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College kids get a taste of reality in survival test
By Shi Xiaohan |
July 12, 2011, Tuesday
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CLEVER Chinese college students may be smart on campus but off campus, many have a hard time surviving and dealing with day-to-day realities of finding work, food and shelter. Shi Xiaohan reports.
Top medical students - the academic and social cream of their class - were hard-pressed to make it through a 10-day off-campus survival test of street smarts in Hangzhou. But they did.
Fourteen sophomores and two freshmen from Wenzhou Medical College in southern Zhejiang Province were given only 50 yuan (US$7) and told to find work and feed themselves. The survival test concluded last Sunday after a bumpy process, a real learning experience.
The students were selected from among many who wanted to go to Hangzhou.
"They are leaders in student associations and active participants in campus events. But even they came across lots of difficulties when it came to dealing with reality off campus," says Hu Pengcheng, the program director.
The first days were tough, for some, the toughest. He Wenbin did not manage to find work for the first three days. His money was exhausted and he nearly broke down and quit.
"My expectations were too rosy. On the first day when I walked down the street, I saw lots of recruitment advertisements. I thought it wouldn't be a problem for a college student to get some work if he was willing to accept a challenge," he recalls.
But reality was harsh. He was rejected no less than 100 times on the first day for various and unexpected reasons.
"Even if I wanted to wash dishes in a restaurant, I wasn't qualified since I don't have a health certificate. Not to mention that I can only work for 10 days and need to be paid every day," He explains.
At the end of the third day, he got a job thanks to a person in his group. "In the beginning, I tried to rely only on myself, but later I realized that we need to rely on each other.
The more we share, the more we are likely to survive," he says.
Not everyone had such a dramatic start, but almost everyone had desperate situations in the following days.
On the seventh day, Chen Jiayu was trying to sell fans around the city's most famous tourist attraction, the West Lake. He made only 0.50 yuan that day; he was nearly broke.
"I did not realize how hard it is to do business around the West Lake. The regulations of street vendors are much stricter and the competition was much fiercer than I thought," Chen explains.
The setback, however, did not stop Chen. "The next day I changed my strategy by selling fans near bus stops. My target customers were white-collar workers who had just come out of air-conditioned office buildings. I made 76 yuan that day," says Chen.
The group also experienced help and warmth from locals, especially after they got media coverage about trying to survive in Hangzhou.
"Once while I was walking on the street, an auntie recognized me by my program uniform and invited me to have lunch at her home," says Zhong Hua. That act of kindness inspired the whole group.
Hu Xiaying, a factory owner, invited the students to work at his factory even though the hiring didn't make economic sense.
"Mr Hu lost 20 yuan for each of us he hired," says Chen, "But he just wanted to support us."
Hu has an only daughter about the same age as the students. "I am willing to give everything I have to my daughter, but I am also afraid that she could be so easily spoiled," explains Hu. "I wish she could have a similar opportunity to experience the difficulties of living independently."
The group actually saved money from their hard work, 4,290 yuan, and they decided to donate it to Wang Cui, a cancer patient who cannot afford treatment.
"As we are all medicine majors, we want to help someone who needs life-saving medical treatment," says Xu Weina, student coordinator of the program.
"The survival test has strengthened our sympathy for the vulnerable groups in society. Though we went through a lot, we came to realize there are so many people out there who have to go through so much, sometimes even without help. So we decided to give the money to someone who need it the most," Chen says.
Top medical students - the academic and social cream of their class - were hard-pressed to make it through a 10-day off-campus survival test of street smarts in Hangzhou. But they did.
Fourteen sophomores and two freshmen from Wenzhou Medical College in southern Zhejiang Province were given only 50 yuan (US$7) and told to find work and feed themselves. The survival test concluded last Sunday after a bumpy process, a real learning experience.
The students were selected from among many who wanted to go to Hangzhou.
"They are leaders in student associations and active participants in campus events. But even they came across lots of difficulties when it came to dealing with reality off campus," says Hu Pengcheng, the program director.
The first days were tough, for some, the toughest. He Wenbin did not manage to find work for the first three days. His money was exhausted and he nearly broke down and quit.
"My expectations were too rosy. On the first day when I walked down the street, I saw lots of recruitment advertisements. I thought it wouldn't be a problem for a college student to get some work if he was willing to accept a challenge," he recalls.
But reality was harsh. He was rejected no less than 100 times on the first day for various and unexpected reasons.
"Even if I wanted to wash dishes in a restaurant, I wasn't qualified since I don't have a health certificate. Not to mention that I can only work for 10 days and need to be paid every day," He explains.
At the end of the third day, he got a job thanks to a person in his group. "In the beginning, I tried to rely only on myself, but later I realized that we need to rely on each other.
The more we share, the more we are likely to survive," he says.
Not everyone had such a dramatic start, but almost everyone had desperate situations in the following days.
On the seventh day, Chen Jiayu was trying to sell fans around the city's most famous tourist attraction, the West Lake. He made only 0.50 yuan that day; he was nearly broke.
"I did not realize how hard it is to do business around the West Lake. The regulations of street vendors are much stricter and the competition was much fiercer than I thought," Chen explains.
The setback, however, did not stop Chen. "The next day I changed my strategy by selling fans near bus stops. My target customers were white-collar workers who had just come out of air-conditioned office buildings. I made 76 yuan that day," says Chen.
The group also experienced help and warmth from locals, especially after they got media coverage about trying to survive in Hangzhou.
"Once while I was walking on the street, an auntie recognized me by my program uniform and invited me to have lunch at her home," says Zhong Hua. That act of kindness inspired the whole group.
Hu Xiaying, a factory owner, invited the students to work at his factory even though the hiring didn't make economic sense.
"Mr Hu lost 20 yuan for each of us he hired," says Chen, "But he just wanted to support us."
Hu has an only daughter about the same age as the students. "I am willing to give everything I have to my daughter, but I am also afraid that she could be so easily spoiled," explains Hu. "I wish she could have a similar opportunity to experience the difficulties of living independently."
The group actually saved money from their hard work, 4,290 yuan, and they decided to donate it to Wang Cui, a cancer patient who cannot afford treatment.
"As we are all medicine majors, we want to help someone who needs life-saving medical treatment," says Xu Weina, student coordinator of the program.
"The survival test has strengthened our sympathy for the vulnerable groups in society. Though we went through a lot, we came to realize there are so many people out there who have to go through so much, sometimes even without help. So we decided to give the money to someone who need it the most," Chen says.
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