Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 268-272 Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20385853 . Accessed: 02/10/2013 19:56
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China's
No one
Fifth Modernization:
Education
of China. in
"It is imperative to train a large intel contingent of working-class lectuals and greatly to raise the scientific and cultural " level of the
entire Chinese nation. ? Deng Xiaoping,
long-time comments
the greater the voluntary efforts the to learn science should make students and culture for the revolution.3
22 April
1978
of this struggle [con education is both revolution], If politics crucial and controversial. in command is to mean then anything, tinued must of millions seriously econo and political study philosophy . . . texts Confucian my. Replacing texts does with Marxist not in itself cause people's to come to grips brains with the real world. That is why Mao so often that knowledge has stressed hundreds and has from practice that everyone take part in class ? that is, day-to-day political ? in order to master politics. alent comes insisted struggle struggle
In the context
tation, is mentioned
expertness come of ness. How the
The
uing
concepts
all areas since 1949. Education has always played an important role in these changes, either through its presence or its absence. education is a critical and Consequently, essential component of the current drive
toward the "four modernizations" in agriculture, and science defense, industry, military ma Without and technology.
monize in practice will be one of the most to watch in the important phenomena next decade. Some level of harmony be
tween tinued the two will toward be essential modernization. to con progress
This is only one of the many issues fac ing Chinese education as this nation, with
one-quarter decade of our planet's toward population,
and taking hold of technology raise the level of production. levels of production form a ma Higher terial base for further revolution. In this people, science, whole of process, technology the step-by-step mastery and science is vitally im
destiny
own. the
is increasingly
understand necessary educa and the
up by Vice-Premier
speech above. to the National Further
Deng Xiaoping
Educational
in a
Work
portant.2
Conference
on 22 April
excerpts:
1978, quoted
The obvious dilemma is to find a mid dle ground where both the "red" and the
are integrated. "expert" been accomplished well This task has not in the past. Party Every
it is first current
tional
country
of the quality improve [W]e must and raise the level of teaching education in science and culture so as to serve pro better. letarian politics We must train workers with high at in science and culture tainments and in build a vast army of working-class tellectuals expert. . .J who are both red and
role of intellectuals in China during the past 31 years. The latter is crucial to
understanding current trends.
leadership worried
from renewed
about
dogma, on for
straying be a as
"redness," a "great
in Chairman revolution."
Educational
Structure*
cultural
after
the devastation of that decade which brought the development of the country
to a virtual valued. again halt, "expertness" Critics charge is once that Deng
Throughout the 31-year history of the People's Republic there has been a debate
the importance concerning versus i.e., "expertness," of "redness" between the
Xiaoping has diluted the role of politics and ideology in his drive toward modern
ization. Perhaps so, yet Deng's own
concept of "politics in command" (ideol ogy) and scholarship (the mastery of sci
ence and culture). William Hinton, a
words
suggest
an attempt
posture:
to find
middle-of-the-road
Institutionalized education in China is about 3,000 years old. Schooling in the country prior to 1949 was limited; the ma jority of students came from privileged and wealthy families. School enrollment was at about 20% of the total school-age population, and illiteracy ranged between 80% in urban centers to 95% in rural areas. With the coming to power of Mao Zedong and his forces in October 1949,
education of the masses became dictated Reforms were priority. First National Conference a high at the
JOHN J. COGAN (University of Minne sota Chapter) is associate professor of educa tion, University Minneapolis. of Minnesota, He visited the People's last Republic of China a special study of popular year and has made and China. research ? 1980, now literature coming John J. Cogan. out of
Mao explicitly Chairman pointed out that the main task of students is to to learn book study, i.e., knowledge, science and culture. Students must give first place to firm and correct political but this does not exclude orientation, the study of science and culture. On the con the higher their political contrary, sciousness, the harder the efforts and
on Education,
Much of the material in this section is from a of Education in speech titled "The Development China over the Past 30 Years," by Ming-yuan Gu, director general, Beijing Normal University, China, at the Fourth World Congress of Comparative Educa tion Societies, Tokyo, 8 July 1980.
