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Education System in the Eras of Mao and Post-Mao

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Education System in the Eras of Mao and Post-Mao

The education policy in China has been lasted for a long period of time; it can be trace to the imperial examination. In the early of the 20th century, the modern education system is being established and finalize. However, things change once the People's Republic of China founded. The Communist Party chairman, Mao Zedong, puts forward his own educational ideological and system in China, but his ideological had been fail at last because of the Cultural Revolution. Therefore, in the post-Mao period (1978 to present), the educational system has been reform again. The post-Mao education system has abrogated the old system and set up a new one that match the development of China. Since different chairmen will have different ideology, the educational systems between Mao and Post-Mao periods also have many differences.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China (1949), the Chinese Communists are started reforming the political in the areas of politics, economics, military and religion, especially on the educational system. To be the leader of PRC at that time and was graduated from the Teachers’ College, Mao Zedong had put forward education ideological system for the people in China. At first, the new education system was based on the Soviet model, the government move the whole Soviet Union education system into China to replace the old education in China, therefore, the Chinese education and culture had become under the westernized (Education, 2012). Mao claim that all the minban (people-run) higher education institutions should be turn into the public school and controlled by the government.
In 1953, The Ministry of Education focused on building key-point school system, students are separate into different “class”. “The class line was pushing students into four increasingly self-aware groupings with opposing interests: the cadres’ children; the worker-peasant children; the middle-class children; and the bad-class background children”. (Unger, 1982, p. 109). Top students are choosing and the teachers will focus on these kinds of students’ study, it made the gap between schools more and more huge, and the education system in China becomes the examination-oriented education. In addition, since the education material is lack at that time, almost all the subject is about the Mao’s ideology and politics. According to the research, “school regulations stipulated that 10 percent of the curriculum should be set aside for ideological and political study, but, in practice, ideology and politics were taught and studied in many other subjects, such as language, arithmetic, and history” (Education, 2012). Ideology and politics’ studies are become the most part of the school life and completely dominating the extracurricular.
Mao also implements the “space-time” school, students only need to go to school for half days and should work in the factory or agricultural. However, in 1964, the Ministry of Education to further implement the principle of “walking on two legs”, the progressive introduction of the dual system of education, cities will no longer develop full-time general secondary schools. Moreover, during the culture revolution, schools are shut down, and the politics are focus on industrial and agricultural. Mao issued that students and intellectuals should be “re-education,” they need to go to the rural areas for a long-term settlement (Education, 2012). According to Lampton’s research, he states that the chairman said in 1968 that the “students should be selected from among peasants and workers with practical experience and they should return to production after a few years study” (Lampton, 1978).
Moreover, the way to treat the returning students that studied abroad has also change since 1979. At the communists’ victory in 1949, students who studies back from the foreign do not welcome by the government, they cannot get any leadership positions in their areas. Since they had been studies abroad, and their knowledge is from the western countries, they become “the target of class- struggle campaigns and purges in 1950s’, 60s, and 70s (Zhu, 2012, p. 23).
After Mao’s death, the new leader of PRC had reform the educational system. The post-Mao government made a huge different in the educational revolution. Mr. Deng decreed that everything should direct forward to the “four modernizations” program, which including industry, agriculture, national defence and science and technology (Lin, class ppt). It increases the education rate of people around the whole China, for example, the literacy rate is increases form 29.2% in 1983 to 91.8% today (Barragan, Constantino, Zwick, & Henin, p. 4).
The conventional school system had been reinstated after 1976, since the schools were shut down during the Cultural Revolution. A college-entrance examination was introduced into the higher education in 1977, in addition; the vocational training began plays an important role in the society (Rai, 1983, p. 2). The schools became full-time studies in post-Mao era instead of the part-time studies in Mao era. Students need to have the examinations at regular classes. Deng Xiaoping claimed that the main task for students is to study, to know more knowledge, to learn the knowledge from the book. Teachers and students should be focus on the books and study is the main pursuit for the students. And Deng Xiaoping believes that focusing on the extracurricular cannot be existing focusing on the knowledge on the book (Rai, 1983, p. 2).
The academic study had develop all around China, not only in the higher level studies but also in the primary schools. In September 1994, China begin implement on the Nine-year compulsory education system, it is begin in the urban China first, after a few years of practice, it started to be force in all around China, including the rural areas and the ethnic autonomous areas. In 2006, the government also abolished the tuitions for children to go to school (Zhu, 2012, p 21). According to the National Human Rights Action Plan of China, they research that more than 95 percent of the population of China's ethnic autonomous areas should have access to the nine-year compulsory education by 2010 (Xinhuanet News 2, 2009). Moreover, “China's education system is composed of four components, basic education, occupational / polytechnic education, common higher education and adult education (Xinhuanet News 1, 2003). As a result, China’s education system becomes a universal education system.
Compare to the way that treating the students come back from the foreign countries, the situation is changing after China began to promote the “open door” policy. There are more and more students are sent to the western countries for study, and students who came back after studying abroad was welcome at this time. Since Deng Xiaoping realized that these students would help China become rich and powerful, they can be the bridges that help China to connect with the foreign countries. The government started view these students as the positive assets, and give them the excellent jobs and good salaries. As a result, those who study abroad “formed a critical links for China to the rest of the world and become the bridges over contracts, loans, and trade flow to China” (Zhu, 2012, p. 23). All in all, the education systems are different during Mao period and post-Mao period. Firstly, Mao’s education policies are follows the Soviet Union instead of base on the main situation in China, and it also separates the students into different classes. Secondly, all the schools have been shut down during the Cultural Revolution and people need to practice on the industries and agriculture. Finally, studying abroad was treated as the capitalist-roaders and could not have power in China after they come back. To be compares, the education system and policy has change in the post-Mao period. School systems and examinational policy are reinstated, and the education rate is increasing during the post-Mao period. In addition, the Nine-year compulsory education system protect the educational opportunities for the people all around China, including the unban China and the rural areas. At last, the status for the abroad student is increase, they playing the important role in China’s foreign trade. As a result, the educational system in post-Mao period is more popular than in the Mao period, since the education rate is higher than in the Mao period and there more and more intelligent to help the development of China.

References
Barragan, D., Constantino, N., Zwick, J., & Henin, S. Post-Mao reforms in China. Retrieved from.http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/wpark/EA/Slides/Presentations/Group%208_%20Post-Mao%20Reforms%20in%20China.pdf
Education. (2012). Education. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179408/education
Lampton, D. M. (1978). Thermidor in the Chinese educational revolution. Theory into Practice, 17(5), 367-374. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.macewan.ca
Lin, S. (2012). Lecture note for Pols 261.
Rai, S. M. (1993). Gender, education and employment in post-Mao China: issues in modernisation. China Report, 29(1), 1-14. DOI: 10.1177/000944559302900101
Unger, J. (1982). Education under Mao [eBrary Reader version]. Retrieved from http://books.google.ca/books?id=iNDjiRZ8onYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Xinhuanet News 1. (2003). China's Education System. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-02/26/content_746294.htm
Xinhuanet News 2. (2009). China to expand 9-year compulsory education in ethnic minority regions. Xinhua News Agency. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/13/content_11177568.htm
Zhu, Z. (2012). China (14th ed). New York, ON: McGraw-Hill Companies.

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