March 21, World Sleep Day, is set to remind people of the importance of sleep. However, for most primary school and middle school students in China, who are under heavy pressure of classes and homework, adequate sleep is a luxury they can't afford.

The government has promulgated a set of regulations on the protection of students' health, which stipulate that primary school students should have 10 hours' sleep every day, and middle school students 9 hours. Some localities have issued similar regulations, but there is doubt that these regulations could ever be brought into effect.

Although experts point out that adequate sleep is crucial for the young to grow up healthily, and warn that the lack of sleep may even cause chronic diseases, it seems that no tough measures have been taken to protect the health of students. Local education authorities and school headmasters are so eager to see their students enter higher schools that they pay no attention to the latter's health. In primary and secondary schools, students are forced to study in classrooms from dawn to deep into the night, and even weekends are crammed with classes.

The young are the future of the nation, and their health is critical for the health of the whole nation. Thus, schoolmasters and education authorities should give more free time to tired students.

Beijing Youth Daily

Shape Up or Ship Out

Sixteen major administrative departments in South Korea have taken measures against incompetent civil servants in recent weeks. Under this system, 240 officials have been dismissed and reassigned to menial jobs like picking up rubbish on the streets. If there is no improvement in their work during the probation period, they will eventually be fired.

In fact, China's current civil servant system shares a lot in common with that of South Korea. Civil servants in both countries enjoy stable and good salaries as well as economically sound welfare. Meanwhile, their work pressure is relatively low compared with people in many other professions.

However, it seems life in the civil service is so comfortable that some officials tend to become lazy, resulting in low efficiency and abuse of power. Although the Chinese Government has taken some measures to tackle this problem, few results have thus far been achieved.

It is reported that after South Korea introduced the strict official elimination measures, work efficiency of government departments has improved noticeably. This then seems to be a good example for China to follow to get its house in order.

Yanzhao Metropolis Daily

Catch 22 for College Grads

As for China's increasingly tight employment situation in recent years, some believe the root cause is an oversupply of college students due to enrolment expansion since the late 1990s. However, this theory is not watertight. Compared with many other countries, the proportion of college students to total population is still low in China. By 2004, for the population aged 25 or above, only 5.77 percent had received higher education, while in the United States and Japan, the figure is 46.5 percent and 20.7 percent, respectively. That is to say, China's modernization drive is still in a serious shortage of well-educated workers.

Universities seem to be producing a surplus of graduates; while on the other hand, there is a shortage of skilled people to support China's social and economic development. Perhaps irrational subject composition in Chinese universities should be blamed for the current predicament.

In reality, it is found that many new graduates are incapable of the work their employers assign to them, meaning they need time and money-guzzling training. That's why many companies prefer to employ those with at least two years' work experience, which results in greater difficulty for new graduates to find jobs.

After two decades of economic development, China's tertiary institutions must realize the importance of cultivating talented individuals who can meet demands of the country's modernization drive, instead of persisting with the outdated curricula and teaching methods. If not, China's employment market will continue frustrating college graduates for years to come.

Shanghai Securities News

Obsession With Foreign Languages

China's Ministry of Personnel recently announced that the foreign language proficiency requirements for professionals' achievement assessment would be lifted or lowered in certain sectors.

In recent years, much grumbling has been heard from academics required to take the test but seldom using foreign languages during their work. This applies to those involved in ancient Chinese language research and traditional Chinese medicine. Moreover, one's chance to be promoted is closely related to the foreign language test result.

While adults are rejoicing at the news from the Ministry of Personnel, children in some regions are stressed out about having to pass the national English proficiency test if they hope to be admitted into prestigious middle schools. More anxious are the parents, who are now forced to spend extra money on English language training.

The purpose of learning is to apply the knowledge. However, the obsession Chinese have with foreign languages is quite questionable, as most of the learners only want to pass examinations, rather than to use the languages as a tool of communication. As a result, the English craze and things alike have only turned into a windfall for some small groups.

People's Daily