Wake up（245）

 

245

 

Another dark night.

Han Erniang said to Chai Jianhua with admiration: If the "suspension of classes and revolution" during the Cultural Revolution was the first act of a farce that destroyed Chinese culture, then the following "resumption of classes and revolution" was the second act of a farce that destroyed schools. However, it is a pity that the authorities have adopted a policy of covering up as much as they can, and downplaying as much as they can, regarding the absurd "suspension of classes to cause revolution" and the equally absurd "resumption of classes to cause revolution" in the "Cultural Revolution", as well as the endless troubles caused by them. , let alone a fruitful crusade against the universal absurdity of the Cultural Revolution. This wrong policy is paving the way for the next universal absurd comeback, which can lead to a repeat of the tragedy. This is definitely not alarmist.

After the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued an instruction to "suspend classes and start a revolution," students, as Red Guards, spread the "Cultural Revolution" from schools to the whole society, causing serious social turmoil. On October 14, 1967, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, and the Central Cultural Revolution Group jointly issued the "Notice on the Resumption of Classes and Revolutions in Universities, Middle Schools, and Primary Schools", requiring students to return to schools to resume classes, and schools to resume enrollment. revolution".

The central government announced that "the resumption of classes will cause a revolution". We, a group of teenagers who have been confused in society for a long time, were suddenly notified that they could enter middle school. While excited, we were also a little unaccustomed, because after all, we had been wandering in society for a long time. In addition, I am still a little puzzled: when classes are resumed, classes are resumed, and there is a "revolution" behind it. Is it to resume classes or go back to make revolution?

Questions are all questions, and in September, many teenagers are also happily enrolled. At that time, classes were suspended nationwide from 1966 to 1968. Students were three years older and older, but they had not read the books. The vast number of young people scattered in the society were congested at the school gate like a traffic jam. The authorities could only send all the elementary school students who had only read the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades of elementary school before the "Cultural Revolution" into middle schools, and sent all the students who were originally high schools to the countryside with graduation certificates. Those students in the sixth grade of elementary school will become the students of the third grade in one fell swoop. The high school is changed to a two-year system, even if you have finished junior high school. How absurd is this!

Schools all over China have shortened the study time and vigorously reformed the curriculum content. The original textbooks were accused of being "feudal capitalism", that is, feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism, all of which were not used. The authorities hastily printed a batch of temporary teaching materials closely related to real politics. However, even with these simple and concise textbooks, there is still no standardized class hours to ensure completion.

At that time, there were only three years in junior high school and high school. There was not much time, but frequent arrangements were made to go out to study work, study agriculture, build branch schools, and take winter and summer vacations. The real time for studying in school was even less.

Han Erniang said with great emotion: What's more serious is that this series of social activities cuts the learning time into sections and is constantly interrupted. There is no coherence at all, and the learning effect is even worse. In 1971, the students who claimed to have graduated from high school had an actual education level of at best the level of primary school graduates before the "Cultural Revolution".

The six-year curriculum is compressed into three years, and the teaching materials are compressed and then compressed. When we teachers give lectures, we can only pick and choose the content to talk about. Chinese and political subjects are better. Big, but English is troublesome. Although English is not a very coherent course, it is necessary to know 26 letters, but students are always in the middle of interrupted learning, but they just can't memorize the annoying 26 letters.

An English teacher was originally an enthusiastic and responsible middle-aged female teacher. Her lectures were impressive, especially when she read aloud with cadences and cadences. In the eyes of the students, she even had a performance effect. However, English classes were not as popular as they are now. Talented and enthusiastic English teachers can only be forced to play an unimportant role, and the courses are more crowded, which is a bit lost.

She once told me that every time she returned to the classroom from the factory's rural branch school, she had to teach a new course, and the students were confused because they couldn't even write and read the 26 letters. So she could only review and recognize the 26 letters. I remember that she once said to me with emotion: "Oh, it's starting from the beginning again. Every time I lecture to you, I start with 26 letters, alas."

She always feels that students underestimate English, otherwise why can't they remember the 26 letters? But some students asked in a low voice: "What's the use of learning English? After graduation, we will all go to the countryside. Can it be used? Will it be returned to the teacher in a few years?"

My colleague really couldn't answer it all at once, but she had an idea and found a reason: "Why is it useless? If we encounter an enemy on the battlefield, it is a foreign invader, you want to catch him and make Yi Yi a prisoner. You have to say two sentences, these two sentences are in the textbook!"

