Colleges in the wrong making competitions out of poverty

SOME COLLEGES in Yunnan province in Southwest China have, probably unintentionally, turned the application process for scholarships for poor students into a sort of competition. Beijing News commented on Monday:

Since when have university scholarships been a contest to see which students are the poorest?

Poverty is nothing to be ashamed of, but nothing to be proud of either. One of the elements used to appraise students applying for a scholarship is a public statement of the reasons for their applications. Presenting poverty in public so a student can win a scholarship is not appropriate. It is not a talent contest to see who is the best singer.