Lesson 2-How successful were the changes made to education provision? Flashcards
Arguments for China’s lack of education was the greatest problem Mao faced when he came to power in 1949.
- 1949-only 20% had received education
- Majority of population was illiterate or barely literate
- CCP lacked skills to modernise
Define Pinyin
Modernised form of Mandarin
What was the Cultural Revolution?
Mass movement claiming elitists were undermining the government and Chinese society.
Four Modernisation
Attempt by Zhou Enlai within the 1970s to modernise: agriculture, industry, defence and education
What were changes made in educational provision hoping for?
Raising educational levels of the Chinese people
Where did Mao believe learning should come from?
Experience
What did Mao reject traditional Chinese education as being?
Too elitist (owned by an elite) and being too influenced by the West.
Why did Mao need a more literate and educated society?
For both economic and political reasons.
Why did Mao need more literate people for economic reasons?
Economic progress depended on China producing its own technical specialists and Communist ideas could be spread more quickly among literate people.
Why does the health sector need to be improved?
A healthy workforce would be more productive and a successful health policy would provide major propaganda opportunities for the Communists.
Apart from education, what other key sector needed to improve?
Health
In 1949, what were education levels like?
Majority of peasants were illiterate or barely literate
By the middle of 1950, what was set up?
A national system of primary education
Was the national system of primary education a success?
Yes
Figures of successes of national system of primary education system between 1949 and 1976.
1949 = 20% literate
1960 = 50%
1964 = 66%
1976 = 70%
What language reform was introduced?
A new form of Mandarin was introduced, also known as Pinyin.
When was Pinyin adopted?
1955
By how many people was Pinyin adopted by in 1955?
80% of Chinese people
2 reasons why there had been no one form of Mandarin that everyone could understand.
- Pronunciation of Mandarin varied widely from area to area-visitors from one place often could not be understood by speakers in another.
- Mandarin had no alphabet. Whereas all words in every European language are made up from a basic alphabet (English=26 letters). Written Mandarin was made up of ideograms (sign/picture relating to idea), not letters. Made writing Mandarin extremely difficult since all its words had to be learned separately.
What happened to sounds in the adoption of Pinyin?
Were given a particular symbol
Benefit of Pinyin.
- Eased the process of learning
- Major advances in education by mid-1960s
Compare amount of colleges and universities in China in 1949 and by 1961.
1949 = 200
1961 = 1289
Why did education become a tragedy after 1966?
CR practically destroyed education as a public activity.
What event taking place in 1950s impacted the progress of education?
Korean War led to lots of government spending.
Only 6.4% of government spending was used for education in 1952.
How would Mao’s attitude towards intellectuals impact on the improvements in education?
Mao did not trust traditional schooling.
Although Mao pledged to reform education, many elitist elements continued.
Large numbers of students went to study at Russian universities in order to learn technical expertise.
When did schools close due to the CR?
1966-70
What did the closure of schools due to the CR mean?
Education of some 130 million young people stopped.
From 1970, how had Zhou Enlai tried to improve education and what was the result?
With his Four Modernisations.
Damage had been done
Even when the education system was not being attacked during the CR, what meant that people still did not receive schooling?
They were away in the mountains and villages.
When schools reopened why was it difficult to restore belief in the education system?
Teachers and the curriculum had been openly attacked.
What was the purpose of education during the CR?
Simply to serve the revolution
According to the census compiled in 1982, 6 years after Mao’s death, what do the figures show about the working population?
Fewer than 1% of the working population had a university degree.
According to the census compiled in 1982, 6 years after Mao’s death, what do the figures show about those who received schooling after 16?
Only 11% had received schooling after age of 16
According to the census compiled in 1982, 6 years after Mao’s death, what do the figures show about those who had received schooling between 12 and 16?
Only 26% had received schooling between 12 and 16
According to the census compiled in 1982, 6 years after Mao’s death, what do the figures show about schooling after 12?
Only 35% had received schooling after 12
Compare number of colleges and universities in 1961, 1965, 1976 and 1985.
1961 = 1289
1965 = 434
1976 = 434
1985 = 1016
