The current education system should be reformed to reduce the
occurrence of nearsightedness among our children, says an article
in Modern Life Daily. The following is an excerpt:
A joint research team of scientists from China, the United
States and Australia released a report recently saying that 50 to
60 percent of China's youngsters are myopic and nearly 400 million
Chinese have the same condition.
That shows China has the biggest nearsighted population in the
world. And the occurrence rate of myopia in the country is 33
percent, 1.5 times the world average.
Myopia deprives people of clear vision, causes inconvenience in
their daily lives, and even results in blindness in old age.
The most important measure to prevent myopia is to protect the
eyes of children at an early age.
An expert in ophthalmology pointed out that the high occurrence
of myopia among small children is caused by lack of qualified
opticians, too much use of computers, and incorrect physical
positioning when reading and writing.
He could be right, but more important, nearsightedness in
children could also be caused by too much homework and lessons.
This could be blamed on our educational system, which causes
children to spend too much time on studies and preparing for
numerous exams.
With insufficient time devoted to sports and other recreational
activities, children lose out on becoming stronger physically.
(China Daily October 15, 2007)