The Shanghai Morning Post reported that many people are raising the question of whether the school wants to specialize in training college girls to become housewives. The school was established through a partnership between Tongji University and the Shanghai Municipal Women's Association.

Yue Changzhi, associate dean of the college, said that over the past five years, tailor-made programs for girls have helped them to become a new generation of independent and charming women.

The dean said that the girl's school will offer more optional home-making courses in the coming semester to meet increasing demands from students.

In commenting on questions about the controversial programs, Yue Changzhi said that some people misunderstand the college, adding that the school aims to improve girls' professionalism to meet social demand. The women's school head notes that these programs help girls learn from traditional cultural practices with loving care.

In modern society, Yue Changzhi continued, these home-making skills will help women to become good wives and mothers and is seen as complimentary for future women leaders and professionals, the Morning Post reported.

At a recent beverage and food festival held on campus, these proposed optional courses were welcome by both girls and boys.

A survey conducted by the school in the summer of 2005 found that a majority of female students in Shanghai colleges and universities are choosing to focus on families rather than on careers, with more than 40 percent of the interviewees listing marriage and family life as the most important thing in their life, according to the newspaper.

More than half of the girls said that they valued family life more than career development when confronted with choosing one option over the other.

A female student named Liu Yonghua praised the optional courses her school plans to offer, saying that cooking programs should be open to all other students. She added that nowadays girls lack basic home-making skills due to present educational practices, when parents are focused on testing results only.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)