
U.S. kids want to be famous on YouTube; Chinese kids want to go to space: survey - Red_Tarsius
https://www.businessinsider.com/american-kids-youtube-star-astronauts-survey-2019-7
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badrabbit
Both types of kids desire the same thing: to contribute and be relevant to
society as they perceive it.

American society has plenty of astronauts and space over acheivers. American
society is also very much unplugged from the rest of the planet, so much so
that I can say most Americans don't consider good image of their country in
the eyes of the non-western world a priority. If this was the cold-war era,
American kids might have wanted to help their country look better as compared
to the communist world. The difference is that of being the winner and being
the losers trying to catch up to the winner. China might be second place in
many things but as they say, second place just means you're the first loser.
There is a reason "made in china 2025","The 100 year matathon" and "belt and
ring project" all have competitive undertones.

America is also an individualistic society where everyone seeks what makes
themselves look good and profit while east asian societies tend to be more
hive-minded (For a lack of a better expression). I dislike both selfishness
and prioritizing the greater nation over your own immediate family and
community. If the Nash equilibrum of economics and game theory holds true, I
wager the American perspective will result in long term prosperity fot all
that follow it, but of course that model does not take into account strife and
external malicous actors whose end goal is not to profit but to destroy.

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rogual
Isn’t YouTube banned in China? If so it’s not surprising the kids there don’t
respond as strongly to the idea of being a “YouTuber”.

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officialjunk
There are many video and streaming platforms in China even with integrated
chat and tips.

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yorwba
Many Chinese children aged 8 to 12 probably don't have their own device for
watching videos all day.

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whoevercares
Not sure about the kids, lots people around my age in China (“post 95’s”) wish
to be “influencers” on douyin

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thefujin
Kids in USSR also wanted to be astronauts and look what happened to their
country

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Red_Tarsius
One of the worst nonsequitur I've ever read. Having dreams and ambitions that
go beyond making money is a positive trait.

Edit: The USSR also achieved much more than your dismissing post implies.

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adamnemecek
The larger question is why do kids want to be teachers?

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Joof
Maybe teachers have some sort of important, authotity-figure type role to some
children.

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perilunar
It's like prisoners wanting to be prison guards.

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carlmr
I didn't see my teachers as prison guards. Some were very inspirational.

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RenRav
Give them 5 years and China will be the same.

