Pictured| Deng Xiaoping
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="2" > preface</h1>
In the summer of 1977, Wen Yuankai, an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology of China and a researcher in chemical bond theory, received a notice in Shanghai.
The circular came from the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. He was specially invited to a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Wen Yuankai was a little surprised that he was just a small teaching assistant, how capable he could get the invitation of the General Office of the Central Committee and the State Council to hold a meeting.
At that time, Wen Yuankai was in Shanghai and wanted to fly to Beijing for a meeting, but at that time, buying a plane ticket required a unit to open a certificate, and Wen Yuankai did not have time to go to the original unit in Hefei to open a certificate. In a hurry, he had to find the Shanghai Municipal Government, and finally the municipal government came forward to open a certificate, and Wen Yuankai bought a plane ticket.
On August 3, 1977, after Wen Yuankai arrived in Beijing, Liu Daoyu, then director of the Department of Education of the Ministry of Education, picked him up at the airport, and upon questioning, he learned that Deng Xiaoping had invited them to Beijing to attend a forum on science and education work.
Wen Yuankai later learned that he was invited because he had written a letter to Fang Yi, then president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in June, responding to the problem of "strengthening basic chemical research", and when Fang Yi saw the letter, he recommended him to attend the symposium.
What Wen Yuankai did not expect was that this symposium later changed the fate of more than 5.7 million intellectuals in China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="113" > "Compared with developed countries, our science and technology and education are lagging behind by a full 20 years."</h1>
In February 1973, Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing from Jiangxi.
Because Premier Zhou's health was deteriorating and he was no longer willing to do everything himself, under the personal supervision of Premier Zhou, Deng Xiaoping officially resumed his work, and after the conclusion of the First Session of the Fourth National People's Congress in 1975, Premier Zhou announced at the plenary session of the State Council:
"I am no longer in good health, and in the future, Comrade Xiaoping will preside over the work of the State Council."
After Deng Xiaoping worked, he first raised many questions about the education work.
In that particular era, due to the abolition of the system of college admissions examinations in the past decade, there were many problems in university education.
In May 1972, according to a survey of students in 11 colleges and universities in Beijing, about 20% of the people equivalent to the primary school education level, 60% of the people who were in the primary Chinese school, and less than 20% of the junior high school students above the junior high school level. Students at different levels sit in university halls to receive education, and the knowledge they can receive is very limited.
Old photo of Deng Xiaoping |
On October 14, 1972, when Premier Zhou met with Nobel laureate Dr. Lee Jeong-do, who had returned from the United States, he proposed:
"Young people who have a future in learning social science theories or natural science theories do not need to work specially for two years after graduating from secondary school, and can go directly to university and study while working."
Premier Zhou has been aware of the various problems in education, but due to some changes, this proposal has not been implemented.
In 1975, after Deng Xiaoping presided over his daily work, he made a harsh criticism of university admissions methods and the quality of education:
"We have a crisis that could happen in the education sector and hold back the whole level of modernization."
"What exactly does the university play? Who to train? Some universities are only at the level of secondary technical schools, so why should they be universities? ”
"There is no knowledge of foreign languages, mathematics, physics and chemistry, and what is the peak?" Neither is the middle peak, and the low peak is still problematic. ”
In May 1977, when Deng Xiaoping talked about the shortage of qualified personnel, he pointed out sharply:
"Compared with developed countries, our science and technology and education are a full 20 years behind. There are 1.2 million scientific researchers in the United States, 900,000 in the Soviet Union, and only more than 200,000 in us, including the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled. ”
The lack of talent has become one of the social problems that need to be solved urgently. The implementation of education reform has also become one of the focuses of attention of the whole society.
Photo| In October 1972, Premier Zhou met with Li Zhengdao at the Great Hall of the People
Deng Xiaoping formally submitted a request to the Party Central Committee to take charge of science and technology and education.
Deng Xiaoping already had some relatively mature ideas about the upcoming educational reforms, the most crucial of which was to restore the cultural examination system for admissions to colleges and universities.
Since May, when Deng Xiaoping met with state leaders such as Wang Zhen, Deng Liqun, and Zhang Wenfeng, he has repeatedly talked about the issue of college admissions examinations.
"It is necessary to pass strict examinations and concentrate outstanding talents in key middle schools and universities."
"No matter how many college students are recruited, they must take the exam, and they can't pass the exam." No matter whose children it is, even the big people can't ask for it, they can't "go through the back door." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="114" > "one year to prepare, starting next year to walk on two legs"</h1>
However, the reform of education work is not an overnight thing, and the difficulties to be faced are also multifaceted.
