Communist education: theory and practice

Title

Creator

Chen, Theodore H. E.

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIV (No.9) September 1962

Year

1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Condensed from the China Quarterly, 1962

Fulltext

COMMUNIST EDUCATION: THEORY AND PRACTICE There are a variety of agencies engaged in elemen tary education in Communist China. Besides the regular elementary schools for child ren, there are adult schools of elementary grade and spare-time elementary schools ' for youth as well as older people; there are winter schools in the rural areas, worker-peasant schools, and various kinds of literacy classes. The complete elementary school consists of six grades, usually divided into the lower elementary of four years and the higher elemen tary of two years. In 1951, a revised school system was adopted and it was an nounced that the elementary school would be reduced to five years. It was then con tended that the six-year ele mentary school was unsuit able for new China, because the long course was a scheme of bourgeois society to pre vent the broad masses from getting the benefit of univer sal education. The change to a five-year unitary school proved to be not so easy. Here and there the new experiment was tried and much success was claimed, but there was no widespread adoption of the new plan. In December 1953, the government decided to postpone the change inde finitely on account of "inadequate preparation of teachers and teaching mater ials.' * Elementary education is not free, though attempts have been made, especially in the schools established by communes, and by some in dustries, to run the schools without tuicion fees. The principle of free universal education is accepted but the present financial situation makes it necessary to charge fees. Practices vary in differ ent parts of the country. Sometimes, the families of the pupils are asked to con tribute to the teacher’s board either by taking turns to pre pare meals or by donation of food. It is also not uncom 46 Panorama mon to fix tuition charges ac cording to the financial sta ture of the families. The distinguishing charac teristics of the curriculum are manual labour and the weekly assembly for political and civic education. Com pared with the American elementary curriculum, the Chinese curriculum is more rigidly prescribed and the subjects are narrower in scope. It is possible that the tem porary abandonment of the five-year unitary school was, in part at least, motivated by a desire to slow down the popular demand for educa tion. A campaign was launched to discourage ele mentary school pupils from seeking entrance into junior middle schools. It was em phasized that the chief pur pose of the elementary school was to produce enlightened workers and that most pupils should consider it normal to take up productive labour when they leave the elemen tary school. Entrance examinations are another means of controlling the advance from elementary schools to junior middle schools. In 1954, it was stated that no more than onethird of graduates of elemen tary schools could be accom modated in the post-elemen tary schools of various kinds. Even after 1956, when the rise of non-state schools great ly increased the number of schools, the government con tinued to pursue a restrictive policy. One reason for this may be the desire of the gov ernment to correct the confu sion and deterioration of standards which have result ed from the expansion of en rolment and the appearance of numerous schools with in adequate facilities and incom petent teachers. It is possible that, in the Communist philosophy o f education, some education of elemen tary grade is needed so that the people may be more re ceptive to indoctrination and propaganda, but education beyond the elementary must be reserved only for those whom the state wants to train for specific tasks. In that case education for the enlightenment or the ad vancement of the individual would be considered a bour geois concept that has no place in the Communist scheme of education. September 1962 47 The campaign to discour age continued schooling coin cided with the new emphasis on labour in the rectification campaign of 1957 and later with the campaign to send large numbers of youth to the countryside to stimulate lagging agricultural produc tion. Young people who had gone from elementary schools to production were asked to return to the schools to tell the pupils their joy at help ing the production program me of the state. They were honoured as successful citi zens to show the pupils that further study was not the only means of advancement. Pupils were taken to visit farms and factories to arouse their interest in production. The Communists almost at once decided to abolish pri vate education and put all education in the hands of the state. In 1952, the Ministry of Education announced a policy of taking over private schools. The enrolment in private elementary schools quickly dropped from 34.1 per cent of the total enrol ment in all elementary schools to 5.5 per cent in 1952 and 3.8 per cent in 1953. It was soon realized, however, that the state could not possibly provide enough schools for the millions who demanded education. The government then reversed its policy and decided - to en courage the establishment of schools by the “masses” and by private organizations such as factories, business con cerns, collectives, and, later on, communes. A campaign was launched to establish large numbers of non-state schools known as “min pan” schools. The mushroom growth of such schools ac counts for the big jump on elementary school enrolment after 1955. Many of the min pan schools are make-shifts of one kind or another. Classes are held in private homes or in temples, warehouses, or other unused public buildings, and pupils are often asked to bring their own desks and chairs. Teachers are un trained and, in too many cases, not too far * removed from illiteracy. Some are only “spare-time” schools; others are “half school, half farm.” They do not teach all subjects of the standard curriculum; the only teach ing that is considered indis 43 Panorama pensable is political and ideo