iPad + suit + makeup = career success
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Global Times, July 19, 2011
In order to prepare young people for the real world, one lecturer in Shanghai is strongly advising his students to suit up and apply makeup when toting their iPads to class once school starts again in the fall.
A lecturer of financial English at Shanghai Maritime University, Liang Zhenyu listed the Apple gadget as a suggested course requirement for students next semester on his microblog earlier this week, saying that PowerPoint presentations and class materials would be presented in iPad format only.
Liang said Monday that it was not unreasonable to expect students to comply with his directives, saying that the measures were intended to give students a leg up after graduation.
"These requirements are meant to help students, many of whom are unfamiliar with proper dress codes that financial companies require," he told the Global Times Monday.
"Students who take my class will learn all about how to survive in the real world," he said. "Attitude is the most important when it comes to learning and striving for success; formal wear adds to this, and is part of the package that employers are looking for when hiring prospective employees."
Liang, who always wears a suit to class, added that he encourages students to use the iPad because the 3,688 yuan ($628)-tool can better help prepare students for the future.
He said that the iPad movement represents one of the latest market trends of superiority, adding that students who want to succeed should familiarize themselves with such advanced technologies and related software as PCs and MACs move to become obsolete.
Liang added that students with iPads will also be able to benefit from new teaching methods and interactive lessons – all of which will allow them to think outside the box in the future – a quality highly valued by employers nowadays.
But students were left mixed about the financially imposing teaching methods Monday.
While some agreed that the measures would expose them to how the business world operates, a majority believed that the requirements put low-income students at an unfair disadvantage.
"Poor students who can't afford an iPad will be under added pressure when competing against more affluent classmates," Wang Mengya, a graduate of Shanghai Maritime University, told the Global Times Monday.
But Liang denied that his requirements put students under greater economic burdens, saying that summer is a good time for students to work and earn extra pocket money, which can be used to buy "school supplies" that will be needed for the year ahead. He added that the iPad would also give students access to cheaper software that the course requires.
Liang said that only as a last resort – if students have trouble meeting the suggested course requirements – would he consider adjusting course materials accordingly.
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