The freshmen have arrived on campus! These photos were taken in September, 2006 when we first saw university freshmen do military training on campus.
At the start of their university career, all freshmen students are required to participate in military training exercises on campus for two weeks. This happens all over China, not just on the C.I.T. campuses in Changzhou. As I watched the students parade and chant, I thought of cadet camps in Canada where similar things happen. Of course, I asked the junior and senior students I was teaching at the time about what I was seeing. They had some interesting things to tell me. In the end, it was all about team-building and pride in country more than it was about military training.
Students are assigned to a cohort upon entry at the university. Each cohort had about fifty students. Typically this cohort sticks together throughout their university career with all taking the same classes at the same time with the same teacher. For programs in smaller colleges within a university these “class” cohorts could be half that size.
Of course the idea of class cohorts is one that is familiar to North American universities, especially in specialized fields, yet the cohesiveness of the cohorts is more restrictive, at least at C.I.T. There is little room for elective courses. If choice for an elective is offered, the cohort makes a choice, not the individual.
With two weeks of endless marching in both rain and sunshine, the freshmen pack away their fatigues and begin their classes. With the two weeks of marching, singing, crawling and chanting done, the classmates and dormitory mates have become members of a team. Going to school in a strange city where one doesn’t know anyone else now isn’t such a lonely adventure. Again, something to think about.