Indeed, there were English sentences in the textbooks at that time: "Follow me" and "Put your hands up!"

I would like to ask her: What if these students grow up and heroically fight the enemy on the battlefield, because they are outnumbered, their legs are injured unfortunately, they cannot run, and they want to commit suicide but their bullets are exhausted. What should they say when facing the enemy? Woolen cloth? This was just a whimsical thought that suddenly crossed my mind, and I never dared to reveal it at the time. Not only dare not tell my colleagues, but also dare not tell my classmates.

The female teacher still continued to learn English intermittently, starting from 26 letters. After these high school students graduated, they could memorize English. In addition to the two sentences "Follow me" and "Raise your hands", there are also "Long live Chairman Mao" (L O N G L IV ECH A IR M A NM A O ), "Long live Chairman Mao" (ALO N G, LO N GLIFET OC H A IR M A NM A O ) two sentences, because these two sentences are what the teacher will say after reviewing the 26 letters and ask the students to write silently, maybe she is In order to ensure political correctness, in order to prevent being put on the hat of xenophobia.

Han Erniang said to Chai Jianhua: But what's the use of knowing these few sentences? A few years after those students graduated, Mao Zedong passed away.

Han Erniang said that apart from English, the situation in other subjects was not much better. Although I didn't learn much in the three years of school, when the graduation time came, all the students graduated regardless of their level, and everyone was happy. However, at the end of the 1970s, students who claimed to have graduated from high school recognized by the government, although they had already participated in the work, were arranged to take junior high school cultural tutoring in their work units. This is the great cultural destruction brought about by the Cultural Revolution.

On February 26, 2004, the "Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Moral Construction of Minors" was officially promulgated. It has become an important day to carry out ideological and moral publicity and education activities for minors. However, the "National Shame Day" in this "Opinion" is only limited to the days when foreign enemies invaded like "September 18th". Could it be that there is no event that should be designated as a "national humiliation" for our own actions?

In traditional Chinese morality, there is an ancient saying that "knowing shame is close to courage". A sense of shame about past history can spur individuals and nations to forge ahead from failure to greatness. Looking back at half a century of Chinese history, "Anti-Rightist", "Great Leap Forward", and "Three-Year Famine" all hurt the vitality of the Chinese nation, especially the ten-year-long "Cultural Revolution", which said It has caused great pain and pain, shouldn't one or two of these days be selected as "National Shame Day"?

During the Cultural Revolution, the "suspension of classes to cause a revolution" and the subsequent "resumption of classes to cause a revolution" were like a farce. Unfortunately, this farce was staged for too long. How many young students had that once-in-a-lifetime youth, Ruthlessly buried in the dark tomb of the "Cultural Revolution".

"October 14th", this is one of the most shameful days in contemporary Chinese history, and we should not forget it easily. Chinese citizens, especially those engaged in education work, should firmly remember "October 14", in order to remind us that in the world in the 1960s and 1970s, in China, which claims to have an ancient civilization, , What kind of universal madness, universal ignorance and universal absurdity that civilized society despises ever happened!

More than half a century ago, that is, in 1967, the whole of China was plunged into a quagmire of terror and chaos because of Mao Zedong's "cultural revolution". On October 14th, the then Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council, the Central Military Commission, and the Central Cultural Revolution jointly issued the "Notice on the Resumption of Classes in Universities, Middle Schools, and Primary Schools to Create a Revolution." The notice required universities, middle schools, and primary schools to follow Mao Zedong's strategic plan to "resume classes and cause revolution."

Mao Zedong would never admit his mistakes, but the notice of "resuming classes and causing revolution" issued on "October 14" is tantamount to admitting an indisputable fact: Before that, all schools in China, universities, middle schools, Including all primary schools, classes were suspended for nearly a year and a half, completely paralyzed, and in a state of chaos and disorder for a long time. Hundreds of millions of students in universities, middle schools, and primary schools, with an age difference of more than 20 years, all dropped out of school , Wasted precious youth years.

However, what is "resuming classes and making a revolution"? Probably few people can explain its ins and outs clearly, let alone talk about lessons learned.

A nation suffering from amnesia is a hopeless nation, because it may repeat the same mistakes at any time. In today's world, if China repeats the same mistakes as the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese nation will surely fall into the abyss beyond redemption. Revisiting this unbearable history allows us to reflect on history.