Discussion with Mao Yuanxin on Teaching Issues
(February 1966)
The development of science proceeds from the lower to the higher stages, from the simple to the complex; however, lectures should not necessarily follow this sequence. When studying history, one should focus primarily on modern history. After all, written historical records extend back only about three thousand years—what then would we do if we were to trace history over ten thousand years? In teaching atomic physics, it is not necessary to begin with the theories of the earliest school. If you were to learn in that manner, you would never graduate within ten years. You who are studying natural sciences must learn to apply the dialectical method.
Printed from Chairman Mao’s Writings on the Educational Revolution, published by the People’s Publishing House in December 1967.
Notes
[1] Mao Yuanxin was Mao Zedong’s nephew and had been a student and instructor at the Harbin Military Engineering Institute.