Afterthought of A College Student Marrying without Permission

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Afterthought of A College Student Marrying without Permission

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Chen, a boy student of 23 at the Wuhan-based Central China Normal University (CCNU) keeping the university in the dark, received his marriage certificate with a female staff of 24 called Zhang giving a wedding feast in a restaurant. It is the first case that a college student has held a public wedding ceremony. The couple enjoyed the support from their respective parents, while CCNU hasn't yet aired their opinion on this marriage.

Since the age and marital status restrictions on college exam participants were lifted, whether college students should marry on campus has long been a subject of much controversy in China.

The Ministry of Education took a clear stand as early as two years ago that colleges decided whether or not to allow their students to get married. However, most of colleges decline to comment. They have so far not yet voiced any permission or objection.

Two main reasons spell their noncommittal attitude about this question. On one hand, college students had rarely submitted any application for marriage before, and so it is not a matter of primary importance for college to formulate related school regulations. On the other hand, people take different views on this question, and colleges are also caught in a dilemma. In order to avoid being reproached, they all take a wait-and-see attitude.

To get married without permission actually is not Chen's first choice. He took an advantage of the school regulations and nagged on them. Since the CCNU side has no clear-cut stand on this question, he simply took the action first before reporting. Since the CCNU side has never forbidden students to get married, the marriage move could not be a violation of school regulations. This senior student has in a way exposed the obsolescence of school regulations. He, by his bold move, threw colleges into a passive position. It is reasonable to imagine that there should be a second, third successor to Chen---the first "crab-eater", who will spur colleges on to commit themselves and give a definite answer to this long-unresolved question. In this regard, that's the significance of the first marriage of college students.

As a matter of fact, the matter of marriage for college students is more a judicial definition and recognition of rights rather than a practical and imminent need. College students just aim at their marriage right: The reality of marriage is one thing while the right of marriage is another. Most of them hold that colleges should allow students to marry, but they won't get married on campus. Such an attitude seems to be something contradictory, but it shows the increasingly mature psychology and concept of college students. It is certain that not a many of college students will head for wedding altar even if allowed. So college administrators and parents needn't worry that once students allowed marriage, their educational undertakings will be affected or even impaired. .

No doubts that once the marriage ban on college students lifted, new conflicts and problems will be brought about to colleges' administration. But one should never escape from his duties. Educational departments and colleges should adopt a serious attitude, deliberating and mapping out proper measures to deal with it, so as to minimize and curb possible negative effects entailed by students' marriage.

By PD Online Staff Zhu Lizhen

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