(Minghui.org) I recently read an article about school children in China being “voluntold” into buying certain things. For example, after the new school year started, parents would receive letters from the school about buying uniforms, milk, and even certain insurance for their children. While the school claimed that the purchases weren’t mandatory, students who didn’t buy the items could be barred from school or face all kinds of discrimination.

In one example, children who brought their own lunch to school were forced to eat on the playground under the blazing sun, because the school had a policy that only children who ordered the school meal plan could eat in the classroom.

Relatively speaking, being “voluntold” to buy certain things is not the worst thing in the world. Although children whose parents refused the meal plan aren’t allowed to eat indoors, at least they can still eat in the playground. A more serious situation is when the students are “voluntold” by the school to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations.

Students in elementary schools throughout China are required to join the CCP’s Young Pioneers. In middle schools, they are again required to join the Youth League. During the initiation ceremonies in both cases, they vow to devote their lives to the CCP. Although the school always claims that doing this is completely “voluntary,” children who refuse to join—and their teachers and parents—face various pressures. Later, they might not have the opportunity to attend better colleges or find better jobs.

The consequences are serious. By promoting hatred and brutality, the CCP has harmed a huge number of innocent lives during its previous political campaigns. When the regime meets its fate, many people—both adults and children—may also face dire consequences because they once vowed to devote their lives to the regime.

Can people in China do anything of their own free will? Of course they can. Since the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in 2004, over 430 million Chinese people have decided to quit the CCP organizations, voluntarily,from their hearts. This enables them to negate the vows they made to the CCP and they can then truly become spiritually free.

Let’s continue to work hard in the remaining time to help as many Chinese people as possible to quit the CCP organizations so they can be saved.