Mounting pressure from their studies and job-hunt have driven a number of students to find a "double" to attend class for them. This is especially common among juniors and seniors.

22岁的华东理工大学大三学生程明在校内论坛（电子公告牌系统）上看到了一则广告，发帖人宣称自己可以帮别人代课，每节课收取15元。

Cheng Ming, 22, a junior at East China University of Science and Technology, saw an ad on the BBS (bulletin board system), where someone offered to attend class for others for 15 yuan per class.

程明认为有些选修课真的很“鸡肋”——你必须去上课但它们对未来几乎没有用处，于是他决定试一试这个方法。他雇了一名上思想道德课的替身，这样他就能够实习了。

Cheng was thinking that some electives were just "chicken ribs" – you have to take them but they're hardly useful for the future – so he decided to give this method a shot. He has hired a double to attend his ethics class in his place so that he can do an internship.

到！

Present!

老师随机检查出席率时，每当点到程明的名字，替身就会提他喊到。这名替身还会把课上提到的重点整理成笔记，这样一来“甚至比我自己去上课还要好，”程明解释说。

When the teacher randomly checks the attendance, the double is there to say "present!" when Cheng's name is called. The double also marks the key points mentioned in class, so it's "even better than if I attend the lecture myself," Cheng explains.

如果你认为像程明一样的学生之所以雇用替身是因为他们多金且懒惰，那你就错了。“我们只是太忙了没有办法照顾周全。”他解释到。

If you think that students like Cheng hire a double because they're rich and lazy, then think again. "We're just too busy to take care of everything in the right way," he explained.

他同时在一家上海的IT公司实习，经常要加班，为项目编程。而这一学期，最让他头疼的是每周的三节选修课以及六节主修课，此外为了拿到驾照，他每周还要保证几小时的训练。他还要兼顾学生会的工作并要参加戏剧社团的一系列活动。显而易见，他给自己找了太多的事情了，而他本人显然力不从心。

Meanwhile, he's interning at a Shanghai-based IT company and often finds himself working overtime, programming some projects. At the same time, he has three electives and six major courses to worry about every week, plus several hours of practice for his driving license. Then there's his job at the student union and the drama club activities. It's fairly easy to see that he's got himself spread really thin.

“这些都是为将来能有个好工作，好生活而打拼，”程明说。

It's all about working for a better future with a better job, Cheng said.

最近，《中国青年报》的一项调查显示，约60%大学生表示压力主要来源于工作。紧随其后是学业压力，有57%的人表示自身压力主要源于学业。

A recent survey by China Youth Daily found that jobs are the major source of pressure for about 60 percent of college students. That's followed by studies, at 57 percent.

学校管理人员指出，需要严令禁止雇替身来代课这一现象。

School administrators point out that using a double to attend class is strictly prohibited.

我有太多的事情要做

Lots to do

来自北京科技大学教导处的康杜萌引用一份由北京青年压力管理服务中心起草的2009年度报告，报告中显示超过73%的大学生在实习。同时，在所有的学生中只有约9%的人对自己的工作或职业前景表示乐观。

Kang Dumeng, from the student affairs office at Beijing University of Science and Technology, cited a 2009 report from the Beijing Youth Stress Management Service Center which showed that over 73 percent of college students get an internship. Meanwhile, only about 9 percent of all students feel optimistic about their job or career prospects.

“这些学生们正处于大学生涯中，当他们过早地接触到社会压力的时候，他们的学业也必然受到影响，”康杜萌说，他还补充到，对于当下就业压力以及很多学生选择在毕业前夕做兼职或实习工作的现象，很多老师表示理解。

When social pressures hit students early in their college career, studies are bound to be affected, Kang says, adding that many teachers understand the job pressures and the fact that many students have part-time jobs or internships in their graduating year.

但来自上海大学的教员刘素阁认为，找其他人代课表示一种时间管理的失误。通常来说，大学的日程安排要远比就职单位轻松，这样就更没有理由来牺牲上课时间来做其他的事情了。

But Liu Suge, a faculty member at Shanghai University, thinks that getting someone else to sit your class for you is a sign of time-management failure. Normally, college schedules are far looser than company schedules, so there's no reason to sacrifice class attendance for something else.

“学业应当放在首位，”刘素阁说。“如果你没有办法处理好紧凑的日程安排，那就缩减待办事项吧，但讲座及课程除外。”

Study should be the priority, Liu says. "If you cannot handle the tight schedule, just shorten the to-do list – but not the lectures and classes."

尽管，相对而言，压力可能给代课现象提供一个合理的解释，但一些学生雇用替身只是因为他们不想去上课。深圳大学的学生小齐就是一名代课替身。小齐发现他的“大客户”通常是一些大一，大二的学生，小齐并不认为他们真的很忙。“看起来他们只是不想去上课罢了，”他说。

Stress may be a relatively "decent" reason to hire someone for "help", but some students hire doubles simply because they don't want to go to class. One student at Shenzhen University who identified himself as Qi works as a double. Qi finds that his "boss-customers" are often freshmen or sophomores, and, he doesn't think they're that busy. "It seems that they simply don't want to attend classes," he said.

根据对外经贸大学在2008年做的一项针对逃课问题的调查，有超过70%的学生认为逃掉自己不感兴趣的课程是“再正常不过了”。

According to a 2008 survey on class-skipping issued by the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), over 70 percent of students think that skipping classes one is not interested in is "fairly common".

根据深圳大学校方的另一项调查，超过90%的学生有逃课行为。

According to another survey by Shenzhen University officials, over 90 percent of students were found to have skipped classes.

“上高中时，逃课会受到很严厉的惩罚，”刚刚升入对外经贸大学，现年18岁的王丹表示，“但在大学，逃课似乎没什么大不了的。”

In high school, skipping classes led to serious punishment, says Wang Dan, 18, freshman at UIBE, "but in college, it seems not a big deal [of skipping classes]."