Chinese loan sharks coercing female college students into sending naked photos for collateral has triggered heated discussions online. A chorus of media reports is pointing fingers at predators for their exploitation against young students. "Obviously, the profit-driven lenders have a keen insight into the need for cash and lack of common sense among college students," an article of yours argued last week. However, naked loans should spur the public to focus more on the morality of young women than the evil loan sharks.

The naked photos, in essence, have no real values, and thus the "collateral" on offer is the young women' reputation. Many options are available for borrowers, for instance, providing signed IOUs to reliable lenders or taking a part-time job for quick money, but they voluntarily risk their reputation for loans. Lenders, though profit-driven and cunning, have not forced the young women to trample on basic decency.

Naked loans are just the tip of the iceberg of the moral deterioration in college students. It seems that today's youngsters are thirstier for material comforts than any previous generation. The author is right to say that some students risk their future "for nothing more than the appeal of consumer goods or an attempt to keep up with their richer peers." Competitions for more updated electronic devices, fancier bags, and bigger-name costumes are quite common. Some students even trade their bodies to satisfy their vanity.

The morbid thirst for material success is a by-product of China's rapid growth in recent years. A 2013 survey by Ipsos suggests that those from China are most likely to measure their success by what they own (71 percent) and most likely to agree they feel under a lot of pressure to make money (68 percent). For many Chinese, money is the only criteria to measure psychological fulfillment. Under such circumstances, young college students don't think it a big deal to risk their reputation for money.

In addition, that society pays more tribute to businessmen than scholars has aggravated materialism. The number of students selecting economics, a supposedly money-making course, as their major in college far exceeds those choosing "useless" courses, for instance, philosophy and literature.

For many students, it seems that the purpose of education is to equip them for a money-making career and material success. While criticizing well-educated college women for trading their reputations for money, the society and school should reflect on their own responsibilities in shaping their students' values on material comforts.

To eradicate naked loans, some argue that stricter supervision is needed to protect "innocent" young girls from the talons of loan sharks. However, helping college students to build the correct values is the fundamental solution to the problem.

The society should publicize academic and artistic successes rather than material ones. College should also bear in mind that students' physical and psychological well-being is one of the most significant purposes of education.

Too much emphasis on money is an example of bad teaching. Joint efforts from society, college and parents are required to address the issue. China's economic growth may eventually bring not only material but also spiritual progresses to the society.

Little Jelly, a freelance writer based in Beijing