268
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held lished
just his
two
months
after
Mao
estab as
Communist The
revolutionaries tasks
the governing
the people; 2) training and advancing qualified personnel in key posts; 3) elimi
nating the feudal, compradore (imperial
ist), and fascist ideologies; and 4) popu larizing the ideal of working for the peo
ple. Significant gains levels of education ance were Their with these established task was The for have since been 1949 made at all in accord
children also
and physically
years.
for
the primary
serves
school
as a
8,790,000
preschools, enrollment Primary at
which education, is designed age 7, a basic with education for of takes the middle secondary five years which curriculum
in 633 higher
them
schools, education to
school, The
in more also
of the Chinese mathe study language, fine and arts, music, matics, physical are Natural education. and politics science studied urban most The In 90%, from schools the fourth foreign foreign is 9Vi grade onward. instruc In language language months of
required, to specialty.
has
during
In 1979 the sec long. some schools enrolled five times the enroll
students,
is the
ment
Higher
diversified. leges, schools. train ers.
in 1949. education
It includes and institutes, The goal
in China
universities, higher
is also
col
Standing Committee of the National Peo in February 1980. The ple's Congress
regulations mentation and become Much and vision broadcasts some now and time. registered Television kinds doctoral effective set of a process forth a baccalaureate, degree-granting 1 January is also education more for imple to master's, system 1981. to adult given in China. Tele attention as an radio
enrollment
students
professional is to education work are on na were also education scores which must
Secondary
education
are
in China
general
is dif
(tech is
secondary
nonformal
meet must
1) They
educational
Educational
recently
although to this exceptions sent of the youth the from Cultural senior
used for effectively are students 280,000 the Central Radio through which was es
been
University, of
Revolution;
there are
and were
have they must middle schools some through level equivalent is school other
part-time colleges In 1979 there in for part-time secondary teachers. 161 training teachers which teachers these
schools schools
to that was
school
and
particularly Revolution. and shut to
1,375,000
primary part-time
students
school the teacher
in schools
for
pro col en
hit during the Cultural of the colleges, universities, were institutes completely ly now education to two five to for three are they is from for
down. return
professional
rolled 310,000
training
for professional personnel ernized There production. professional culture, economics, and teacher primary schooling schools forestry, physical training medicine,
secondary
education, (for
fessional
school
one of the 800 special to which according ties is being in but it always undertaken, cludes the study of political In economy.
DECEMBER 1980
269
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death
of Mao
and
the overthrow
the Gang
of
with the rise coupled of Deng Xiaoping, to modernize China, much more ex the re
the
toward
current
25 million
intellectuals
close
is "to
who Thus
firmly
between learn prog men of with
and mental physical and make from each other ress within the cause the whom in their in our /I Chinese school class studies English. from Premier the sci Zhou socialist of the working furthering state. Many were
common
I spoke
cautiously optimistic the sudden changes given intel toward attitudes that for a pro the
primary not
are hopeful 1949. "We be good and productive said one university very long time," one never when knows "But fessor. lectuals may change again."
periods of considerable
press has given
ton) entific
attended and
by literary
popular
Education
of
and Modernization
is the primary drive the relations topic for with
to the diminished
role of
of in the plight and especially education Cul the of decade the tellectuals during role of the The 1966-76. tural Revolution,
that been
intellectual
somewhat
in China
ambiguous
1966
tural Revolution
ushering
in a dec
for intel
of Intellectuals
the term "intellectuals" than is normally The category engineers, schoolteach is the in
more the Chinese is in terms their country underdeveloped have a great deal models. of Western They for moderni the plans about of optimism zation. naivete plexity Yet about of the in some respects the massiveness undertaking. there and The is a real com intel
length
China
in 1979:
in addition
At
the time of the founding of the Peo ple's Republic of China in 1949 there were
about there The changed three are million toward time intellectuals. intellectuals Today has nearly policy each 25 million. have winds the political re has always the goal to make them part of During and of from the period remold them the old them to of fol intel were socie
at In 1969 I left my college because as were all intel that time Iwas accused, lectuals. We were called class enemies to I didn't want of Four. by the Gang So I left my college. All teach anymore. left also. All my students my colleagues were told by the Gang of Four to give us to what we trouble, not to pay attention like myself who understood said. Those of be a foreign language were accused ing foreign slaves. A school that conversation teacher the abuses also. with a former middle
lectuals with whom I spoke in 1979 be lieved that if China could only receive
capital and technology from the Western
powers,
War
their goals by the reach II, they could I asked them about Yet when year 2000. of such a side effects the possible negative massive unemployment (e.g., program caused ing by over
shifted, mained
tak and machines technology out by carried jobs previously "We the standard was, response people), these time to solve have We will manage. But problems." can accomplish The role of modernization plan have taken and enthusiasm optimism so much. only for in the drive education must be substantial if the
schooling lish.
near Shanghai confirmed at other levels of occurred of Eng She was a teacher
is to succeed.
this
I taught for only one like it at all, because my to learn. The Gang want students not to study, to
policy been
I It was very tion. and they students would say ? to my would say ah. So I quit and looked for were But intellectuals another job. the nine as one of labeled stinking and so it was by the gang, categories I could to find a job where very difficult use my skills. People didn't want to hire me because they feared trouble from the gang.
