sci.research.careers

barkerplace@ wrote:



> The question "are you happy" has such different meanings in these
> other countries that it is almost impossible to compare their rates of
> reported happiness with the USA. In America, there is a cult-like
> atmosphere around questions of happiness and work; citizens are
> expected to chortle that they work hard and are happy no matter how
> untrue these answers are. If long-term marriage is important to
> happinesss, and wealth matters little, why should French and Italian
> people, with lower divorce rates, be less happy than Americans?
>
> Perhaps paternalistic welfare states make people more willing to speak
> and think for themselves than a country filled with perpetually
> smiling salesmen? There may well be something wrong with me, but I
> must confess I have found fewer places more depressing anywhere than
> Disneyworld with all its fake, smirking, and relentlessly commercial,
> glee.
>

Perhaps it's that certain states or institutions define what those are. I
was made aware of this while I was teaching. During the latter years, the
emphasis shifted from giving the students "training" (perish the thought
that anybody should come for an *education*) to making them "successful".

Training is more specific, has standards, and has a clear definition.

Success, however, is vague and undefined, as I quickly found out. Some
students saw success as having a clear set of standards laid out for them
to meet and being able to reach or exceed them. Others, however, saw it as
the situation where one has the maximum gain for the least amount of
effort, even if it meant violating whatever rules may have been in effect.

I had my share of both and, needless to say, those who were in the latter
category were the most troublesome as they found ways of swindling the
system into giving them their unearned pieces of paper.