Summer camps should not be a 'luxury'

Chinese school children make victory signs as they visit an armed police base during the summer vacation in Lianyungang City in east China's Jiangsu Province, July 23, 2009.[Photo/Xinhua]

With the summer vacation around the corner, various agencies are promoting their extremely expensive programs that feature top-notch food, accommodations, and activities. Summer camps have become the opportunity for parents and students to show off their wealth and have lost their original meaning, according to a commentary on Netease website. Excerpts:

For many, some of their happiest childhood memories are of summer camps, where they exercised the ability to live independently, made new friends, learned how to cooperate with others, cultivated teamwork spirit and even developed passions that sometimes extended to future careers, or lifelong hobbies.

Unfortunately, a significant number of summer camps organized by profit-driven business organizations, and co-sponsored by schools, are offering expensive programs to children. Besides the luxury accommodations these high-priced camps provide, the camps provide programs that offer specialized curricula in high-end facilities. Take the two-week summer camp in the US, the cost, as high as 60,000 yuan, may seem daunting to many families, especially for working parents. Summer camps have become a luxury instead of an integral part of vacation.

There are great benefits to be gained even from a summer camp - leadership, teamwork, character development, etc. - but by no means these attributes can only be learned in such a top notched summer camp setting. Young people can develop these traits in less expensive methods.

What can be done to avoid summer camp becoming a money-making tool or luxury solely for the wealthy? There must be a strict supervision on the industry, meanwhile, the education sector should be encouraged to offer a variety of public summer camp, which will surely be welcomed by the majority of parents.

With the overwhelming social needs, we must not make summer camp a competition of family background or finance, which will have adverse effects on children.