For the first time, Zhang Shengyu, a student from Laiyang Middle School in Shandong, didn’t ask her mother to buy her a new schoolbag or any new pens for the beginning of the school term. “My old schoolbag can still be used, so there is no need to buy a new one,” Zhang said, “I’ve decided to be thrifty from now on.”
As the center of the family’s attention, many of the one-child generation (一代人) do not know about the hardships of life. They sometimes have no idea of the value of things. Many students would throw away pens and erasers that haven’t been used up and buy new ones. Some like to compete with each other to see whose clothes and school things are more expensive.
On its website in January, the Ministry of Education called on students to form good habits such as working hard, being helpful and thrifty, to avoid wasting food and to pay more attention to study and others.
Many schools consider teaching the value of money to be an important lesson and encourage their students to be thrifty.
Students at No. 44 Middle School of Shijiazhuang, Hebei planted many fruit trees in their school. Through taking care of the trees, the students learned how to value things.
At Tie Yi Middle School in Xi’an, students organized a group to collect waste and reuse them. “What we students do are small things, but I think with everyone’s w ork, we can make a difference,” said Li Dongdong, 16, a student from the group.