Zhang Lei (hoghu.com): Students good at arts and sports often get extra points added to their college entrance examination scores, but this is the first time that those good with online businesses can also earn extra marks.

Traditional views in China hold that commercial activities are not proper for students, whose priority is to study and take in knowledge from books. Business and money making are meant for after graduation.

Of course, some students are taking "interest classes," such as, mathematics and arts, but by doing so their final goal is still to get some extra exam points. If not, maybe their parents at first will stop them from doing so.

Ningbo Polytechnic is innovative, because it treats business experience equally to so-called "useful" courses like mathematics. This is a reasonable reform in the current education system. First of all, this is a tertiary vocational school, focusing on e-business. Therefore, it stresses students' ability in business operations very much. It is trying to tap students' potential in this regard. Second, in China's southeast coastal provinces, students have easy access to commodities and it's easy for them to start their own businesses. They grow up in an environment that business is attached much importance and thus are familiar with such activities. Third, it must be pointed out that to run an online store successfully is not an easy job. It requires a strong ability in marketing, planning, management and so on. To offer 50 points to a successful online shop owner shows the school's recognition of student's abilities in business operations.

Ningbo Polytechnic's practice implies the kind of reform that China's current education system needs. The country's education reform demands that the selection of talented professionals should be diversified, so that more students can have the opportunity to go to college and have their innovative abilities and personal interests fully developed. It's a pity that too many students are giving up opportunities for practice and business operations just because the measurement in college admissions focuses on scores alone. Under this system, students can hardly find and develop their potential skills.

Diversification in talent selection is a promising practice. Not only Taobao shop owners, but more students should be provided with such opportunities, so that their talents won't be wasted. Chinese colleges today are mostly focusing on bringing up "elites," but the fact is, only top students become such. It's unworthy to waste the talent of so many young students under a rigid education system, just because of the obsession with "elites."

Cons

Xiao Yang (Chutian Metropolis Daily): It's from the very start a controversial topic. By adopting an independent recruitment policy, some universities want to select students of high comprehensive capability while some want to recruit those who are particularly good at some subjects. It's hard to say whether a student's business experience is a special capability or not. Meanwhile, to implement such a policy, Ningbo Polytechnic is suspected of encouraging young students to open shops on Taobao.com.

The goal of this school is understandably to help students with their future job-hunting, if they are equipped with good business skills before they come to this school. Although, to run an online shop can somewhat help students to develop their business skills, the priority is to equip themselves with knowledge. To run an online shop will cost them a lot of time and energy that might be spent on knowledge acquisition. Schools are not supposed to be so short-sighted. To throw students into business operations so early to some extent might damage the potential of students' further and deeper development in future.

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