logical indoctrination. As a matter of fact, such improvi sations are officially encour aged, and local authorities are told that they should feel free to depart from the regulations and adapt to local conditions. The Ministry of Education has encouraged the double session in elementary schools. There are even schools on triple shifts. There are a variety of forms of the double session. Sometimes, alternate sessions meet half a day each, one class in the morning and another class in the after noon, using the same class room. Or they may alternate, meeting every other day. In any case, the pupils do not attend school full-time. Ex periments have been made to keep pupils in school all day, to schedule one class in a room and another class in outdoor activities and altern ating them so as to get dou ble use of the facilities, but bad weather spoils the sche dule and causes much confu sion. Political education in all schools is carried on under the direct supervision of Party authorities. The Party is assisted by the youth or ganizations and the labour organizations, which come into the picture not only be cause the Communists ideo logy glorifies the working class, but also because labour organizations play an import ant role in promoting pro ductive labour while in school and encouraging youth to join the * full-time labour force upon leaving school. Reading newspapers, dis cussing current events, visits to factories, farms and gov ernment offices, and the study of speeches and reports of Communist leaders are reg ular features of the program me. The weekly assembly is an important occasion for political education. The Communists make a distinction between “Commu nist morality.” and “bour geois morality.” The Com mon Programme of 1949 listed the “five loves” which education should try to dev elop: love of the fatherland, love of the people, love df labour, love of science, and care of public property. Since the “fatherland” and the “people” are both symbol ised by the Communist Party, love of obedience to the Com September 1962 49 munist Party becomes the highest attributes of Com munist morality. An important role in moral education is played by the Chinese Young Pioneers, the officially sponsored youth organization for elementary school-children too young to join the Communist Youth League. This youth organ ization for elementary school children not only moulds the characters of its members but also plays a leading role in all branches of school life. The Communist way of life is the collective way. One of the tasks of moral educa tion is to train children in collective living. Here again, the Young Pioneers are sup posed to set the pace. The collective way is fostered by having children study, labour and play in groups. In recent years the scope of collective activities has been expanded and the slogan of “four col lectivisations” has gained in creasing popularity. The “four collectivisations” refer to collective study, collective labour, collective residence, and collective board. It is contended that the full devel opment of the collective way of life requires having pupils live together in dormitories under the constant supervi sion of teachers, who in turn are under the constant guid ance of the Communist Party. In the absence of dormi tories, some schools turn class rooms into sleeping quarters at night and push together chairs and tables to make improvided beds. Teachers sleep in the same room with the pupils and it is proudly reported that many a teacher has turned into a nursemaid, waking up small children at night to attend to toilet needs. Such loving care of children, it is said, is a na tural expansion of the new socialist consciousness of teachers. The teacher is ins tructor, nursemaid, and pro duction guide at the same time. Productive labour in schools has been given a new emphasis since 1958. The elementary curriculum has been revised to provide f<?r four to six hours a week of manual work for the senior classes and at least two hours a week in the junior classes. Smaller children are assigned duties such as cleaning and sweeping in school and at 50 Panorama home, elimination of insect pests, etc., while pupils in the upper classes engage in actual production on farms or in factories. The “work study plan” gained popular ity. It reduce the hours of classroom study and allows as much as half of school time for productive labour. In some schools the schedule provides for a half day of study and a half day of pro ductive labour; in other schools, pupils set aside en tire days for work. The Communist emphasis on the “complete develop ment” of man encompasses five major aspects of the dev elopment of the individual: intellectual, moral, physical, artistic and the knowledge and skills of production. In practice, little attention is paid to the artistic side, and physical development is often neglected, even endangered, as a result of the heavy sche dule of study, labour, and political activities. Quantity is not the only enemy of quality. The presure for political activities and the demand for produc tive labour must necessarily reduce the time and energy available for academic study, but here the dilemma must remain insoluble as long as the Communists adhere to their dogma that politics must always "take command” and their belief that with proper ideological orienta tion all good things in life will follow. Teachers as well as pupils . are frequently summoned by government and Party officers to do cleri cal and other chores. A post office might ask teachers to help solicit subscriptions for publications; a peasant asso ciation might ask school bands to play at weddings; such miscellaneous tasks not only meant the suspension of classes but much illness on the part of overworked teach ers and pupils.. There is an upsurge of de mand for education in China, but premature withdrawal from school constitutes one of the puzzling problems facing educators. In 1955, out of a total enrolment of over 53 millions, more than five million withdrew before the end of the elementary course. — Theodore H. E. Chen, condensed from the China Quarterly, 1962 September 1962 51

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