Topic: Education in Communist China and The

Little Red Book

Done by Li Lidao 09, Tan Yi Zhao 24, Loke Hsien Jie 12 and Glen Mun

Brief introduction on Brief introduction on education at that timeeducation at that time

Length of education was reduced Primary and secondary: from 6 to 5 years Colleges: from 4 or 5 to 31/2 years

Curriculum of education was modified Focus on political studies and skills which were more

practical (for example: agriculture studies to increase crop production).

Stress on analytical, critical and creative ability

Admission policy was changed No more entrance exams. Based on the recommendations of the revolutionary

committee at their work place (factory/ commune)

Governance of schools School was also governed by local peasant, workers or

soldiers instead of intellectual bourgeois. More schools were also built in rural areas

Top priority

Academic Subjects

• Mao felt that students should be involved in other activities such as working with peasants, factory workers or training with soldiers

• Academic is not the top priority

Political education (part 1)

AimTo instill principles of communism into the younger

generation.To nurture them into devoted followers of the

communist party

Content of political education Includes memorising Mao’s little red bookTeachers criticising politicians who’s anti-communism

in front of them (for example Confucius and Lin biao)Told how fortunate they are and all the benefits of the

communist party ruling the country and how hard life was in other countries

Political education ( part 2)

Students were also told to get involved in rallies of the party and shout slogans.

Students also learnt slogans under their Chinese curriculum such as: long life chairman Mao, rebel is justified or support agriculture on a great scale.

As they were not being exposed to anything which contradicted to what was taught, the political education was a great success.

The aim of the book is to transform the china society using Maoism or Mao’s ideology

The little red book was first published in April 1964 and stopped publishing in 1976

The people at the workforce had to study the book during working hours as it was said that the understanding of Mao’s quotes would bring enlightenment to the work unit.

Students were told to bring the book everywhere they go Students were tested on how well they have memorized the book It contains 33 chapters, each chapter describes a value they were

supposed to have

It’s official name is: Quotations from Chairman Mao

Contains quotations from chairman Mao

Effects of Mao´s political education All students followed and believed what was taught and

wanted to be a red guard as well.The red guards followed the orders and destroyed old

books, artworks, heritage sites and temples. Some even captured “anti-communism” individuals, brought them to a firing square and occasionally given the authority to shot them to death.

Innocent students carrying out such unimaginable acts further proves the devastating effect of Mao's political education on students.

Since most of the time at school was spent on political studies, and entry exams were abolished, students did not achieve much academic progress. Not putting academic at the top priority also gave students such a impression that studying is useless.

LINK BETWEEN CHINESE LANGUAGE AND POLITICAL STUDIES Although most of the time in school was reserved

for political studies, however, students still learnt math and Chinese language.

Some passages in their Chinese textbook was used to facilitate political studies.

Lower primary textbook

Slogans of the communist party

Upper primary and secondary text

Inspiring stories of the red army fighting fearlessly against the Japanese or guomindang regime, politicians contributing selflessly and how hard life was in Taiwan or other countries not ruled by communists

Other stories not related to political science

Acknowledgements

• fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_sc/assignment1/1966chinarev.html•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards_(People's_Republic_of_Chin)•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Red_Book•zhidao.baidu.com•www.wyzxsx.com•http://www.google.com.sg/images?q=culture%20revolution&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&rlz=1I7GFRC_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1419&bih=756

Acknowledgements

• fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~daniel_sc/assignment1/1966chinarev.html•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards_(People's_Republic_of_Chin)•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Red_Book•zhidao.baidu.com•www.wyzxsx.com•http://www.google.com.sg/images?q=culture%20revolution&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&rlz=1I7GFRC_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1419&bih=756

K

What I know

W

What I want to know

L

What I learned

I know that the ultimate goal of the education at that point of time was to nurture devoted followers of the communist party of China. To achieve this goal, they taught students of the party. The passages of their Chinese textbooks were also mainly about people in the party contributing selflessly to the country or soldiers fighting bravely against either the Japanese or the goumindang regime. To prevent students from supporting other politicians against communism, teachers also criticized those politicians in front of them. Since they have the full control of the media, students will learn and believe what they were taught, as they were not exposed to anything against communism.

Firstly, I want to know how different is the Chinese textbook today from the Chinese textbook during the culture revolution.

Secondly, I want to know what negative effects of the culture revolution has on China.

Thirdly, I also want to know more about the educational structures at that point of time.

Fourthly, I want to know more about the little red book. I know that it contains values they should follow, but I don’t know what exactly was inside the book. (Quotations? Stories?)

I learnt how the education structures had changed during the culture revolution and the negative effects of the culture revolution. Academic subjects was used to be at the first priority was placed at the third priority after political studies and working with peasants, factory workers, or training with soldiers. Thus, pupils spent less time studying every day. With this kind of education structures, many talented students was not discovered. This eventually led to a economic depression.

I also learnt that Mao’s little red book contains quotations from chairman Mao.

I had also learnt that the Chinese textbook at that time mainly focus on describing how soldiers fought fearlessly against their enemies or politicians contributing selflessly to the country or how hard life was in those countries not ruled by communist.Through this project, I had learnt about how life was like in China during the culture revolution. Chinese textbook today have more stories not related to political science and also stories about heroes in other countries

K

What I know

W

What I want to know

L

What I learned

The education in communist china is very thin as compared to the present and it focuses more on the views of Mao Zedong. While The Little Red Book is carried by the people everywhere they went and it is like a bible to them.

I want to know more of the differences between the education in communist china and the present education. I would also like to learn more about what is written in The Little Red Book.

I have learnt about the how the educational structure was like and the importance of the subjects at that time. I also realised that The Little Red Book was mainly made up of quotations from Mao ZeDong.

Done By: Tan Yi Zhao 24

K

What I know

WWhat I want to know

LWhat I learned

The education in communist china teaches students about Maoism by using the little red book The students also learn ordinary subjects

The content of the little red book, Maoism

The education system in communist china, the little red book contents (quotations of Mao Zedong) Political education in china

Glen Mun

K

What I know

WWhat I want to know

LWhat I learned

I know a little about communism, as I learnt about it in primary school. I have heard of stories of the red book and Mao Zedong from my parents. I know that during the times when chairman Mao is reigning over china, people who are caught not having the book with them at anytime of the day, was punished severely. The students in school usually study the speeches and quotes from chairman Mao in the book. This is also applied to people in the workplace. The education level of the young children were not high as most of them were quite poor.

I want to know what made chairman Mao decide that communism was best for his nation. Why he thought that communism would supply families ample food for survival. I also want to know how he was so influential on the citizens. I would like to find out not only his flaws, but also his good leadership qualities, after all, he gained millions and even billions of people’s trust. I want to know more about the book and some of its quotes, was it really to instill trust of Chairman Mao in the people that reads it, or was it a manipulation? There are so many questions and I can’t wait to find out the answers.

I learnt that, teamwork is an absolute must throughout or lifes. We must learn to co-operate with others. Without co-operation with my teammates, I would never be able to finish my project at such a level of information. I even learned more about not only more about ’s rich history, but also realized my weaknesses. I learnt more about my friends and created a tighter bond, I believe we have lots of teamwork and I believe that we had cut off unnecessary time arguing and the project went smoothly. I leant that the red book is also used to educate the younger generations about communism and its benefits, I also realized that the book never mentioned about communism flaws. I found out that, shockingly, schools don’t focus on academics, instead they study politics!

Loke Hsien Jie 12