Comment on Zhou Peiyuan’s Letter Regarding the Issue of Regularization and Grade-Fixing for College Graduates of the Classes of 1966 to 1970
(November 12, 1972)

This matter is of great consequence. Print and distribute to all comrades in the Political Bureau, the Cultural and Educational Group of the State Council, and the Beijing Municipal Committee for study. Request the Central Committee to consider and make a decision.

Mao Zedong
November 12, 1972

--- Notes

[1] Zhou Peiyuan, Deputy Director of the Revolutionary Committee of Peking University, stated in a letter to Mao Zedong on November 7, 1972, that in the process of implementing the policy towards intellectuals and the educational revolution, there is an urgent problem requiring resolution—namely, how to handle college graduates from the classes of 1966 to 1970. The class of 1966 graduated six years ago yet has still not been regularized or had their grades fixed. There are often letters asking whether they still count as university graduates and state cadres, whether it is intended to downgrade university students who graduated during the "Cultural Revolution" by one grade, and whether the same will apply to the new worker-peasant-soldier university students in the future. At present, the wages of workers in some large state-owned enterprises already exceed those of university graduates of the same age, leading some eligible individuals to be unwilling to attend school when these units recruit students. Currently, there are roughly 800,000 such university graduates nationwide, from all strata and regions. Handling their issue properly is a matter of major importance. For these reasons, I hereby seek the Chairman's instructions on the following: 1. Given the urgent need to accelerate the development of science and culture in our country, the training of university students must continue, and the quality of training must be even higher. Their qualifications, especially their economic status, cannot be set too low. 2. The treatment of graduates from the "old five cohorts" cannot be downgraded compared to pre-1965 graduates. Reform of the treatment of university students should start from the newly recruited worker-peasant-soldier university students. 3. Draw the line based on the number of years the "old five cohorts" attended university: the classes of 1966 and 1967 studied for 4 or more years and should be treated as regular bachelor's degree graduates; the classes of 1967 to 1970 studied for 3 years or less and should be treated as short-cycle college graduates. 4. The work of regularizing their wages and fixing their grades should be completed as soon as possible and should not be delayed until seven or eight years after they begin work.