One of the most typical examples is:
On August 1, 1977, Jiang Nanxiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee, highlighted to the Ministry of Education that he hoped to allow Tianjin to directly select some students from among the new high school students to take the exam when enrolling in colleges in 1977.
Jiang Nanxiang's proposal was fully endorsed by Deng Xiaoping:
"It is to dare to think and dare to speak, not to swallow." It is necessary to advocate seeking truth from facts. ”
The Ministry of Education attaches great importance to this proposal put forward by Jiang Nanxiang, especially Liu Xiyao, who took over as minister of education in January of that year, and he put forward this suggestion in public at the national conference on enrollment in colleges and universities presided over by him.
Unexpectedly, a person in charge of Tianjin Municipality who attended the meeting directly stated: "Comrade Jiang Nanxiang's opinions only represent his personal opinions and do not represent the Tianjin Municipal CPC Committee." ”
At the National Conference on The Admissions to Colleges and Universities, there was no resolution on whether to inherit the traditions of the past decade or break the conventions.
In the end, the meeting decided that, following the past tradition, Jiang Nanxiang's proposal was not actually taken seriously.
Pictured| the famous educator Jiang Nanxiang
In view of the difficulties of reform, Deng Xiaoping instructed during his meeting with Minister of Education Liu Xiyao:
"In view of the fact that the 1977 enrollment plan has been agreed, the Ministry of Education will formulate a step-by-step reform plan,"
"To run education, we must walk on two legs, and schools can engage in many forms, the university of science and technology is contracted by the Academy of Sciences and directly enrolled, and the military academies and universities are packaged by the army, half of which are directly enrolled, and half of which come from other ways, especially science and engineering."
Deng Xiaoping's idea was to prepare for the college entrance examination in 1977 with a year's time to resume the college entrance examination in 1978, with half of the students being fresh high school graduates and half from society, and then gradually moving toward the right track.
A step-by-step approach to reform can help to alleviate resistance and fully identify problems.
However, from June 29 to July 13, 1977, at the National Conference on The Enrollment of Colleges and Universities held in Taiyuan, Shanxi, a certain degree of change was made to the relevant enrollment work.
Although the general direction still follows the sixteen-character policy, that is, the old method of "voluntary application, mass recommendation, leadership approval, and school review", two improvements have been made.
1. Clarify that the enrollment of ordinary colleges and universities generally has a high school graduation or a cultural level equivalent to high school graduation;
Second, about 4,000 to 10,000 high school graduates are recruited to go directly to college, emphasizing the level of education and conducting cultural examinations for candidates.
This is very valuable.
Pictured| Former Minister of Education Liu Xiyao
On August 4, the Ministry of Education submitted to the State Council the Opinions on the Enrollment of Colleges and Universities in 1977.
But on the same day, Deng Xiaoping presided over a symposium on science and education work in the Great Hall of the People.
Before the forum, Deng Xiaoping instructed Fang Yi and Liu Xiyao:
"Find some people who dare to speak and have opinions, who are not administrative personnel, who are talented in the natural sciences, and so on."
Soon, at Deng Xiaoping's request, the State Council, the Ministry of Education, and others drew up a list of 33 people to attend the forum.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="115" > "not afraid of floating clouds to cover the eyes, only because they are at the highest level"</h1>
Invited almost at the same time as Wen Yuankai, Cha Quansheng, then 52, an associate professor at Wuhan University, said in a 2007 interview with reporters:
"The opportunity to propose to Comrade Xiaoping to resume the college entrance examination was very accidental for me. Because I still don't know who asked me to go to that meeting. ”
On August 3, 1977, after Cha Quansheng was invited to the Beijing Hotel, he was almost stunned by the people present. Among those present were Wu Wenjun, Zou Chenglu, Wang Daheng, Zhou Peiyuan, Su Buqing, and other well-known scientists, as well as responsible persons of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education.
Photo| Fang Yi, former vice premier of the State Council and president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
At that time, very famous scientists and educators in China attended the symposium. Judging from the situation of the participants, it almost covers the old, middle and young generations.
