College students must play sports regularly for better physical health

A new report regarding the physical fitness of Chinese youth is released to the public during a press conference in Yichang, China's Hubei Province on Aug 15, 2015. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

The average fitness level of college students on the Chinese mainland continues to worsen, according to a report jointly released by the Youth Development Department of the General Administration of Sport and Beijing Sport University on Saturday. However, the physical health of primary and secondary school students has slightly improved after years of decline. Comments:

College and university students should not take all the blame for the continued deterioration in their physical health. The truth is, many of them were not totally physically fit when they entered colleges or universities, as indicated by the decline in the average fitness level of primary and secondary school students in previous years. Such an imbalance is the result of China's high school education system, which focuses more on exams and less on physical education classes.

Sichuan Daily, Aug 18

The cause of college students' poor physical health is the utilitarianism of educators. They have failed to instill in students the spirit of athleticism. Students who are forced to attend mandatory PE classes rarely enjoy what they do. The current education evaluation system needs to be fundamentally reformed to encourage students to regularly take part in sports and improve their physical health, instead of just aiming to score higher PE marks.

Heilongjiang Daily, Aug 18

The consistent deterioration in students' physical health can be attributed to their general lack of interest in playing sports. The lack of an athletic culture in Chinese universities has made PE classes redundant as an extracurricular activity. As a result, students hanker after higher credits rather than a healthy lifestyle.

Guangzhou Daily, Aug 17

As a special stage in students' individual development, colleges play a very important role in shaping their physique and personalities. That's why college education is supposed to encourage more students to abandon laziness and make playing sports a habit. In this sense, giving greater priority to physical education results could prompt students to play sports and do regular physical exercise. More importantly, concrete efforts have to be made to correct people's misconception about the importance of physical health and engage more teenagers in physical exercise and sports.

gmw.cn, Aug 17