Cultural Revolution Impact On Education

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To what extent did the Cultural Revolution immediately impact the educational system? China has always had a reputation for having a rigorous education system, as it is characterized by heavy emphasis on rote memorization of texts and the ignorance of critical disposition and rational reasoning. In ancient China, the Civil Service Examination served as a system for the most talented scholars to obtain an official position in the palace. Education has been perfected throughout the years and when Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, rose to power, he altered policies and standard ideologies. The Cultural Revolution, which was mobilized by Mao to reassert his authority and eradicate reactionaries, affected several facets of …show more content…

During China’s Cultural Revolution, a large proportion of urban youth were forced to go to the countryside as a result of the state’s “send-down” policy (Xie). This experience was distressing for some youngsters as it disrupted ordinary life and the process of educational attainment. Students couldn’t express their opinions or reason with the government’s decision, because they did not dare to question Mao’s authority, therefore they had no other option but to conform to the officials. Mao Zedong was the ultimate figure that impeded the students’ educational and career path. Parental social status or political capital did not spare youths in certain privileged classes from being sent down to the countryside (Xie). As a result, new students were drawn only from those who from the lower class, such as workers or peasants. As most of them were uneducated before attending the school, they did not understand the teachers’ words and their options for success were limited, hence the educational system became substandard. Moreover, the quality of university education dropped not merely due to the lower student intake quality, but also due to the lack of qualified lecturers and professors, many of whom had been sent to the countryside for re-education (Meng 4). Students suffered, just as they still do today, from backwardness and failure as a result of under-qualified teachers educating them. As teachers without any credentials directly cause poor academic performance in students, they play a paramount role in the educational system. Therefore, with all these invariably increase in unproductiveness with the profession, the standard and quality of education was