Speech at the Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee[1]

(September 10, 1937)

Some senior military cadres show no interest whatsoever in strategic issues, failing to connect with strategy above and with the actual conditions of the Red Army below, and have become foreign doctrinairians. Teaching methods must be studied, and the old examination methods must be changed. The current teaching methods are mostly of the cramming type; attention must be paid to the heuristic method.

[1] On September 10, 1937, the Central Committee convened a meeting of its Standing Committee. Mao Zedong expressed his views on issues such as teaching materials and teaching methods, stressing that teaching should integrate theory with practice and that military theory should impart strategic thinking and strategic principles. This is part of Mao Zedong's speech.