In 1968 Mao did something which in 2019 remains incredibly radical: he proposed that workers and farmers get involved with education, i.e., he fought against technocratic elitism in education. This necessarily creates a revolution in the curriculum, and it is an undeniably democratic one.
"From the standpoint of traditional Chinese beliefs, allowing these less-educated farmers and workers to lead the educational reforms was outrageous. How could the less-educated lead the better educated? Fundamentally, this was a philosophical question. The criticism reflected the arrogance of the Chinese educated elite, and their narrow mindset towards knowledge. While these workers and peasants had no formal education, what they did have was practical knowledge and a different perspective on education. They braved the traditional bias and prejudice in Chinese schools and society because they felt they had a mission in education reforms. " In the face of jesting and ridicule, they did not back down. They continued to work with students and teachers."
As Han relates, peasants won respect by working with the students. That's revolutionary, and that's how you decrease the cultural urban-rural divide sustained contact (even if forced).
Gone were the textbooks made by a few educational elite in Beijing locals created new curricula and textbooks, in proof that socialism is "central planning" but "local control and local implementation".
How did the curriculum change? Practical math such as bookkeeping and accounting was introduced; students learned agricultural science by working with farmers; applied science was advanced by studying small-scale machines and engines like those found in rural industries and farms. Instead of physics, machines and pumps were studied; practical over analytical. Given their poverty, this practical knowledge would have huge and immediate effects in nascent rural industries and post-Great Leap Forward re-collectivised farms. This is really the socialism-isation of science bringing science to the masses. It is the opposite of the capitalist demand for breakthroughs and growth . Because China was full of socialist revolutionaries, the popular changes in education were not as we would expect in a Western version which would wind up being a curriculum of something akin to "Business MBAs for everyone" but were obviously geared towards promoting thoughts and actions which were collectively useful, and not just individually profitable.
Absolutely crucially, this is how the Cultural Revolution created the human capital on which the 1980s boom was based: how could the post-1980s boom occur without literate workers? Creating this human capital via a decided emphasis on elevating the rural citizen is the ignored or denied central achievement of the CR. No more would "rural" equal "wasteland of human potential", and the West still wracked by an urban-rural divide in 2019 has much to learn here.
"There was a tendency during the Cultural Revolution to elevate physical labor above academic learning, and as a result many students were assigned too much physical labor. The mix of academic and physical labor, however, varied greatly from place to place and from time to time. " The goals of these activities were to increase the school's annual income and to develop a love for physical labor in the students." Yes, Chinese schools engaged their students in money-making activities in order to help raise school funds.
If there's one thing which separates men from boys and women from girls it is the capacity for hard work if you cannot work hard and learn to enjoy it" be prepared for an unsatisfying life, because decadence is always ultimately unsatisfying to humans. The idea that Western schools would not teach this seems insane, but it is not taught. Furthermore, this work-instead-of-more-sitting is something which boys would love to get out of the strict classroom confines and get moving. Anyways, Han relates that in the first half of the 1970s at high schools we are talking about just 6 hours per week of non-academic time, or about 1/7th of overall school time. Personally, I have absolutely no idea how leaders will create policies which are sympathetic and respectful to the working class unless they have spent ample time working alongside them".
Again, these well-rounded high schoolers would be the human capital that created the explosion in rural development, up to and including today, and that should be obvious to all.
Han cites a former teacher: "He cited three major achievements of the educational reforms in Jimo. First, rural schools built during the educational reforms trained large numbers of local youth in practical industrial and agricultural skills and knowledge, which has long-term impacts on the development of rural areas. Economic development in Jimo relied on this practical knowledge. Second, the educational reform began to alter the views of teachers who had previously looked down upon farmers. When they were obliged to participate in some forms of manual labor, they learned to respect villagers and other working people. Third, it empowered villagers. Farmers no longer viewed the educated elite with mystic feelings because they knew the educated teachers better after working with them." These are all universal issues, I am sure: it was the CR's aim to fix them, and that is incredibly revolutionary and democratic.
Han on the suspension of university in 1966, which Western urban, elitist, technocratic reporting loves to focus on: "From the perspectives of the individuals whose dreams of going to college were shattered, this reform of the college entrance examination system was deeply disappointing. But from the perspective of rural development, this reform measure, not unlike a blood transfusion for a sick patient, brought knowledge and skills that revived rural areas. " Every student had to work in rural areas or in a factory for at least two years before becoming for eligible. Academic performance was not a sole criterion in the selection of candidates for college. Students also had to prove themselves as good farmers or workers before going to college. Starting in 1976, college students from rural areas were required to go back to their original villages after graduation to serve the villagers who sent them to college."
This is a drastically different perspective than the usual "broken dream" reporting of the West regarding the CR, no?
It is also a drastically different admission standard: good grades AND good working ability, versus the West's good grades AND tons of money (or influential parents AND tons of money).
It is also a drastically different philosophy: public funds in their small town paid for the schooling of these fortunate Chinese graduates since their childhood, therefore they must return "to serve the villagers who sent them to college". There is absolutely nothing like this in the capitalist-individualist West, even though "public funds in their small town paid for"".
Han relates that an average of 85 people returned to each village in Jimo County. "These students became the new teachers, medical personnel, and skilled workers and technicians on which rural development depended. The reform of the college entrance system and the movement of encouraging education urban out to go to rural areas broke the vicious circle in Chinese education." (emphasis mine)
Han also specifies how these educated urban youth served as a very real cultural and social bridge between the urban and rural areas, which is precisely what is lacking in modern Western countries and a key reason for their huge urban/rural divide. Again, denying someone their individual right (especially the right of a White middle/upper class person, the type most likely to attend college in their nations) is anathema in the West, but we see how very, very socially necessary and productive it was.
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