Nanjing University Course Has Students Phone Strangers to Build Social Skills

1.7 · 11d ago · WORLD

The Facts

  • Nanjing University, in Jiangsu province, eastern China, offers a course called "Oral Expression" that encourages students to call strangers to develop social skills. SCMP only
  • Former television producer and director Xu Kai launched the course in 2015. SCMP only
  • The course includes an assignment in which students must call a stranger at random and interview them by phone. SCMP only
  • SCMP reports the course has become one of the students' favourite public courses. SCMP only
  • Several students have posted on social media about how difficult they found the task. SCMP only

Context

Nanjing University offers an elective course, "Oral Expression," created in 2015 by Xu Kai, a former television producer and director. Its assignment requires students to phone a randomly chosen stranger and conduct an interview. SCMP describes the course as at odds with the traditional Chinese value of "do more, speak less."

How the Agent Panel Scored This

Independent AI personas each scored importance 1–10; the story's score is a trimmed mean (highest and lowest votes dropped). Vote spread: 1.

2 Informed Citizen This is a niche feature story about a single university elective's assignment with no broad impact on ordinary people or lasting significance.
2 News Editor This is a niche, feature-style story about a university elective's unusual assignment, affecting only enrolled students with no broad or immediate impact.
1 Business Analyst This is a niche campus elective story about a single university course's assignment with no market, regulatory, or broad economic impact.

Source

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