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The Agricultural Middle School in Communist China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Robert D. Barendsen
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Extract

When the Chinese Communist régime undertook the re-examination of its educational system in the latter half of 1957 and early 1958, one of the main conclusions reached by the authorities was that the government, through its regular political subdivisions, could not afford the tremendous expenditures that would be involved in achieving its long-range educational goals. These goals included the provision of the opportunity for junior middle school (7th through 9th grade) education to all young people by 1967. The régime decided that the only realistic course to follow in pursuing its goals was to assign the major part of the task of establishing and running schools in the vast rural areas to the basic socio-economic units in those areas, mainly, in other words, to the agricultural cooperatives. Accordingly, the late winter and early spring of 1958 were marked by the announcement of the rapid establishment of great numbers of min-pan hsüek-hsiao, or “schools run by the people.”

Type
Education
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 8 , December 1961 , pp. 106 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1961

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References

1 Chinese Home Service broadcast, March 18, 1958.

2 Hui-lin, Ouyang, “Agricultural Middle Schools in their First Year,” Red Flag (Hung Ch'i), No. 7, 1959.Google Scholar

3 NCNA, 03 15, 1960.Google Scholar

4 Kuang, Ch'en, “There is a Great Possibility for Agricultural Middle Schools,” Red Flag, No. 9, 1959.Google Scholar

5 NCNA, 03 15, 1960.Google Scholar

6 There were about 26,000 communes in China after the initial commune-isation movement in 1958. The figures generally quoted for later years indicate that there are now in the neighbourhood of 24,000. An average commune includes about 5,000 households.

7 Lu Ting-yi, in an open letter dated March 14, 1959, published on the first anniversary of the founding of the agricultural middle schools, said that there were then about 37,000,000 in the 13–16 age bracket. He added that only a little over 7,000,000 of these could be accommodated in ordinary full-tune junior middle schools.

8 See ibid., in which this line of reasoning is succinctly expressed.

9 In the May 1, 1959, article the author noted that in one school 86 of the 303 students were over 17 at the time of their enrolment. Again, on May 16, 1960, he noted that many students were “relatively advanced in age.”

10 See pp. 128–130.

11 Hui-lin, Ouyang, loc. cit.Google Scholar

12 Kuang, Ch'en, “The Growth of Agricultural Middle Schools,” Red Flag, No. 10, 1960.Google Scholar

13 See Hui-Iin, Ouyang, loc. cit.Google Scholar

14 Yung-sheng, Liu, I-mu, Cheng, and Chü-chen, Chou, “Secondary Agricultural Schools Have Struck Root in Rural Areas,” Peoples' Daily, 04 16, 1960.Google Scholar

15 Hsiu-shu, Chang, “Agricultural Middle Schools: More and More, Better and Better,” People's Daily, 04 16, 1960.Google Scholar

16 Ibid.

17 Chien, Li, “The Huang-k'ou Agricultural Middle School in the Past Two Years,” Red Flag, No. 13, 1960.Google Scholar

18 Hsiang-chen, Ch'e, “The Promising Future of the Agricultural Middle Schools,” People's Daily, 04 12, 1960.Google Scholar

19 Chien, Li, loc. cit.Google Scholar

20 Wen-hui, Kuan, “Agricultural Middle Schools in Kiangsu,”Google ScholarNCNA, 04 7, 1960.Google Scholar The other two versions of these figures differ mainly in the cost to the state of the agricultural middle schools, which is variously cited as 10 and 18–20 yuan.

21 Cho-ju, Ch'eng, Shui-kuan, Sun, and Wen, Hsü, “Hail the Success of Agricultural Middle Schools in Kiangsu Province,” People's Daily, 11 27, 1959.Google Scholar

22 Yung-sheng, Liu, I-mu, Cheng, and Chü-chen, Chou, loc. cit.Google Scholar

23 Kuang, Ch'en, “There is a Great Possibility for Agricultural Middle Schools,” loc. cit.Google Scholar

24 The breakdown of income among these several sources was not given.

25 Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 07 23, 1960.Google Scholar

26 People's Daily commentary, 05 18, 1960.Google Scholar

27 See a group of four items in the People's Daily, 08 10, 1960.Google Scholar

28 For these details, see the People's Dally, 08 10, 1960Google Scholar, and Kuang-ming Jih-pao, 07 23, 1960.Google Scholar

29 Cho-ju, Ch'eog, Shui-kuan, Sun, and Wen, Hsü, loc. cit.Google Scholar

30 Kuang, Ch'en, “There is a Great Possibility for Agricultural Middle Schools,” loc. cit.Google Scholar

31 Wen-hui, Kuan, “Agricultural Middle Schools in Kiangsu,”Google ScholarNCNA, 04 7, 1960.Google Scholar

32 In this connection, see Chen, Theodore H. E., Teacher Training in Communist China, Studies in Comparative Education series, OE-14058 (Washington: U.S. Office of Education, 12 1960).Google Scholar

33 Kuang, Ch'en, “The Growth of Agricultural Middle Schools,” loc. cit.Google Scholar

34 Hui-lin, Ouyang, “Obey Assignments by the Commune, Be Content with Staying in the Country, and Work for the Development of Agricultural Production,” Kuangming Jih-pao, 07 27, 1960.Google Scholar

35 People's Daily editorial, 03 16, 1960.Google Scholar