Time for authorities to think about training camp reforms

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More than 30 high school students were reportedly hospitalized early last week during their stay at a compulsory military training camp in the Qingpu district of Shanghai. According to local media, widespread complaints of rashes, fever and diarrhea among the roughly 1,200 students who attended the camp prompted its organizers to suspend training and send the youngsters back to their homes ahead of schedule.Students and parents blamed one chili soybean dish for the diarrhea outbreak, while mildewed raincoats were seen as the source of the students' rashes. As for the fever, some say it was brought on after the campers sat in an air-conditioned theater after being soaked in a heavy rainstorm. As of yet though, no official conclusions have been disclosed to the public and an investigation is reportedly ongoing.Obviously, local education authorities and the camp's organizers deserve reproach if the unsanitary and unhygienic conditions described in local media reports are accurate. Such camps, which millions of high school students around China experience every summer as part of a decades-old program to promote physical fitness among the nation's youth, are known for their Spartan, uncomfortable conditions. I myself was in such a camp several years ago, and at the time many of my classmates complained bitterly about dirty bedsheets and foul-tasting food - not to mention long hours of marching, drilling, running and standing at attention.What's more, such camps, which typically take place during the tailend of summer, can become dangerous if proper precautions are not taken. Cases of heatstroke and exhaustion are not unheard of, and in one unfortunate case a young girl died suddenly in Shanghai 10 years ago. The parents of the girl, who had a history of heart disease, suspected that heavy physical exertion led to their daughter's unfortunate demise, according to local media.Young people across China have been undergoing military-style training in late August and early September since 1955, when conscription laws made it mandatory for university students to receive martial training on campus. Such measures were understandable within the context of their time, since the newly founded People's Republic of China needed to strengthen its national defenses and university students were seen as prime candidates for reserve duty. After a hiatus during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), physical training made a comeback in the mid-1980s and was later extended beyond universities to cover high school students as well.While many things have changed in China's education system over the past several decades, annual military training sessions remain largely the same. Perhaps this long-standing feature of Chinese pedagogy should evolve with the times as well. I'm not saying that these camps don't serve a useful purpose: they often bring students closer together before the start of the official academic year and many walk away from these trainings with new friends and fond memories. Nonetheless, we can't deny that there are many other ways to get students exercising and developing healthy habits - sports and outdoor games being a prime example. Moreover, if conditions at these camps are actually making young people sick, they aren't really serving their intended purpose, are they?High school students today are quite different from those in previous generations. Many young people now crave new experiences and want to learn practical skills. Perhaps this generational shift can be taken into account by camp organizers here in Shanghai. Actually, local media recently reported that some high school students in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, will receive special rescue training as part of their normal military-style exercise this month. If authorities in Nanjing are ready to shake things up a bit, perhaps their counterparts in Shanghai can consider doing the same. Tags: Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Prototyping China, Plastic Tooling, Plastic Tooling China, Rapid Prototype, Rapid Prototype China, Rapid Tooling, Rapid Tooling China, CNC Prototype, CNC Prototype China, Functional Prototype, Functional Prototype China, Metal Prototype, Metal Prototype China, Plastic Prototype, Plastic Prototype China, Rapid Manufacturing, Rapid Manufacturing China, Low volume production, Stereolithography, Stereolithography China, Vacuum Casting, Vacuum Casting China, whatsapp marketing, wechat marketing, seo, e marketing, �W��OӋ�ṩseo, e marketing, web design by zoapcon