in the drive
for moderniza
leadership in each of
modernization
through have
270
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is and will continue to be one of ". . .[Education the cornerstones in the Chinese Communist Party's drive in the latter part of this century." for modernization
been reintroduced at all levels. The
"key"
school concept has been reestablished at the primary, middle school (secondary), and college and university levels to train themost gifted students in areas of needed
expertise.
pertness if they are to keep their valued places in the eyes of both the people and
the regime. Failure to keep a perspective
as members of the working class could prove very troublesome, as it has in the
past.
and research institutes, Universities shut many of which were completely down during the Cultural Revolution, are open again and rapidly moving to train needed research scholars and specialists. Eighty-nine institutions have been desig
nated as "key" their faculty universities exchange abroad. universities efforts in and those research
checking on studies and the efficacy of teaching. Centralized administration of programs has been restored also in the hope of improving educational quality.
This orientation toward more conven
education is formal day. Conventional and structured and takes place primarily in the school setting. Under Maoist revo lutionary education, the school was but
one of many educational agencies; T. formal H. E.
institutes
concentrate Increased Chinese are major universities
in given disciplines.
exchanges are being
They will
areas. between pushed, as with are
and
blurred. fornia
nonformal
Professor elaborates:
education
Emeritus
lines were
of Southern Cali
tional education will continue so long as plans for modernization remain in effect. Third, the emphasis is and will con tinue to be on academic study. Nothing is more indicative of this trend than the reinstitution of "key" schools at the primary and middle school levels. At the National Conference on Education held from 22 April to 16May 1978 in Beijing,
the then minister of to play education, a major Liu role Hsi
yao,
Conventional acquisition education puts education values the "key of knowledge; revolutionary a premium on action.
called
schools"
of
now
being received by institutions of higher learning in the U.S., Europe, and Japan while simultaneously Western scholars are being invited to Chinese uni
versities. in order English-language programs are
in im
being developed
to prepare
throughout
scholars
the country
to go abroad,
in Conventional education defines terms learning; academic revolutionary education is essentially nonacademic on the and sees learning opportunities and farm, in the factory, education Conventional premise learned graded that knowledge in the streets. on acts the can best be
proving educational quality. Key schools were first established in the 1950s, but fell victim to the leaders of the Cultural Revo lution as being "revisionist," the training grounds for an intellectual elite. The
schools are now intended to serve as
receive visiting scholars, read scientific journals and books, and generally update their knowledge. Education in China to
day is clearly education for development.
Chinese
Education
in the '80s
Given this background, and in the light of recent policy changes, let us explore five of the major trends in Chinese educa tion for the coming decade. First, education is and will continue to be one of the cornerstones in the Chinese
Communist Party's drive for moderniza
tionary in the name of and rigid requirements; it favors ad hoc learning to "practice," of help solve the immediate problems as and production political struggle In conventional educa soon as possible. are practically study and books but in revolutionary edu synonymous; cation actual in production experience more and political is deemed struggle valuable than book study. Book knowl to is decried. unrelated edge Theory to in is discredited. practice Opposed tellectual educa elitism, revolutionary on the basis of tion rejects selectivity tion, ac academic standards. Nonacademic tivities dominate; nonacademic qualifi cations like production records and ideological-political more in weight achievement.4 acceptability the evaluation carry of
models for others. They are to identify and train intellectually talented students who are both red and expert. These key schools are the best equipped
and have the best teachers. They receive
special government supplements and draw from the total school population in an area, not just from the local neighbor hood. Admission is by examination. Once
selected, key school students are given ac
celerated programs and special tutoring to advance them as quickly as possible, to meet the scientific and technical skill
needs of the developing of into the society.
Coupled with
reappearance ing" students
this development
practice of fast, medium, schools, to their and
is the
"track slow are abili
cluding Deng Xiaoping himself, to quick ly and substantially develop the expertise of the Chinese intellectual community,
especially nology, in and the areas of agriculture. tech science, Recent changes
groups. Within
some grouped regular according
in the Party hierarchy further insure that those favorable toward the drive to mod ernize are firmly in command. (At the re cent National People's Congress in Bei jing, Party Chairman Hua Guofeng stepped down from his premier's post in favor of Zhao Ziyang, who is supported by Deng, the architect of the four mod ernizations.) China will not be able to meet its stated goals without a scientific
community tuals' well educated in current scien
ty. Chinese officials reject the notion that this will create an intellectual elite. Here is what a middle school principal told me in 1979:
We view our society as an egalitarian one which is comprised of three levels: very able students, average students, and poor students who need extra help. to The very able students will contribute the development of our society in one the others will contribute in way while other ways. All will be working for the same goals; all will be equally impor are no classes tant. There in Chinese society. No one is privileged.
