Comrade Lin Piao,

I entirely agree with your letter. One further point -- of the three courses,
'cultural' education (cultivating the ability to read, reading books and
newspapers, and writing) is the most important, the basic component. According
to what you and your colleagues say, equal emphasis will be given to theory
and practice, and 'cultural' tools are a part of the 'practice' which links
up theory with practice. 'Cultural' tools can and should be used to link
up the two. If the student, having learnt other things, can neither read
books nor write, his future development after leaving the school will be
limited. If you agree with me, then I think in the next four months there
should be more 'culture' classes (reading, writing and composition) in the
second and third courses. My view is that these classes should be increased
to a quarter or even one third of the total study hours (including home work)
of a student. Please give your consideration to this problem. When the time
comes for the periodic test, 'culture' will be an important criterion of
judgement.

Salute!


Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.