A vocational school in central China's Hubei Province has come under the spotlight after publishing an admission list for its crayfish-related major.

The Jianghan Art Vocational College in Qianjiang City established the crayfish major in 2017, including marketing, cooking techniques and nutrition as well as restaurant management.

Some consider it ridiculous. However reality has proved them wrong. At present, the 130 students majoring in crayfish at the vocational school have all been hired before graduation with a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan ($1,487). According to Gong Ding, Mayor of Qianjiang, "There are many kinds of talent. Some talent can send a rocket into space but may not be able to cook crayfish." Those who misunderstand the crayfish major are misled by the thinking that college education should deal with only so-called serious subjects.

Qianjiang is known for its crayfish industry and in 2017, the transaction volume of the city's crayfish center reached 1.12 billion yuan ($166.8 million).

Establishing crayfish-related majors in vocational schools will improve the industrial level of the crayfish industry to satisfy people's needs for high-quality products and services.

As China continues to expand enrollment for vocational schools, vocational education should offer majors according to market demands, axing majors that have little market while increasing those that are urgently needed.

(This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published in Qianjiang Evening News on March 11)