Students hooked up to drips in China ahead of university entrance exams

Telegraph ^ | 5/10/12

[LibWhacker]

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV airs footage allegedly showing schoolchildren hooked up to intravenous drips to help them study ahead of the country's notoriously difficult university entrance exams.

Students at Xioagang high school in Hubei province have reportedly been using the drips, filled with amino acids, in yet another example of how children are pushed to succeed at the highest level.

Gao Pingqiang, a school official, told The China Daily that the drips had become popular with children as there were no adverse health effects.

[MetaThought]

And this would be better than eating protein, why exactly?

[longtermmemmory]

does this actually work?

is this a sleep substitute?

[PGR88]

I’ve lived in China, and administering Intravenous Solutions are very common. Its very common that parents will request them for children with the flu or for any malady where people question hydration or nutrition. Its a cultural thing - people seem to expect IV’s as a kind of very “basic” treatment that any doctor should prescribe, and hospitals and clinics don’t argue because its probably a simple, but large, revenue earner.

[LibWhacker]

I can’t imagine that it does... Well, maybe, somehow, intravenous protein convinces the brain that it is not hungry and so you wouldn’t have the distraction of hunger to take your mind off your studies. But why they wouldn’t just order out some chow mein is beyond me? /s

[Former Fetus]

In my last year of college I got “hooked to” dried figs. Really! I thought, if the brain needs glucose, I will give it glucose. Dried figs have lots of fructose, that the body turns into glucose, but no fat, caffeine... Did it work? You decide: I got straight A’s and twenty something pounds of unwanted weight right before the summer. LOL

[rlmorel]

"...But why they wouldn’t just order out some chow mein is beyond me..."

Silly person. That would break up studies even more, because they would have to keep stopping to order more.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

When I was studying, I just drank can upon can of Mountain Dew and Jolt Cola. Tastier than an IV drip.

[Trod Upon]

And our oversexed, facebook focused, texting addicted, entitlement minded teens are going to compete with kids that driven to compete? Imagine what they could achieve if the Chinese goverment ever backed off on the central planning.

[VanDeKoik]

There was a BBC documentary I watched on YouTube about those exams.

The ChiComs dont mess around with this. Your whole future comes down to your score on those things. Where you go to college, where you will work, and how poor you will or wont be.

It’s like whole parts of the country come to a complete stop when this test is taken and top performers are treated like local heroes.

I’m not shocked that this is what some kids are enduring in order to not fail.

[mikrofon]

Hey, if the drips know the subject matter, why not get in touch with them?

[moovova]

Melamine drips?

[LibWhacker]

Lol, there you go, I was thinking the same thing. Johnny could have the melanine drip and Joey could have the anti-freeze drip. Then we could see which of them did better on the exams!