Interventions During the Hearing of Reports [I]
(November 1965)
It is precisely this group of people that has given rise to revisionism.
Education today needs reform. A child now spends sixteen or seventeen years in school: six years in primary school, six in secondary school, and five in university…
…We should establish schools modeled after the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, … … Socialist Education is itself a kind of university— … …
Nowadays students cannot even distinguish between horses, cattle, sheep, chickens, dogs, or other animals. How could revisionism not emerge under such circumstances?
One week of labor per semester for junior high school students is far too little. Even primary schools could engage in some light work. It still seems best to adopt the system of combining farming with study.
The curriculum load is heavy. Why do they have to learn so many subjects? In my view, it should be cut by half to two-thirds.
[1]
This is part of Mao Zedong’s remarks made during a briefing when he interjected to point out that university graduates were immediately assigned to government organs without having undergone any practical training.