The number of college entrance examinations in 2023 is at a record high, is it still worth going to university?

Will this year be the most volatile college entrance examination? According to data released by the Ministry of Education on June 1, the number of applicants for the national college entrance examination in 2023 will be 12.91 million, an increase of 980,000 over last year, a record high, and this is also the fifth consecutive year that the number of college entrance examination students has exceeded 10 million.

The college entrance examination students in 2023 belong to the generation that grew up under "chicken and baby education". Since elementary school, this generation of children has faced high-intensity extracurricular learning, often running between tutoring classes. They are also the most challenging batch of candidates, and in the past three years, special circumstances have continued, they are often in the state of online classes, and their learning efficiency has been greatly reduced. Now, this generation of candidates will usher in the highest number of college entrance examination applicants in history, and the competition can be described as extremely fierce.

With the number of college entrance examinations hitting a record high in 2023, the number of college students will increase, but the difficulty of college students finding employment is also a real problem. So do children still have to squeeze the college entrance examination? Does the meaning and value of a child's college still exist? Today, we explore this question and explore the realities and challenges involved.

01

The value of college is not just about employment

According to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the scale of ordinary college graduates in the country is expected to exceed 10 million in 2023, and the employment situation is not optimistic.

Image source: @央视新闻

In March this year, a female college student in Hunan "cried" on the hot search because she repeatedly hit a wall in her job search. She interviewed for 30 companies, but all of them failed, leaving her frustrated and eventually broke down and cried. She cried that she studied program planning in college, but when she went to university, her daily courses were non-professional courses such as modern history and social practice, and there were very few professional courses.

The female college student thought she had some knowledge of all the courses she had taken during college, but was not proficient in any of them. She believes that the professional courses she studied during college are relatively single in content and lack richness and depth.

In recent years, problems such as the difficulty of employment and the high employment pressure of college students have attracted widespread attention from the society. College students are everywhere, and a well-known entrepreneur once said that it is not impossible for college students to make screws. In this regard, it has caused many parents to question college education, spending huge education costs to train a child to go to college, and after graduation to do the career that junior high school students can engage, then what is the point of children going to college.

It's true that college students face the hardest graduation season for employment, but we can't simply deny the value of college. Universities are not only for learning certain professional knowledge, but also for cultivating comprehensive qualities and thinking skills. At university, students are also exposed to a variety of cultures, ideas and knowledge, thereby broadening their horizons and cognition.

A child of a relative's family graduated from a well-known 985 school in China, and his major was an unpopular major. After graduation, he returned to his hometown in a third-tier city and worked in a small enterprise, receiving a monthly salary of three or four thousand. However, he did not lie down and sink for this, and has always insisted on publishing papers in professional journals.

Lady Luck always favors hard workers, and the boss of a famous domestic automobile company occasionally poached him directly after seeing the papers he wrote. Today, the children of relatives work in Guangzhou, a first-tier city, with an annual salary of millions.

The difficulty of employment of college students is a common problem facing the current society, which is also related to the quality and ability of college students, in fact, college students are still the most advantageous group in the employment force. They have relatively high cultural quality and professional knowledge, are young and energetic, have strong adaptability, and are more receptive to adapt to new working environments and work content.

With the development of society, the employment opportunities of college students are becoming more and more diversified, and they can not only choose traditional enterprises and institutions, but also choose entrepreneurship, freelance and other employment methods. Although graduation season can be one of the hardest times for college students, going to college is still a very worthwhile option.

A famous writer said that the most distressing thing for college students is facing employment problems and not knowing where to go in the future. But in fact, this problem is not difficult to solve, there are many possibilities in the path of life, as long as we have fighting spirit and determination, no matter which path we choose, there will be a way out.

02

University, the beginning of life's "golden years"

There is a realistic documentary called "Seven Years of Life", which follows the filming of 14 seven-year-old children, who are interviewed again every seven years since. In this documentary, a boy named Nick goes to college through his own efforts and eventually achieves a class jump.

Nick was born in the country and was a shy child when he was 7 years old. At the age of 14, Nick was a slightly inferior adolescent boy who was afraid to face the camera and was confused about the future.

