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People’s Daily: What Does It Tell You When Kids All Want to Be Government Officials?

Wang Jingwu, a member of the National People’s Congress and Director of the People’s Bank of China, Guangzhou Branch, commented [during the 2013 National People’s Congress], "Today’s kids all want to be government leaders or officials. Those who want to become a scientist are few and far between." 

Wang stated, “Children’s ideal future careers represent the most straightforward projection of the social atmosphere. When the adults are all talking about careerism and how to become government leaders and make money, it will inevitably get into the children’s heads and influence their developmental thinking.” 

In support of Wang’s statement, the article cited a survey about primary and secondary school students’ dream jobs, mentioned at the 13th annual meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology held in 2012. That survey showed that nine occupations could be selected, including teacher, civil servant, and scientist. Scientist ranked in seventh place. The best occupations turned out to be "government official" and “high-level leader.” 
Source, People’s Daily, March 14, 2013 
http://opinion.people.com.cn/n/2013/0314/c1003-20788025.html