Education System Must Be Reformed [I]
(July 5, 1964)

Class struggle is a main subject for you. Your academy should go to the countryside to carry out the "Four Clean-ups," and go to factories to carry out the "Five Antis." Without carrying out the "Four Clean-ups," you won't understand the peasants; without carrying out the "Five Antis," you won't understand the workers. If you don't even understand class struggle, how can you be considered a university graduate?

The entire education system is just like that, openly calling for the pursuit of that top score of five. There are some people who see through the score and boldly and actively go about learning. Once you see through that whole set-up, learning becomes proactive. It is said that there was a student at a certain university who usually did not take notes, scored between three and a half to four on exams, yet his graduation thesis was the highest level in the class. Being top-notch in school does not necessarily mean being top-notch in work. Throughout Chinese history, all those who won the top imperial examination title lacked true talent and learning; on the contrary, some who did not even pass the provincial examination had some true talent and learning. Do not place too much emphasis on scores; concentrate your energy on cultivating the ability to analyze and solve problems, and do not just trail behind the teachers without any initiative of your own.

Oppose the cramming method of teaching. Even bourgeois educators raised this issue as early as the May Fourth period. Why don't we oppose it? As long as we don't treat students as targets to strike, that will be fine.

Your teaching is just cramming, classes every day. Is there really that much to lecture about? Teachers should print and distribute their lecture notes to you. What is there to be afraid of? Students should be allowed to study the lecture notes on their own. Are lecture notes still kept secret from students? Only letting students copy them in the lecture hall binds students to death. University students, especially

[1]
This is part of a transcript of a conversation between Mao Zedong and his nephew, Mao Yuanxin, a student at the People's Liberation Army Military Engineering Academy.

those in senior grades, should mainly research problems on their own. Why lecture so much?

The problem of education reform is mainly a problem of teachers. Teachers have only that little ability; without their lecture notes, they can't do anything. Why not distribute the lecture notes to you and research problems together with you? If a teacher can answer fifty percent of the questions raised by senior students, and for the rest says "I don't know" and discusses them together with the students, that is already not bad. Don't put on airs to intimidate people.