When Nick was 21 years old, a big change took place. He was admitted to the physics department of Oxford University, and his whole person became talkative, and his words were full of confidence. The biggest factor in this change is college higher education, which, as Nick says, for him growing up in the countryside, college life has given him the opportunity to make up for the lack of ability to deal with people compared to children from urban backgrounds.

Image source: Documentary "Seven Years of Life"

After graduating from university, Nick became a theoretical physicist and was a tenured professor at an American university. From a rural kid, breaking down class barriers to becoming an elite. In the face of praise from others, he just proudly said that he did not achieve anything great, but was just admitted to a university.

Nick's experience is a classic example of a class leap that overcame the limitations of his origin and circumstances to become a successful professor, which speaks volumes about the importance and value of a college education.

First of all, the university provides high-quality educational resources and training opportunities, and the university not only provides professional courses and academic research, but also provides rich social and practical opportunities. Through studying and living at university, you can not only acquire specialized knowledge, but also acquire the ability to communicate and communicate with people.

Secondly, university education helps to improve personal qualities and broaden horizons. The University is an open academic environment that encourages students to think and explore. Through participating in academic discussions, club activities, and volunteer service, students can improve their overall quality and leadership. These qualities and abilities are very important for a person's future career and life.

Finally, university education also helps to achieve a leap in social class. Just like Nick's example, through the study and growth of university, break the limitations of origin and environment, and achieve the double improvement of personal value and social value.

University education not only provides knowledge training, but also helps to improve personal qualities, broaden horizons and achieve social class transition, university education provides equal opportunities for everyone. For everyone, university education has irreplaceable importance and value.

03

In the era of intelligence, university education has become a double-edged sword of challenges and opportunities

The advent of the intelligent era has brought great impact and change to all walks of life. The rapid development of artificial intelligence has provided an effective tool for businesses, but it has also led to the disappearance of some jobs, putting more and more people at risk of losing their jobs. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, many repetitive tasks and simple operations in traditional jobs will be replaced, which will have a disruptive impact on all walks of life.

New research by a Peking University economics professor suggests that AI is having a substitution effect on China's job market. After analyzing a sample of 1.2 million job postings from January 2018 to April 2023, she concluded that the demand for new jobs has dropped significantly for occupations that are considered to be highly "exposed" (i.e., jobs that can be replaced by AI).

Professor Zhang pointed out that occupations such as sales, finance/auditing/taxation, education/training, software Internet development/system integration, administration/secretarial and customer service have high exposure to AI and have begun to be impacted.

Image source: @央视财经

Education and employment have always been closely linked, and the current difficulties in the job market have highlighted this relationship. As artificial intelligence technology continues to upgrade, many traditional jobs will be replaced, which also means that the future job market will be more in need of innovative talents. Therefore, university education should adapt to the needs of the market and focus on cultivating students' ability to innovate and adapt.

Artificial intelligence technology also provides more opportunities for education, such as intelligent education, online education, etc., the application of these new technologies will make the form of education more diversified and flexible, better meet the needs of students and the market.

The relationship between education and employment is closely linked, and the development of education will also directly affect the development of the job market. In the intelligent era, through the reform and innovation of education, we can better adapt to market changes and better cultivate talents that meet market demand, so as to achieve a virtuous circle of education and employment.

Conclusion

The college entrance examination and university education are important nodes in many people's lives, and they have a crucial impact on people's growth and future development. The college entrance examination is a process of selecting talents, which examines the knowledge level and ability of students. University education is a process of improving the quality of talents, which can enable students to better master knowledge and skills and better adapt to the needs of social development.

We also expect university education to pay more attention to students' practical ability and innovative thinking, better cultivate talents that meet market demand, and make them more competitive in the future job market.

As a college student, you also need to understand your identity and don't look at the master. Although university students have certain knowledge and skills, in the job market, they should maintain a humble and practical attitude, strive to improve their abilities, and constantly expand their horizons and contacts. Only by continuous efforts and enterprising can we achieve better development in the competitive job market.

I wish all college entrance examination students a golden list title!