Your anecdote about the French firefighters is mind boggling to my American brain. Of course the chief of firefighters should be a firefighter.
It's a point of pride at my airport that many of our managers came up the ranks, including one guy who basically started as a janitor out of high school and worked his way up (and was promoted to …
Your anecdote about the French firefighters is mind boggling to my American brain. Of course the chief of firefighters should be a firefighter.
It's a point of pride at my airport that many of our managers came up the ranks, including one guy who basically started as a janitor out of high school and worked his way up (and was promoted to be one of three senior directors who report to the director of the entire airport.)
Even so, I see the concern about an american aristocracy forming....though hopefully we're a long way from France.
It was mind boggling to me too when my colleague said it! To be fair, he might have been exaggerating - our dynamic was to get into these sorts of arguments with each other. But I guess that's basically right, that Western Europe functions through a professional cadre that goes to the same schools and then duly fills out governmental positions. (Yes Minister is also a depiction of that.) America is a bit wilder in how all this plays out.
Your anecdote about the French firefighters is mind boggling to my American brain. Of course the chief of firefighters should be a firefighter.
It's a point of pride at my airport that many of our managers came up the ranks, including one guy who basically started as a janitor out of high school and worked his way up (and was promoted to be one of three senior directors who report to the director of the entire airport.)
Even so, I see the concern about an american aristocracy forming....though hopefully we're a long way from France.
It was mind boggling to me too when my colleague said it! To be fair, he might have been exaggerating - our dynamic was to get into these sorts of arguments with each other. But I guess that's basically right, that Western Europe functions through a professional cadre that goes to the same schools and then duly fills out governmental positions. (Yes Minister is also a depiction of that.) America is a bit wilder in how all this plays out.