Univ. grad butcher triggers discussions on high education

The "No.1 Soil Pig" pork brand founded by a graduate of Peking University has attracted more than 500 university graduates to join in the business raising pigs and selling pork. The phenomenon sparked widespread media attention. Does such employment mode of university graduates reflect the failure of higher education, or the exploitation of more development paths, or a waste of human resources?

The "No.1 Soil Pig" brand founder Chen Sheng, born in 1984, graduated from Peking University where he majored in economics. Now he has become a role model for many university students. Hao Chengbing, who graduated from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, has been promoted from a front-line employee to a regional manager after selling "No.1 Soil Pig" pork for four years. He now earns 100,000 yuan a year and has bought a house and a car. His success inspires all new employees to take him as the goal.

Viewpoints:

Earlier than this, Lu Buxuan who graduated from Peking University started selling pork and caused wide concern from the society. Some people thought it is a waste of talent resources for top students in the university to work as a butcher. Others hailed the bankruptcy of the examination-oriented education since high scores and high academic qualification no longer lead to admirable jobs.

Yao, a senior lady in Shanghai does not oppose to university student working as a butcher, but she said she would not allow her own grandchildren to do the same. After many years of painful effort to bring up the children, only to see them work in the food market, to Yao it seems obviously unfair.

Some netizens think that university students, without any professional skill or irreplaceable strength in any professional sector and under the social context of considerable employment pressure, have no choice but to "fight for a job" against the ordinary masses.

Xiong Qingnian, director of the Higher Education Research Institute of Fudan University: It is out of exam-oriented education logic and utilitarian needs that some people should think it inappropriate for university graduates to sell pork. From the personal development point of view, there is nothing wrong actually. The purpose of education is to train people and should allow them to have different paths of career development. In foreign countries, graduates from famous universities are also commonly seen to become newspaper deliverers or milkmen. Earning high score and being admitted into a famous university does not necessarily mean employment in high-grade, precision and advanced industries.