Warning: Waltzing May Cause Low Grades
Chinese teachers are rethinking their plans to teach students how to waltz, due to worried parents. The parents believe that if the students are allowed to dance with a partner, they may fall victim to puppy love which will result in their grades dropping.
Xinhua News Agency reports that educators are now revising the dance steps to allow students to dance solo or together in large groups. They did not explain how this would work.
“They don’t have to dance with specific partners, which will be more easily accepted by both students and their parents,” Yin Guochen, an official with the State General Administration of Sports, was quoted as saying.
“This way, the risk of young love would be lowered,” a ministry official, Yang Guiren, said.
The protests over close dancing and the possibility of puppy love have now pushed back the plans to introduce dancing from September to the end of the year.
Although Chinese schools are mixed, parental disapproval and academic pressure mean relationships between students are unusual before the university level.
In China, ballroom dancing has always been seen as a healthy past-time, and it is common to see dancing groups congregating in parks, under bridges and in supermarket carparks.
The idea of introducing dance in schools is inspired by worries over the increase in childhood obesity, poor health and lack of exercise amongst the students.
J.S.
(Xinhua)
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