CLASS assignment at a Guangzhou university has provoked controversy after local press reported that a professor asked students to design a hypothetical plan to rob a bank. The professor said the same assignment had been used at the Harvard Business School to train students how to manage human resources.

Many shocked commentators have criticized the assignment as absurd. They suggest that it may even encourage students to commit crime. Such a project wouldn't have any educational value, they argue. Others say that robbing a bank is not necessarily an innovative idea for a college class project; it only shows that the educator has run out of legitimate ideas and methods.

However, a greater number of other commentators support the project. They suggest that such unconventional methods will capture students' imaginations and make the class more interesting.

Students, too, came to the professor's defense, saying it was a very inventive project from which they learned a lot.

Do you think this is a project that should be assigned to a college class?

Yes

It won't turn students into bank robbers. There's no need to make such a fuss over it.

1. College students are adults with a well-grounded sense of right and wrong. Simply being asked by a professor to write a plan for robbing a bank isn't going to provoke them to do carry it out.

2. Not every lesson in a college class has to be about morals or social values. Academic freedom means professors can give students assignments like this, as long as they are challenging and educational.

3. The main problem with the Chinese educational system is its lack of innovation and fresh ideas. Students have been taught for decades to simply recite and repeat. This project is an example of educational innovation and should be encouraged, not criticized.

No

There are better ways to be innovative in the classroom than designing a bank robbery.

1. A bank robbery, however hypothetical, usually involves violence. Although college students probably wouldn't carry out such an act, encouraging them to plan violence is inappropriate.

2. There are better ways to stimulate students' imagination and critical thinking. The fact that the professor chose this particular case means that he is not sensitive enough to the students' real needs.

3. Just because the assignment was used at a US college doesn't mean it's suitable for a Chinese university class. Borrowing "revolutionary" educational methods from abroad without adapting them to the situation in China can lead to problems.

hypothetical假設的

innovative創新的

legitimate合理的

recite背誦