Youths must learn lessons of life

A 74-year-old woman in Dalian, Liaoning province, recently received a parcel containing a pile of clothes and socks from her granddaughter who had just entered college. But the young woman sent the clothes to her grandmother because she couldn't wash them and wanted the old lady to do it and send them back to her. This may come as a surprise to people who expect youths to know the basic skills of survival, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

It is well known that today's children have been spoiled by their parents and lack the ability to take care of themselves. Though the news of the college student in Dalian mailing her laundry home is an extreme case, it mirrors, to some extent, the less-than-flattering qualities that many of today's university students possess.

Housework, such as doing the laundry, is the "first class" that should be learnt early in life, because washing clothes and knowing the basics of cooking are the fundamental qualities a person should have to survive in modern society.

Students and parents both are to blame for today's youths' ignorance and inability to cope with modern life. But parents cannot change their habit of sheltering and thus spoiling their offspring overnight especially because of the pressure of homework on students in today's exam-oriented education system. Parents could at least start by preparing their children for the demands of everyday life and future hardships.

Besides, we have to look for effective and practical measures to tackle such problems. Perhaps a "life training" program, akin the one in the military, could teach students some basic facts of life and skills to survive in modern society.

(China Daily 09/25/2012 page9)