Schooling in China during the period 1968–76 underwent radical changes, to an extent rarely witnessed elsewhere in modern times. Entrance examinations helped determine which of the students were able to enter each higher level of education; the competition among secondary school students was tight; and many secondary schools, especially in the cities, competed to attain a high university entrance rate. Though this new scheme was intended to improve the chances of working-class young people, it had a deleterious effect on a great many students’ classroom behaviour, regardless of class background. This bibliography was generated on Cite This For Me on Friday, April 26, 2019. Conceived of as a "revolution to touch people’s souls," the aim of the Cultural Revolution was to attack the Four Olds-- old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits--in order to bring the areas of education, art and literature in line with Communist ideology. In the 1960s, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong came to feel that the current party leadership in China, as in the Soviet Union, was moving too far in a revisionist direction, with an emphasis on expertise rather than on ideological purity. For Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, see Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. Mao wanted the younger generation to experience what he experienced. Comm, Train Workers to Have Socialist Consciousness and Culture, 1970, Wan, Guofang. Since the children of the pre-revolution intellectuals and merchants were among the academically best-equipped students, the examination system had favoured them. This paper analyzes the educational reforms and drastic curriculum changes occurring in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) in light of postmodern theory. [11] Or with regard to popularly sponsored schools, there arose “mobile” schools, “spare-time” schools, “half-work, half-study” schools and so on. Below you will find the important quotes in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress related to the theme of Education, Re-Education, and the Cultural Revolution. It was said that prior to the Cultural Revolution, peasants and workers had much difficulty attending schools because of such obstacles as high entrance examination standards (primarily for colleges and universities), high costs and expenses, inaccessibility since most schools were located in the cities, conflict of class schedules with local production time tables, and the lack of direct and immediate relevance of the courses offered to local production needs. During the Cultural Revolution, many of the reforms were implemented specifically to erase such barriers to education. Registered office: Venture House, Cross Street, Arnold, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG5 7PJ. Janet Han. With the start of the cultural revolution in 1966, schools all over the country closed. In accordance with the three objectives set forth by the Communist Party, strategies were carried out in a decentralized manner that placed significant amount of decision making on local management. In the 1800s, formal education became available even to the poorest people. Reference this. Encyclopedia of contemporary Chinese culture. Comm. Cultural Connection. The goals and policies imposed by the government during the Cultural Revolution greatly decentralized the educational system and shifted focus from an industrial intensive production to an agricultural production. But during the Cultural Revolution, Mao suspended the formal education system, instead sending urban youth to work in the Chinese countryside. This meant; being away from the major cities,their ideas wouldn't be able to spread - most Chinese peasants were illiterate.They also wouldn't have access to books,paper,writing materials. [5] This bleak picture was partially confirmed by the People’s Daily report that in 1965, “30 million school-aged children were not in school, most of them being rural children.”[6] Thus, one of the major objectives of the educational reforms was to correct this situation by increasing the number of schools in the rural areas and initiating a large scale recruitment of peasants and workers into the existing educational system. Revolution in Education Committees, The China Quarterly #57, 1974, Wuyuan Rev. The Cultural Revolution (1980–1987) (in Persian: انقلاب فرهنگی) was a period… …   Wikipedia, Iranian Cultural Revolution of 1980-1987 — The Cultural Revolution (1980 1987) (in Persian: انقلاب فرهنگي) was a period following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran where the academia of Iran was purged of Western and non Islamic influences to bring it in line with Islam… …   Wikipedia, Revolution culturelle — Révolution culturelle République populaire de Chine Cet article fait partie de la série sur la politique de la Chine, sous série sur la politique …   Wikipédia en Français, education — /ej oo kay sheuhn/, n. 1. the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. *You can also browse our support articles here >. Most of the new university students were ill-prepared for tertiary studies, as they had graduated from Cultural Revolution-era schools after only seven to nine years of simplified classes. Some factories even established schools of their own, although this method seems to have more or less faded out. We will identify below the major guidelines regarding the implementation of the educational reforms, as well as describe some of the different ways the reforms were implemented. Mao believed that this would ultimately create a new society where there was no gap between urban and rural, laborers and intellectuals. The Great Leap Forward has brought about much economic instability and lack of agricultural production, leading to the great famine. Formal education was something frowned upon during the Cultural Revolution, but it may have caused people to realize its importance . Furthermore, the specific curriculum of each school, except perhaps for the political education courses, varied according to the needs of the particular region. After Mao’s death in 1976, the new leadership moved quickly to overturn almost all of the innovations in education. However, he returned to power in 1966 when with Lin Biao he initiated the Cultural Revolution. Copyright © 2003 - 2020 - UKEssays is a trading name of All Answers Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales. Student Readings 5. Press, 1973, p. 257. So, in 1969, Wang went not to a university, but to the rural province of Yunnan, where she spent six backbreaking years clearing bamboo and planting rubber trees. The Revolutionary Committee of Peking Middle School #31, 1970, Gardner and Idema, China’s Educational Revolution, Cambridge Univ. Unlike the students of the 1970s, this older generation had received a rigorous academic education, and they did disproportionately well in the exams. 57 (Jan./March 1974), p. 28. Second, socio-economic factors created competition–incentive–within overlapping social networks, in, for instance, factories, educational institutions and rural areas. Audience and Uses 3. Many students and faculty were also arrested, jailed, and some were killed. Aside from increasing the number of political course, other courses also drew upon Mao’s thoughts to explain various approaches to the analysis of whatever phenomenon was involved. The major texts used were drawn from the works of Mao. The excerpt found on the top right sidebar gives a description of how university structure and culture had changed by 1973. Victims during the Cultural Revolution were often paraded publicly, placards hanging around their necks with forced apologies for their alleged crimes against Mao’s version of socialism. This is not an example of the work produced by our Essay Writing Service. Overall, the dynamics of escalation during the Cultural Revolution were fed by several sources. As a result of the failure on the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong retired from the post of chairman of the People's Republic of China. They weren’t considered human anymore. Shor, I. Empowering Education, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992. The government of Iran changed from a monarchy to an Islamic republic after the Revolution of 1979. Pepper, Suzanne (1996). be looking at the educational reforms initiated during the Cultural Revolution in terms of the goals established and the measures designed and applied to attain them. He didn't want them to miss out on the feelings of revolution … In order to elevate the “political consciousness” of the students, the curriculum was heavily stocked with political education courses. No plagiarism, guaranteed! 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