Friday, May 18, 2007

Compulsory?

This is a little different: when I was in college all the arguments were about trying to get the authorities to provide free pregnancy testing on a voluntary basis....not compulsory:

A Chinese technical college for boarders has defended compulsory pregnancy tests for students as a responsibility to them and their families, local media reported Friday.

The college in Urumqi, capital of the far western region of Xinjiang, had tested new students for several years and would ask those who tested positive to leave, the Beijing News said, citing students.

"We are a closed boarding school. Every year we ask new students to take routine health checks. The pregnancy tests are just a part of that. This is a duty toward the students and families," the paper quoted an unnamed school official as saying.

The school, where girls aged 17 and 18 comprise 70 to 80 percent of new spring semester students, gathered "whole classes" of girls into a hall to pass urine samples on to doctors, the paper said.

But then this is indeed China, rather mroe authoritarian than most colleges.

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