I was born and lived most of my life in Brazil, the same dynamics apply over there, a bit less brutal and gruesome but the competition for limited resources create a work culture of overwork, of management abuse, of constant fear of losing your job, of anxiety someone else is working longer and harder than you so you need to compensate for that.
It's also similar on the education path, there are a few of very good Brazilian public universities (usually they are much better academically than private ones), entrance is through exams and most of my education was focused on passing those exams. Curriculum is tailored for what might be asked on the entrance exams, preparation for these exams (including mock exams) start also around age 15, etc.
I venture to say this is reality in most of the developing world, even more on countries on the middle income bracket like Brazil, India, etc., which aren't so poor that there are no opportunities but are poor enough that good opportunities are few and far between, competition for those spots is insane.
I don't think anyone growing up in developed countries can emotionally understand that, even though there's high competition for great universities, top jobs, etc., you can still live a very fulfilling and decent life without getting into Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Oxford, and so on. That's not really an option in poorer places, you either make it or you will live in some limbo where you earn enough to sustain yourself but don't have access to much else, it's a constant state of surviving to work without seeing upwards mobility.
> I don't think anyone growing up in developed countries can emotionally understand that, even though there's high competition for great universities, top jobs, etc., you can still live a very fulfilling and decent life without getting into Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Oxford, and so on. That's not really an option in poorer places, you either make it or you will live in some limbo where you earn enough to sustain yourself but don't have access to much else, it's a constant state of surviving to work without seeing upwards mobility.
I'm from Poland. 20 years ago, a friend of mine went to US for the summer to do menial jobs (we were both students at the time) and came back with all sorts of stories. His biggest shock though was "OMG I lived next to this guy who was a postman, and he could live a completely decent live on just his postman salary!". Whereas, in Poland back then, with 20%+ unemployment and depressed wages that come from that, you needed to be extraordinary just to be able to afford an ordinary life.
I was born and lived most of my life in Brazil, the same dynamics apply over there, a bit less brutal and gruesome but the competition for limited resources create a work culture of overwork, of management abuse, of constant fear of losing your job, of anxiety someone else is working longer and harder than you so you need to compensate for that.
It's also similar on the education path, there are a few of very good Brazilian public universities (usually they are much better academically than private ones), entrance is through exams and most of my education was focused on passing those exams. Curriculum is tailored for what might be asked on the entrance exams, preparation for these exams (including mock exams) start also around age 15, etc.
I venture to say this is reality in most of the developing world, even more on countries on the middle income bracket like Brazil, India, etc., which aren't so poor that there are no opportunities but are poor enough that good opportunities are few and far between, competition for those spots is insane.
I don't think anyone growing up in developed countries can emotionally understand that, even though there's high competition for great universities, top jobs, etc., you can still live a very fulfilling and decent life without getting into Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Oxford, and so on. That's not really an option in poorer places, you either make it or you will live in some limbo where you earn enough to sustain yourself but don't have access to much else, it's a constant state of surviving to work without seeing upwards mobility.