“Have you ever cleaned a toilet?” If you ask the question to students in most of China’s colleges and universities, the majority of the answers would be “of cause not.” However, the situation is quite different in Tianjin Science and Technology University, where many of them would give you a definite answer, “Yes, of course.”
Beginning from 1999, freshmen of Tianjin Science and Technology University have been requested to clean the toilets in teaching areas as part of their schooling. They have to clean the floor, wash the toilet bowls, collect toilet paper, wipe the doors and windows, etc. Every day, they have to finish the job before 7:30 a.m. when the managerial staff would check each toilet and give the cleaners a mark. At the end of each semester, the students union would select six classes as the best cleaners according to their average marks and reward them accordingly. Classes who have failed to pass the checks would be criticized through the school’s broadcast and blackboard publications. They will be considered as unqualified for competing for the honor of an advanced class. None of the students in such a class can be selected as an excellent student leader or apply for any of the school’s scholarships and awards.
Mr. Tian, the responsible teacher of this program, said the aim of this decision is to train the young people, most of whom are the spoiled only child in their families, to be conscientious on social morality and environmental protection through manual work. The sanitation managerial person of the university believes that the general situation of the school’s public toilets have improved remarkably. Bad manners, such as not flushing the bowl after using or littering toilet paper around, have vanished.
Wei Dapen, president of the Tianjin Science and Technology University, made the decision to adopt the program in 1999. When the freshmen of the year heard about it, they groaned loudly. Now three years have passed and the freshmen of 1999 are now senior students. When their experience of cleaning toilets was mentioned, Wang Meng, a senior of Economy Department, said: “I would never forget the scene when I cleaned a toilet for the first time. The papers were dropped everywhere and bowels filled with stool. It felt sick but I insisted in finishing my work. Since then, I always remember to keep a public toilet clean when I use it.”
(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, November 9, 2002)
