I have been reading various comments about unemployed graduates. It amazes me that while Malaysia is recruiting hundreds of thousands of workers from other countries, we have so many unemployed graduates.

I think the main problem is the Malaysian mindset about social class and attitude towards work in general. We tend to regard certain work with disgust while employers just don't pay enough for certain kinds of work. We cannot be telling unemployed graduates to take 'those jobs' when society itself looks down on those jobs.

I am a Malaysian citizen living in a large US city as a US permanent resident. I have had the privilege of befriending a large group of Malaysian students at two local universities. There are about 200 Malaysian students in all, some on government scholarships and some self-paid.

I am quite amazed at how these Malaysian students adapt to the American mentality - in a good sense - about work ethics and their place and role in society. Within a year of schooling here, many of them went and got work permits (foreign students at American universities are allowed to work at university jobs and may apply for special work permits to work elsewhere).

Earning money to pay for their cellular phones, clothes and travel seems to be their main motivation; work experience is just a byproduct. Many of them go to places like New York, London or Italy for their short school breaks.

These Malaysian students come from different backgrounds with some growing up with maids in their homes. Yet they were willing to do all kinds of work, just like their American counterparts. It is well understood in the US that a person starts from the bottom, and goes up from there.

One girl studying marketing, and who comes from an upper class Malay family in KL, started working as a janitor and is now a part-time manager with Starbucks. As a result of her work experience, she plans to own several coffee shops when she goes home after graduation.

A Malay boy of 21, studying chemical engineering, works as a part-time dishwasher and server at a restaurant. An Iban girl from a prominent family, who aspires to be a cardiologist, works as a cashier at a book store.

Another student, a Chinese boy who is currently applying to do his PhD in polymer chemistry at an Ivy League university, works as a parking garage attendant. One 23-year-old student from Singapore spent the last two summers working on fishing trawlers off the coast of Alaska, earning enough to pay for his university fees thus giving his parents a break.

When I was in Malaysia around Christmas last year, I had a conversation with two of my nieces who are university students in Malaysia and was encouraging them to find part-time work for experience. I gave them, as examples, how Malaysian students in the US were getting work experience as cashiers, janitors and dishwashers.

These two young women started to laugh out loud, saying, 'How horrible!'. But when I told them that these students earn about US$10 (RM38) an hour, they became quiet.

I think one of the reasons why employers prefer to hire Malaysian graduates of foreign universities is because these people have changed their attitude about work.