china defines 'real love' in its' curriculum
Schools in Shanghai, China, have taken a novel approach to an age old problem by making teachings in ‘real love’ and ‘romance’ a part of the official school curriculum.
Believed to concerned with the effects of the internet on the modern morality, China has decided to arm its' next generation of young adults with the facts about ‘real and lasting love’ as opposed to what they term the 'internet chatroom variety' of love.
Professor Fan Shougang, editor of the new textbook, has stated that he hoped the new studies would ‘help guide students through puberty smoothly’. In particular, the Chinese seem concerned with the exposure of students to ‘news and information on love’ via the internet, although no specific reference is made to internet porn.
Included in the programme are love-thematic stories and poems by authors Chinese and foreign, in a both ancient and contemporary vein. These have been added to ‘middle school’ (age 7-11) textbooks via a special unit titled 'Love Is Like A Song', which Chinese educators are calling 'an unprecedented endeavor'.
Trial courses have already been held for 15-year-olds at schools across Shanghai, and teacher Professor Gao stated that "although tutoring proceeded smoothly, the class fell into a long silence when it was asked to comment on 'puberty love' and 'whether internet love is real'".
"Teaching the new unit is quite a challenge for me owing to the difficulty of getting to the point" said professor Gao. (According to Professor Shougang, in Chinese society, “love, both spiritual and physical, remains a traditional taboo and a topic seldom touched on in the Chinese curriculum").
"Supporters have thanked the editors for delivering messages that they themselves wanted to deliver but were too embarrassed to” Professor Gao added. (Although detractors have claimed that this information is 'too much, too soon' for pre-teen aged children, the program has generally also received positive support from parents).
China is also currently working with its’ top two internet search engines to crack down on internet porn by restricting the use of related keywords. China commenced its’ crackdown on porn sites in July this year, and closed 700 Web sites in the first 10 days of the campaign alone.
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