Eight or Nine in the Morning (1973)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for more than two years during the Cultural Revolution all schools and colleges in China were closed why did this happen and what is going on now in education in China a my recent visit I was able to find some of the answers Chinese education had become caught between two sharply opposed ideas of what kind of education was best for China there were those who said that what a technically backward country needed was above all a highly trained managerial elite professional administrators specialists experts but there were others who said yes China does need as many intellectuals and highly trained experts as possible but the last thing we want is any kind of an elite in a socialist country they said education must serve the interests of the working people this wasn't merely a mild academic debate it was in essence a bitter caste struggle which would determine what kind of country China was going to be in the universities especially the conflict was violent even physically violent and it was this clash who utterly opposed ideas which brought education to a halt eventually the concept of a working class non elitist education won out but some fantastically difficult problems still remained how for instance to uproot the age old idea that brain work was somehow superior to hand work and how could they get it across to students that real education has nothing to do without getting a better job more pay but is it means by which society as a whole can be advanced these are tremendous questions and the Chinese don't for a moment claim that they have found all the answers schools and colleges are functioning again but everything is still experimental much of what goes on in education appears rather normal but as you will see under the appearance of normality some quite new educational idea are being applied four-year-olds in a typical City kindergarten by means of songs and dances children are taught that to do manual work is something to be proud of we are little red soldiers working in the woodwork shop look these are our tools [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] today a strong emphasis is placed on children learning to be self-reliant doing as much as they can for themselves this kindergarten is in Peking but it could be anywhere we saw similar schools in every city we visited these are the same children preparing for that afternoon nap a typical primary school a teacher is saying please write these words forward unite together in this village school as in all schools in China children learn their arithmetic on an abacus [Applause] [Applause] every morning all over China schoolchildren as well as many adults at that place of work do with our morning exercises [Music] it is a bitterly cold December morning when I filmed this [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah yeah education since the Cultural Revolution is non-competitive there are now far fewer examinations and most are open book exams it's considered more useful for a student to know where to look for information and to cram is mindful effects for an exam this represents an enormous change from classical Chinese education while painting and literature are still part of the curriculum the emphasis is now placed on subjects of immediate practical application and on the learning of foreign languages since the Cultural Revolution factory workers now teach many of the practical subjects behind me you see a big sign on it the words say serve the people now this is a sign that you see all over China today big signs like this one small signs it's even written on small children settles as they go to school and of course when one does it first when one comes here whether it is more than a slogan whether it is just a nice phrase but one soon discovers that it is more than a slogan it has entered the very spirit of the people here and that wherever one goes one seems to see people conscious that their purpose is not to serve themselves but to help others and to serve the people and serve the nation children at school help each other by mending each other's clothes or repairing their shoes to link theoretical and practical knowledge workshops are set up right in the school's themselves in this school students are making silicon transistors for ragers their work must meet exactly the same standard as in a factory in ways like this millions of teenagers in China are learning technical skills and in industrial discipline before they leave school testing the transistors all school children work full-time for two months a year at some productive work they also have eight weeks holiday every year students in the school garden for there two months of practical work schoolchildren can choose from a great variety of jobs in Shanghai on a ship that was being built I came across two school girls learning how to weld [Music] in a jade carving factory several schoolchildren were learning from an old master how to carve Jade Singh WA one of China's famous universities only a fraction of China's children get to college but those who do pay no fees and all books food and lodging are free before coming to college every student must have worked at least two years in a factory or in the fields there are no entrance examinations a student is chosen not only because he is intellectually capable but because his fellow workers recommend him as someone who will use his education to serve the people the university today is administered by Revolutionary Committee on which every section of the university is represented the Chairman is a communist party leader and the army is represented to one of the teaching staff a student a maintenance staff are represented by a janitor so did you ever see a are fantastic yellow in the university as in the middle schools wherever possible theory is linked with practice this computer for example was designed and constructed by students in the advanced electronics department what individual freedom is there in China as we understand freedom very little in the natural sciences the intellectual is given the widest freedom to question and explore and there is ample evidence that China's producing minds of superb competence but the Chinese say that a competitive society like ours must of necessity developed a philosophy of individualism while a society based on cooperation will develop quite a different ethic as in China individuals don't follow their personal impulses and China offers no scope for the man striving to express his personality which we have placed so high on the list of human needs there are I am sure many intellectuals in China frustrated and unhappy but it seemed to me that most of the young students I saw and talked with were grateful for the opportunity of being at college and had accepted the idea that a man's knowledge and creativity and not as it where his own possessions but had to be used for the benefit of all professor Chen at Tsinghua during the Cultural Revolution had to work in a steel mill and he was surprised to find this brought in quite a new kind of freedom I was used to write books and bank papers after the work then I usually like to put my name on it you loose about to put your signature on actually now I realize that's the way of seeking my personal fame and fortune I understand for the workers they have no such a profession they never thought to put any signature of their products yes indeed the striking contract between two times worked up look and so the long period of working with the workers - finally established the friendship with many workers in the past my friends all our professors and intellectuals like me now I have worked a friend another professor specializing in biochemistry told me that before the Cultural Revolution he felt he had to keep up his dignity and would never have made friends with his students as he does now and he doesn't resent it as he said he would have done before when his students learn about a complicated biochemical process from a worker at a factory rather than from him in a university classroom in these ways the council revolution helped to break down barriers between people in this bargain extremely high without any pizza - here by your car or student serve in the civilian militia in this mock battle they were using live ammunition education does not end when school lets out in every city centers have been set up for what they call volunteer after school education some learn gardening some embroidery oh is making model boats not having many pianos children learn on cardboard keys and some make exceptional progress this boy of nine years old started only a year ago [Music] some children eight and nine years old prefer gymnastics [Music] a traditional Chinese fight sequence [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the children are singing about how the Sun is rising in the East how the sky is full of clouds but our friends are worldwide [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] these children men are the inheritors of a cultural revolution which has turned so many old educational ideas upside down many questions even for the Chinese remain unanswered whenever I asked whether the Cultural Revolution would indeed succeed in what it had set out to do the building of a new society and a new kind of man the Chinese would answer we don't know for we are just at the beginning if this Cultural Revolution does not succeed there will be another and if necessary yet another and each one will be at a deeper level [Music] [Music]