Students Receive Task Of Adding 1,667 Friends On WeChat To Get An A+

According to Chinese media, a professor from the Henan University of Economics and Laws gave students in the Online and New Media course a strange assignment.

Specifically, on March 10th, the professor asked his students to have at least 1001 new friends on WeChat, a popular messaging app with more than 1 billion users in China.

Students who make it to the 1001 number will get a score of 60 to 100. Meanwhile, to get the maximum score (A+), they need to add at least 1667 new friends.

And to add more pressure, the mark of this assignment would account for 30% of the semester’s final average grade and there would be no alternative assignments.

This task was complained by students, especially those who are introverted, as being too difficult. One student said:

Another professor at Henan University of Economics and Law defended his colleague, saying this assignment is to prepare students for real life. He said:

The task was posted on China’s Twitter, Weibo and quickly went viral. It ignited a heated debate online. Some people actually supported the decision of the professor, saying the assignment was “reasonable.” Others disagreed, claiming the task would only make sense if it were for a marketing course.

One Weibo account thought this course was good by offering many challenges.

Another one commented: