Donald Trump's CD, "How to Launch a Great Career," which does not include instructions on burning cars.
