China Outlaws Young Love

China's Ministry of Education (MOE) announced July 14 that it has overhauled the dance program originally slated to enter the primary and middle school physical education curriculum by the end of the year. Originally comprising the waltz as well as six other group dances, the new program allows for students to dance either by themselves or in large groups. Why the change? According to Xinhua News, the Chinese state-sanctioned news agency, its all about the down-home family values -- and intense academic pressures coming from home:

Parents with traditional values are alarmed at the prospect of boys and girls dancing hand in hand, believing the risk of their children falling in love and losing track of exam results would increase.

This is especially interesting due to the Chinese government's efforts to direct students away from the one-track, exam-is-all-that-matters mentality that has produced a workforce with advanced (and useful) technical skills but lacking in the interpersonal skills that foster cooperation and creativity in America. The MOE has already outlawed the use of exam scores in determining admittance into the competitive, nationally-renowned middle schools and high schools that boast a luxuriousness (and intensity) on par with the most selective American prep schools.

But even ignoring the fact that Chinese youths aren't learning the social skills necessary not only for healthy adult lives but for the effective creation and management of large-scale businesses, which rely on high social intelligence, it looks like what the schools really need is a basic economics course.

Diminishing marginal return is the theory that the output produced from each successive unit of input will steadily decline after a certain point. Take, for example, your own productivity at work. You arrive in the morning, get settled in, and for the first couple hours get a lot accomplished. As the afternoon wears on, you'll likely feel yourself beginning to slow down. Even if you're a real tank in the workplace, you can easily imagine that by the 24th straight hour of work, you'll be burnt out and sneaking some Z's behind your computer monitor no matter how high your Blood Coffee Content. But as we all know, rejuicing helps. Go home at 5, come back the next morning at 9, and you'll likely get more done than you would have had you worked the whole night through.

The same idea can apply here. Cracking the whip can lead to good grades, and perhaps even some very nice financial returns, but not as nice as might be attained by loosening the reins a bit. Besides, you can't buy happiness; this is likely the reason that China is having such a problem with suicide among its young adults. Nor can you stop the Internet and/or Love (though believe me, China would like to).

So, China, take a chill pill. Let kids dance, let kids date, and let kids be, well, kids. It will not only provide them a more fulfilling life, but likely a richer one (in monetary times) as well. Localize and liberalize your curricula. Let the administrators in each area that know their students and parents best work with the interested parties to develop the best educational program. Otherwise, you'll end up with the government in Beijing wasting everyone's time debating whether students should be allowed to bump and grind to the latest Lil John beat.