To the OP, suck it up. Sitting on the other side of the desk, I find myself becoming a curmudgeon. I have 2 careers, both ranging from fairly to very rewarding, and yet, in each, there are tasks that absolutely suck. When our department asks for industry feedback, the overwhelming majority of complaints from employers are: 1) New hires expect to be coddled and shirk mundane, onerous, and otherwise unpleasant tasks. 2) New hires don't show initiative. So, my advice again is to suck it up, and not just get through it, but make the best of it. Seriously, forcing yourself to do a good job on a shitty project is a character building experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eason 
Oh Jesus, last night I watched a Chinese university student open up a webpage and then copy, character for character, her "Thesis" on Japanese economics in relation to the earthquake. All students are required to write an economic thesis, regardless of their major. The result is that all of the blatently copy it. In her class, there were 10 people who wrote the exact the thesis. The other issue is that Chinese professors will tell students "Sorry but your thesis is terrible, you need to rewrite it *wink*" which means "You'll need to pay me money if you want to graduate." No wonder nobody in this country knows how to fucking think, what a disaster.
I don't know about the graft, but the Chinese universities we primarily deal with are the number 1 and number 2 universities in China, so this probably doesn't happen as much. The other issue is much more serious and culturally engrained, and top level educational officials and professors at the top universities understand this and are actively pursuing ways to change this mindset, including peer-to-peer exchanges. Of course, these are top-tier universities, where securing a position is the
ultra ne plus of a Chinese academics, and where the academic culture is significantly different than from other Chinese universities. BTW, US universities are equally shitty, though for completely different reasons. But I'm not even going to get started.