Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I'm a Mandarin

My colleague forwarded a link the other day and I went on to waste 15 minutes of my working life searching for my true personality. I wasn't sure what criteria was the test based on but soon found out after I'd completed it.

Apparently, this Nicholas Lemann guy introduced the idea of three paths to success in American society - that of Talents, Lifers, and Mandarins. To cut the story short, Talents tend to value individuality and boldness, Lifers tend to value loyalty and caution and Mandarins tend to value intelligence and education. He even went on to publish a book about it so I guess he means to have us take this seriously.

So this was what I got.

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 44%
Lifer: 46%
Mandarin: 62%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Let me just comment on some of the apparent 'traits' that I'm supposed to have as a Mandarin.

"You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now."

18 years of non-stop, cheap education and a 1-hour interview. Gee, that was really tough. Especially the 1 hour interview.

"You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. "

I believe the education system in our country should be given a makeover. Fire the minister, hire someone with more of an 'intellectual' mind instead of political, eliminate the need for all those crappy exams and the world will become a better place. End of story.

"You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking."

Who does?

"It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power."

It frustrates me alright, but as they say, without corruption, where would our government be?

"You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try. "

I do believe that people can make a difference, if only they'd stop driving out to work every morning and NOT cause traffic jams. I'm determined to try NOT to drive out to work every morning but public transport sucks and I have no choice.

"I'm a Mandarin!"

I'm a Chinese...of course I'm know Mandarin. Duh.

And I don't even know who the 2 blokes in picture are. If they represent the epitome of classic Mandarinism, this test obviously has something very wrong. Very, very wrong...

thought completed at 7:25 PM | 0 comments

---------------oOo---------------