China university offers course pushing students to call strangers to build confidence, social skills
The unique course defies the traditional Chinese ethos of keeping a low profile and living by the mantra, ‘do more, speak less’
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An unconventional course at prestigious Nanjing University encourages students to call strangers to hone their social skills, challenging the traditional value of “do more, speak less”.
At the top-tier institution in Jiangsu province, eastern China, former television producer and director Xu Kai launched a course called “Oral Expression” in 2015. Over the years, it has become one of the students’ favourite public courses.
The course includes a legendary assignment: students must call a stranger at random and interview them over the phone.
Several students have posted on social media about how difficult they found the task.
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