The full list is as follows:
Wu Wenjun, Ma Dayu, Hao Bolin, Qian Renyuan, Yan Dongsheng, Zhang Wenyou, Huang Bingwei, Wang Shouwu, Gao Qingshi, Xu Kongshi, Zou Chenglu, Zhang Wenyu, Tong Dizhou, Ye Duzheng, Wang You, Wang Daheng;
Jin Shanbao, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences;
Zhou Peiyuan and Shen Keqi of Peking University, He Dongchang and Pan Jiluan of Tsinghua University, Su Buqing of Fudan University, Tang Aoqing of Jilin University, Andcha Quansheng of Wuhan University,
Huang Jiasi of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Wu Jianzhong of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Yang Shixian of Nankai University, Shi Shaoxi of Tianjin University, Miao Yongkuan of Nanjing University, Cheng Jianjin of Xi'an Jiaotong University,
Shen Qiyi of North China Agricultural University, Zong Yongsheng of Zhongshan Medical College, Wen Yuankai of University of Science and Technology of China.
Figure | Wen Yuankai, former teaching assistant of the University of Science and Technology of China and researcher of chemical bonds
Among them, the oldest is 82-year-old wheat breeding expert Jin Shanbao, and the youngest is Wen Yuankai, an assistant professor and chemical bond research scholar at the University of Science and Technology of China, who was only 33 years old at the time.
Due to the sudden announcement of the meeting, the participants were almost unprepared, and they had no idea about the content of the meeting, the people attending the meeting, and the length of the meeting.
After taking their seats in the Great Hall of the People, the participants soon received another message: Deng Xiaoping was also attending the meeting.
At first, everyone thought that a national leader like Deng Xiaoping, who was in full swing, would definitely attend the meeting on the first and last day, but they did not expect that Deng Xiaoping would follow everyone and hold meetings for several days in a row.
However, at the beginning, everyone was not sure of the routine, so the speech was still a bit restrained, and at the beginning of the meeting, everyone decided to let the older and more respected seniors in the academic circles speak.
Wen Yuankai remembers that the first person to speak at the meeting was Professor Yang Shixian of Nankai University, and Professor Yang Lao did not dare to talk much at first, only saying that he had some problems and what had not been reformed.
Of course, at the beginning of the meeting, everyone was more cautious and talked about some small issues. With the encouragement of Deng Xiaoping, everyone opened their mouths and tongues.
Figure| In August 1977, Deng Xiaoping held a national symposium on science education
On the afternoon of August 6, the third day of the meeting, the party committee of Tsinghua University raised the question responsibly and worriedly: "At present, the cultural quality of new students in Tsinghua is too poor, and many students only have the primary school level, and they still have to make up for the middle school curriculum." ”
"Then it is simply called "Tsinghua Middle School" and "Tsinghua Primary School", and what university is it called! ”
Deng Xiaoping's words made many people present fluctuate in their minds. Professor Cha Quansheng has not been engaged in educational work for many years, but has been in the laboratory, very impressed by Deng Xiaoping's words, after many years, he recalled the mood at that time, and once said with emotion:
"Since most of the participants were very famous scholars, I basically did not speak for the first two days. Later, I saw that Comrade Xiaoping was so serious, and I thought that this opportunity was rare and it was very likely that some problems would be solved, so I began to speak on the afternoon of the 6th. ”
Cha Quan made a careful outline in the book, and when the opportunity was right, he stood up and made an impassioned statement:
"Enrollment is the first pass to ensure the quality of university education, and its use is like the inspection of raw materials in factories, unqualified raw materials, it is impossible to produce qualified products." The quality of the current new students is not guaranteed, partly because the quality of education in primary and secondary schools is not high, and the main contradiction is the enrollment system. It is not that there are no qualified talents to recruit, but that the current system cannot recruit qualified talents. ”
The more chaquan he talked, the more excited he became, and he lamented the shortcomings of the admissions system and suggested:
"Improving admissions from this year. We must make a decision on the spot, and what can be done this year should not be postponed to next year. ”
Many people present felt a little incredible, and also produced a lot of ideas, and wen Yuankai, the youngest of the participants, also made a supplementary speech and also formulated a new sixteen-character policy:
"Voluntary application, leadership approval, strict examination, merit-based admission"
| Full-Sex Professor
Unexpectedly, when Deng Xiaoping heard this, he said on the spot: "Wen Yuankai, I can only take three-quarters of your words?" ”
The people present were stunned, what is three-quarters? Deng Xiaoping proposed that the second sentence of "leadership approval" can be removed, and that it is everyone's right to go to university and does not require leadership approval.
Wen Yuankai later recalled this incident, and said that he was still relatively timid at that time, so he did not dare to take away the "leadership approval", but no matter how they said it, along with their speeches, many professors present opened the conversation box, and you glanced at me and put forward many pertinent and feasible opinions.
