Current Events > Japanese high school prodigy ends up becoming a truck driver to make ends meet

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Japanese high school student prodigy ends up becoming a truck driver to make ends meet

No matter how accomplished students are in science, it seems Japan doesnt have the resources to tap into their full potential.

Japanese students can be absolutely brilliant, with some of them able to break through the strict rigidity that the Japanese school system enforces. And with their rare talent, a bright future surely lays ahead of them.

Or so wed like to think, but reality can be a harsh master indeed. A recent Japanese TV program took a peek into the present day lives of ten people who were considered geniuses during their younger years, and one particular case stood out among the rest: a truck driver.

He was a high school student who excelled in physics, and the first in Japan to be offered a grade acceleration program that let him skip grades and jump straight into Chiba University. He got married and became a father while still in graduate school, and his outstanding academic record supposedly guaranteed him a comfortable life.

He poured all his energy into cutting-edge scientific research after graduation, only to be rewarded with an unstable job that came with a meager monthly salary of 200,000 yen (US$1,763). Feeling exploited, he called it quits and took up truck driving instead to support his family, which netted him a stable 300,000 yen (US$2,640) every month.

The driver of the bus youre on couldve been a science prodigy once.


The truck driver currently holds chemistry and physics classes during weekends in the hopes of generating more interest in the field. Working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, he has managed to purchase a second-hand house and considers himself lucky to be able to enjoy dinner together with his family.

The TV program generated mixed reactions from Japanese netizens:

Japanese companies are so terrible they cant even tap into his full potential. Hed make it big if he went abroad.
This really made me think, but I guess its fine as long as the dudes happy.
Studying and working are two different things. Research might not have been his forte after all.
This isnt his problem; its Japans universities. He simply wasnt trained properly.
Societys vision of research is really distorted. A persons intelligence doesnt reflect their performance in research.

To be fair, scientific research often comes with job instability no matter which country youre in, and its a real shame he spent a good part of his life chasing a dream, only to be struck down by the harshness of reality.

We should be more thankful for scientists nevertheless, for without their research efforts we wouldnt be able to make chickens that lay eggs filled with valuable medicine.
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The same thing is slowly happening in the US with the push towards STEM degrees. When everyone tells their kids to go become scientists, you end up with a glut of scientists and suddenly scientists aren't worth a whole lot of money. This is the reason 3/4 of people in America don't work in the field their degree is in- because we've got more people with degrees than there are jobs for people with degrees.
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How much do truck drivers make in America?
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Independents maybe $40,000, privatized truckers $70,000.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb7kN9tjeic
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r4X0r posted...

The same thing is slowly happening in the US with the push towards STEM degrees. When everyone tells their kids to go become scientists, you end up with a glut of scientists and suddenly scientists aren't worth a whole lot of money. This is the reason 3/4 of people in America don't work in the field their degree is in- because we've got more people with degrees than there are jobs for people with degrees.

Yup.

That said having some STEM skills is always useful. But it may not be the easy career path you think unless you have some connections or powerful people skills to make your chances better,
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Nice source
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Oshawottownage posted...

r4X0r posted...

The same thing is slowly happening in the US with the push towards STEM degrees. When everyone tells their kids to go become scientists, you end up with a glut of scientists and suddenly scientists aren't worth a whole lot of money. This is the reason 3/4 of people in America don't work in the field their degree is in- because we've got more people with degrees than there are jobs for people with degrees.

Yup.

That said having some STEM skills is always useful. But it may not be the easy career path you think unless you have some connections or powerful people skills to make your chances better,

You can actually look at things like average starting salaries by major. Much of STEM is still at the top. People are exaggerating this so much. It's still majors like communications that are getting screwed the most.
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Kelystic posted...

How much do truck drivers make in America?

Depends. You have some decent gigs similar to above. Others will completely fuck you over and force you to "lease to own" and send you into spiraling debt.
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"lease to own"

How does that even work? You would expect the trucks to be owned by the company you are working for not the other way round.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

Oshawottownage posted...

r4X0r posted...

The same thing is slowly happening in the US with the push towards STEM degrees. When everyone tells their kids to go become scientists, you end up with a glut of scientists and suddenly scientists aren't worth a whole lot of money. This is the reason 3/4 of people in America don't work in the field their degree is in- because we've got more people with degrees than there are jobs for people with degrees.

Yup.

That said having some STEM skills is always useful. But it may not be the easy career path you think unless you have some connections or powerful people skills to make your chances better,

You can actually look at things like average starting salaries by major. Much of STEM is still at the top. People are exaggerating this so much. It's still majors like communications that are getting screwed the most.

Its not about the salaries. Its about actually landing the job.

That said yeah lots of exaggerations from both the You gotta be in STEM crowd and the STEM is a dead end crowd.
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Kelystic posted...

Working from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, he has managed to purchase a second-hand house and considers himself lucky to be able to enjoy dinner together with his family.

madness
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It's all relative - you need a base level of interviewing ability in almost any corporate-atmosphere type job. That being said, in a lot of ways a high GPA Engineering degree from a respectable school will do a lot of the talking for you. Compare to a random humanities major where you essentially have to sell yourself 100% of the way regardless of what your GPA was.
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Kelystic posted...

"lease to own"

How does that even work? You would expect the trucks to be owned by the company you are working for not the other way round.

http://www.wbir.com/article/news/nation-now/protect-port-truckers-from-exploitation/465-1262267b-df8e-4c2e-a056-d1ebe00434c1

There was an even longer piece on the story but I seemed to have lost it. The general gist of it is that California has very strict environmental laws regarding emissions which include 18-wheeler trucks needing to be brought to standards. Companies have gone about off loading the financing of said costs onto employees in what is known as "lease to own" where the ownership of the truck eventually goes to the driver but it makes paying off a new Camero look like a cake-walk.
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Life Sympathy posted...

Kelystic posted...

"lease to own"

How does that even work? You would expect the trucks to be owned by the company you are working for not the other way round.

http://www.wbir.com/article/news/nation-now/protect-port-truckers-from-exploitation/465-1262267b-df8e-4c2e-a056-d1ebe00434c1

There was an even longer piece on the story but I seemed to have lost it.

man humans are evil
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