the school system in Accordingly, China is once again regularized and more
conventional in form. There are clearly ar
tific thought
and
technology.
will again maintain of redness be
Intellec
valued. and ex a balance
contributions
difficult to realize in rural China. Discipline, which totally broke down during the Cultural Revolution, has been restored at all levels of schooling. The authority of and respect for teachers is be
Yet
university
students
and
faculty
DECEMBER 1980
271
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are a
now
to to
be
given
increased and
time
to
in
at in
March
follows: nicians
of
to
1978, emphasized
"To enable scientists on concentrate
this need as
their at
least five-sixths of their work time should be left for their scientific and technical
work."* It is obvious from this pronouncement
that theoretical study is highly valued. This is a major shift from the past decade. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has
gained renewed prestige and a new Acad
emy of Social Sciences has been created (1977). Scientists are being sent abroad to
conferences; on research scholars from abroad are be new texts
and scientific journals are being pur industrialized na chased from Western
tions.10 Kindergarteners in Naiying offer a warm welcome. the enrollment and of daytime has An enormous placed burden upon of Chinese been expectations scientists.
often spoke to me of the privileges that being a respected intellectual would bring them in the future. When I asked if this did not put them in an elite position in
some said, society, we are so, because not our /ninds, must tradiction shift same "Yes, and contributing The obvious bodies." be dealt with rightfully our with con or a
to encourage
only students
night colleges, courses. dence
(nonresidential),
television
inadequate.
China
The
problem
the to be 1980s, clearly enough
will
because
plague
rest
Can they live up to it?Will the knowledge gap be closed quickly enough to keep modernization efforts moving? Will tech nicians be trained quickly enough? Will
the nation rency fection have to purchase of study? cur the necessary foreign for mod the hardware
throughout
carefully, of
ernization? What
scientists Put ther
is the potential
sent abroad way, toward other in another what
for de
for fur level new re the
fortunate one of
in China,
reflects the
mitted
will now sities"
to higher education,
of defection
still maintain goals? main ever. In closing, These
tolerate and
their
the 89 "key
to be both for mod It is not possible but and against meritocracy, ernization of a to avoid development it is possible for "new class" with special privileges and their children. The real its members a meritocracy is be issue is not whether ? or it is? but whether ing developed not this meritocracy will "new class."5 privileged evolve into a
"where the country, throughout a richer cur find better teachers, they will and libraries better laboratories, riculum, financial Another aid."8 major change in higher educa
unanswered.
and
in the number of
Fourth, along with the changes in primary and middle school education, major reforms are taking place in higher
education for admission restored those in as well. 1977. for Entrance examinations were for fully univer ad to the universities Competition the examinations "The
variety and many, perhaps can the complete their homes the or labor
in productive spend four weeks annually. is ac of work experiences even most, In is requirement universities. requirement
appear to be the two biggest educational issues facing China in this decade. They
are related, and they are critical in a Marx
ist state: how to provide for equality of educational opportunity and how to maintain an intellectual community that is
both and "expert." "red" use our opportunities we must Finally, are now who the Chinese to learn from
symbolic.
sity admission
sitting
is grim. Only 4% to 5% of
are
mitted
practice aimed in the about
Fifth, one of the biggest challenges fac ing the country is the major drive to close the gap quickly between China's level of science and technology and that of the in dustrialized world. Closing this gap is cen
tral to successful industry, levels has modernization and national culture, at all senior study. quires in agri defense.
ple of matriculating
is
out competent personnel turning But what time."6 shortest possible ? the 6.7 the other side of the issue
million senior middle school graduates who do not gain admission each year? The shortage of places in higher education is a major problem that must be faced quickly if China is to develop the talent pool nec
essary to proceed with modernization.
which
other and sion
1. Deng Xiaoping, "Speech at the National Educa tional Work Conference" 1978), Peking (22 April Review, 5 May 1978. in foreword to Ruth Gamberg, 2. William Hinton, in the People's Republic Red and Expert: Education of China (New York: Schocken Books, 1977). 3. Deng, op. cit., p. 7. 4. Theodore H. E. Chen, "Changes inChinese Edu cation," Current History, September 1978. on the Relations Be 5. Clark Kerr, Observations tween Education and Work in the People's Republic of China: Report of a Study Group (Berkeley, Calif.: Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Educa tion, 1978). 6. Beijing Review, 28 July 1978, p. 19. 7. Beijing Review, 28 July 1980, p. 19. 8. Chen, op. cit., p. 80. 9. Chen, op. cit., p. 81. 10. Kerr, op. cit., p. 6. D
Chinese officials deplore the shortage of places at the university level, blaming
lack of residential and libraries, stitutions.7 space, lecture halls are now laboratories, in at major being made
Attempts
researchers,
and
technicians
272
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