Students should have bigger say in choosing roommates

A local newspaper has reported that some freshmen have been asking to change dormitory rooms only two months into the fall semester because they cannot get along with their roommates.

In Songjiang university town, many teachers responsible for student affairs confirmed the news and said that quite a few freshmen each year complain they have personal problems with other students, especially those they share a room with. The news got forwarded around social media, where people debated the issue.

In the past, it was typical for eight Chinese undergraduates to share a room smaller than 10 square meters. They slept in creaky bunk beds that made noise whenever the sleeping students stirred.

Today, living conditions for students have improved, though four students still have to share a dorm room at most universities. Although some people said they enjoyed their time in the dorms, many confessed to having roommate trouble. Different backgrounds, habits, interests and personalities can make it difficult for some people to live in the same room.

When I was a freshman, I lived at an eight-person dorm room. Because the room was so small and my roommates were always talking about stuff I wasn't interested in, I usually studied late at the library and got back to the dormitory around 11 pm. By that time, my roommates were usually already in bed with the lights out. I had to work hard to wash my face and get into bed without disturbing anyone. I usually stumbled around in the dark, using my cellphone as a lamp.

I lived in this situation until my sophomore year, when I transferred to another campus and moved in with two other girls. In my new room, I had more to talk about with my roommates. We discussed history, philosophy and politics. We shared the books we read and our opinions about them. Like me, they were night owls, who liked to stay up late reading and watching movies. We had a great relationship.

University is a diverse place. In China, students come from different provinces and have different backgrounds, habits, interests and personalities. They are assigned roommates by their teachers and school counsellors. So it's easy to imagine that problems might occur.

When I was a student, I did not want to make trouble, but my compromise left me a bit uneasy. These days, it seems that the younger generation prefers to put their own feelings first. To some extent, it is progress.

In some Western countries, when incoming university students are required to fill out surveys detailing their habits and interests, such as whether they rise early or stay up late. They are asked to describe their own personality and the personality of someone they would like to live with. Their universities then use these surveys to assign roommates. It's supposed to reduce personal conflicts between students.

Chinese universities should introduce similar surveys. If we let students make their own choices and they still have problems then it's their responsibility.

Anyway, to get along with people who one does not like is a lesson one has to learn in life. A student dormitory is a little society itself. If one could not handle it well, then how can one expect to deal with more difficult interpersonal relationships later in life?

In addition, two months is really too quick for a student to change dorm rooms. And the dormitory space in every university is limited so we still need a regulation that prohibits students from asking to change dorm rooms more than once.