A brief, recent history
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After the CCP took over, the higher education system was initially designed after the Russian model. This saw the growth of small, specialist colleges dedicated to subjects such as economics or agriculture, administered by the central government, and designed to meet community needs. Schools were moved away from more affluent areas and into the interior of the country to help spread education across the country.
During the Cultural Revolution, elitist education was attacked as “bourgeois scientific objectivism.” Intellectuals were sent to the countryside and to factories to help increase production and to be reeducated from the peasants. At first, schools remained open and operated as student factories. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, in which all resources were dedicated to rapid production, teachers were labeled Stinking Ninth Category. Schools closed entirely, books were burned, and teachers were publicly denounced, arrested, tortured, or even killed. Students joined the Red Guards by the thousands, and were given free reign throughout the country while being overtly used by Mao to put down his enemies. In the later years of the Cultural Revolution the schools began to function again, mostly to teach politics, and without examinations. Entry to universities was only possible by recommendation, and many subjects were cut entirely. Six years of elementary school was condensed to five, junior and senior middle schools to four year segments, and University to three. In 1976 examinations were given to would-be college entrants and formal degree qualifications were reinstated. High school students who had been sent to the country begin to return to the cities for education. 98 of 715 higher education institutes were declared “Key Point” schools. These prep schools were subject to favor or outright shutting down through the 80’s in order to provide an equal educational opportunity for all, as it was seen that they gave advantages to those entering higher education or the workforce. Technical schools closed during the Cultural Revolution opened once again. In 2001, Chine joined the World Trade Organization, and introduced privately or foreign-funded universities and colleges dedicated to specialist subjects. Many schools affiliated with a foreign school to offer special international certificates. I worked in one such program, affiliated with a college in Australia. Originally a textiles school, it merged with several schools and now offers a number of subjects, including music and art and a foreign certificate in business English, as well as textile engineering and other business related degrees. Many of these second and third tier universities emphasize discipline and rote memorization above creative thinking skills, including the University I taught at. These schools are now contributing to a strain on teachers, who are in short supply, and are creating a growing class of graduates with little or no employment prospects.
“Education should be geared to the needs of modernization, of the world and of the future.” From the age of 3 to 6 children often attend a kindergarten near their home, where they learn basic language skills, play games, dance, sing, and act. Primary school consists of six years, in which they study Chinese (Mandarin), math, moral education, and sports. English is often offered as an elective course during the last year. High school is split into junior high school, of three years, and senior high school. Here they (generally) begin to learn chemistry, physics, biology, history, geography, sports, and English. In high school there are many organized contests, such as foreign language speech contests, which encourage students to study. In the 2007 No. 1 Document, an annual plan released by the central government at the start of each year, particular focus is being brought up the lives of agricultural workers. Farmers in China’s interior have historically led lives plagued by poverty and the lack of an infrastructure to improve their situation. The No. 1 Document is now focusing on large part on the creation of educational opportunities for farmers, to help slow the influx of migrant workers to the large coastal cities. These cities cannot provide the opportunities for all of the migrants, who often have minimal education and job-skills. Says Chen Xiwen, a deputy director involved in governmental rural work groups, “for a long time, we have not done enough to improve public services for farmers, especially in regards to education. We need to make an effort over the long-term to increase our input into rural compulsory education as well as professional education and training to gradually change the situation."2
1. Deng Xiaoping, written for Jingshan School, 1 Oct 1983 |