(LI SHIGONG)

Recently, 19 top students at a private middle school in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, were selected to have a very luxurious meal with the school president. These students were chosen based on examination results.

This dinner has aroused public attention and heated debate in China. Supporters think it is just a normal way to encourage top students to strive for excellence. We should encourage this new attempt and should give educators a more tolerant atmosphere. On the other hand, opponents think giving differential treatment to students will hurt their feelings. Education shouldn't only focus on students' academic performance but should help build their personalities.

A good attempt

Xiao Minghua (news.enorth.com.cn): As the president of the middle school, I thought of the idea simply for encouraging top students. During the dinner, I talked about how to be a better person. We held this dinner with good intentions, which is to respect students. If the president respects students, teachers would respect them even more.

If the feedback from students is not good, we can make corresponding adjustments in the future. As a private middle school, we can make some brave attempts in some aspects. This is just one of our methods to encourage top students.

It's better to make changes than doing nothing. This dinner also offers a very good opportunity for top students to communicate with each other and for them to relax after exhausting study.

Besides, having dinner with top students doesn't necessarily mean ignoring other students. The public shouldn't only see our efforts in encouraging top students and ignore our endeavor in helping other students.

Wang Yuchu (news.xinhuanet.com): We shouldn't be so sensitive to this news. Instead we should give educators a more tolerant and forgiving environment to let them do their jobs.

Praise can do a lot for children. People need encouragement. Treating top students with such a luxurious dinner has a very good effect in encouraging students. I'm not saying that other schools should do exactly the same, but similar methods for encouraging students need to be invented.

Luo Huiling (www.gmw.cn): Having a luxurious meal with the president is a good encouragement for top students, similar to getting a scholarship. It's not discrimination against other students. Besides, it's reported that students in the school are not against this policy and hope they can attend the dinner someday in the future. We can see that this dinner doesn't hurt other students' feelings but has a positive effect.

Li Digeng (www.gmw.cn): The original purpose of the "president's dinner" is to give top students encouragement they deserve. We shouldn't over-exaggerate the side effect of the dinner. Encouragement is a very important part of teenagers' education, and the nature of the dinner is the same as having a lovely meal with one's parents after getting a good result on the examination.

We shouldn't pay too much attention to the pros and cons of the dinner because it's just a normal way to praise students. As long as the president treats every student as his own child and students regard him as a kind father, it's totally acceptable.

Bad influence

Meng Xianglong (bddsb.bandao.cn): Giving differential treatment to students according to their performance in examinations will hurt their morale. Educators should pay more attention to their spiritual instruction, such as the concept of fairness and justice. As educator, the president should step out of the pragmatic atmosphere and give students spiritual guidance and help them build noble characters. This is what they really need to do.

Zeng Jin (www.jschina.com.cn): Discrimination on the campus has become topical recently. This time, the luxurious dinner only for top students has clearly become discrimination against other students.

During the dinner, students ranked No.1 in the exam sat beside the president and others sat according to their ranks. This hierarchical concept shows the principle of "exam determines everything."

If the president really wants to encourage top students, he can do it via a scholarship or other ways, rather than some diplomatic speeches during a deliberately set meal. And compared with top students, others need encouragement more badly. Lowering the threshold for having dinner with the president can encourage more students. Stopping discrimination on the campus is the obligation of schools.