The opinions of the experts also affected Deng Xiaoping, who was originally preparing to resume the college entrance examination in a year's time, and when the meeting was almost over, he asked Liu Xiyao of the Ministry of Education next to him: "Is it too late to resume the college entrance examination this year?" ”
"It's still too late to postpone enrollment for half a year." Liu Xiyao replied with confidence.
As soon as Deng Xiaoping heard this, he immediately made a decision:
"Since there is still time this year, let's resolutely change it!" Take back the original admissions report and rewrite it according to everyone's opinions. Enrollment involves millions of young people going to the countryside, and a method must be come up with. Start changing this year, don't wait. ”
Before the end of the forum on August 8, Deng Xiaoping made a concluding speech:
"This year, we must make up our minds to resume the direct recruitment of students from high school graduates, and stop engaging in mass recommendation." Direct enrollment from high school, I think it may be a good way to produce talents early and produce results early. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="116" > "Chibi I world war turned, Dongfeng sent me the first ship"</h1>
After the symposium, the Ministry of Education submitted the "Request for Instructions on Postponing Enrollment and The Start of New Students":
"It was originally planned that higher education schools and secondary specialized schools would start enrollment in August, and new students would open in mid-November. In accordance with Vice Chairman Deng's recent instructions, we will make major improvements to the admissions system for higher education institutions, and the enrollment time is planned to be postponed to the fourth quarter, and the new students in 1977 will be admitted by the end of February next year. ”
Deng Xiaoping agreed.
On August 13, the Ministry of Education held the second national college enrollment work conference in Beijing, and held two college enrollment work conferences a year, which is the only one in the history of the founding of New China.
However, even with Deng Xiaoping's support, the work conference on college admissions was still fraught with difficulties; the meeting was held for more than 40 days, and it was never possible to come up with a plan; many people still did not dare to let go of their ideological concepts; many people at the meeting had huge differences and arguments on key issues, so that they could not come up with an idea for a long time.
At this critical moment, Deng Xiaoping bravely took the lead and clearly instructed the Ministry of Education to "let it go and boldly grasp it", the admissions meeting should be concluded as soon as possible, and the plan should be put forward as soon as possible.
At the insistence of Deng Xiaoping, the new admissions documents were basically finalized.
In 1977, the State Council approved and forwarded the "Opinions on the Enrollment of Colleges and Universities in 1977", stipulating that from 1977 onwards, the enrollment system of colleges and universities should be reformed and the unified examination system should be restored.
Of course, the resumption of college admissions examinations is not a simple examination process, which involves the future fate of millions of people, and is not a problem that can be solved in three words.
In order to cultivate talents as soon as possible, Deng Xiaoping not only changed the admission ratio, but also changed the age limit, marriage restrictions, and relaxed the restrictions on the conditions for political review.
The picture | the scene of the 1977 college entrance examination
After the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination came out, a large number of young students, faced with intense work and labor during the day, picked up lights at night and read at night, just for the fate-changing exam.
In the winter of 1977, the college entrance examination, which had been absent for nearly 10 years, was reconvened, and 5.7 million candidates poured into the examination room, and 278,000 people were admitted.
In the summer of 1978, 6.1 million people poured into the examination room, and 402,000 people were admitted.
The first batch of resumption of the college entrance examination, the low admission rate of colleges and universities, but also set a record, if from the admission rate, the college entrance examination has indeed failed to change the fate of most people, but undoubtedly to more people to provide more choices.
More critically, the college entrance examination has also selected many outstanding talents for the country, and these talents have later entered various positions in society and become the mainstay of national development.
On November 3, 1977, when Deng Xiaoping met with Wang Hao, a Chinese-American mathematical logician, he mentioned a man:
"The dean of the conservatory told me that I found a 7-year-old doll who could play the violin, could play difficult symphonic pieces, and played well. This is called a prodigy in foreign countries. The conservatory stipulates that he can only be admitted at the age of 11, and a doll like this should be absorbed into the conservatory and admitted in advance in order to further his studies. He also had to find an aunt to help him. ”
The picture | scene of the first batch of college students at Tsinghua University, the 77-level college students, after the resumption of the college entrance examination
The Central Conservatory of Music admitted this talented child, this child is Lu Siqing, who later became known as the "Paganini" of the East.
Liu Shaoqi's son Liu Yuan also took the college entrance examination in 1977, and was initially unable to take the exam for reasons known to him, but after Deng Xiaoping found Wu De, the mayor of Beijing, he approved Liu Yuan to take the exam, and later was admitted to Beijing Normal College, and in July 2009 Liu Yuan was promoted to the rank of general.
They all changed their fate because of a decision by Deng Xiaoping.