| Education in different historical periods has different value orientations and characteristics, due to the fact that education is not only a subjective reflection of the real educational problems perceived by the national decision-making bodies and their choice of solutions but also an objective reflection of the interest structure and relationship between different social subjects at a certain historical stage. From a macro point of view, education of different periods since the founding of PRC has taken on the following features:Beginning of the new China (1949-1965):serve the workers and peasants, serve production and construction; During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976):equalitarianism with political supremacy; From1980s till mid-and-late1990s:giving priority to efficiency with due consideration to fairness; From late1990s till present: balanced development. Since China’s reform and opening up, with the continuous advance of socialist market economy, a series of changes have taken place in the field of education in China, like the intervention of market forces and mechanism, the transfer of power in public education and the boost of school autonomy. With the gradual deepening and intensifying of educational reform, various problems have come to the fore in education. Against the background of market economy, interest subjects are increasingly diversified and interest mechanism is becoming more complex. Therefore, in this new period, to answer the two fundamental questions "what is socialist education with Chinese characteristics" and "how to run socialist education with Chinese characteristics" has become a significant theoretical project and real social issue, which is increasingly urgent and needs to be resolved soon.In the localization of Marxist educational thoughts in China, in other words, in the attempt to explore socialist education with Chinese characteristics, China not only made some fruitful achievements and gained some beneficial experience, but also went through quite a few serious setbacks and lessons. Jiangxi Communist Labor University (JCLU) is a telling case in point. Jiangxi Communist Labor University was striving to blaze a new trail for socialist education from the year1958when the school was founded until the year1980when it was renamed Jiangxi Agricultural University. During its22years of exploration, JCLU was once acclaimed as an "example of exploration" for its rich distinctive and trendsetting experience in management system, school running, talent cultivation and admission and employment. However, later on, it was derided as a "disgrace to exploration" in the violently changing era. Nevertheless, there is no denying that JCLU left its prominent mark on China’s exploration into the development path of socialist education. This paper reflects on JCLU’s running mode and summarizes its value orientation and characteristics of the era with a view to finding an answer to the two fundamental questions "what is socialist education with Chinese characteristics?" and "how to develop socialist education with Chinese characteristics?"From the perspectives of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, this study combines synchronic and diachronic approaches, focusing on JCLU’s exploration of the development path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics. This paper makes a case study of the history of JCLU’s running mode---its origination, development and results. It systematically clarifies such questions as "how did JCLU’s running mode originate?""How was it carried out?" and "what was its effect?" In dealing with these questions, the paper theoretically and practically sheds light on the distinctive features of JCLU’s running mode. Through a historical investigation and comprehensive analysis, this author aims to draw some general laws of education from JCLU’s running practice, demystifying how JCLU was alternately made an "example of exploration" and a "disgrace to exploration". Meanwhile, the author reflects on the effect of the historical background on JCLU, in which "class struggles were prioritized" and then moves on to analyze the successes and failures in JCLU’s exploration of the development path of socialist education, based on the problems existing in the education of that new era.In order to answer the question "how was JCLU’s running mode carried out," this paper first sorts out JCLU’s history. In light of achievements made in different periods of JCLU’s exploration into the development path of the socialist education, the paper divides JCLU’s22years’evolution into5stages, namely, JCLU during the time of educational Great Leap Forward, JCLU during the period of adjustment and consolidation, chairman Mao’s spring-festival speech and the prosperous development of JCLU, JCLU during the Cultural Revolution, and bringing order out of chaos in education and the reform of JCLU. The paper describes the specific operations of JCLU at different stages from the phenomenon level. However, the highlight of this paper is an in-depth analysis of how JCLU handled the three relations: the relation between education and productive labor, the relation between education and the all-round development of people, and the relation between education and politics. The profound study makes it clear that the probe into these three relations can be found throughout the history of JCLU. JCLU’s exploration adopted Mao Zedong Thoughts on Education as the direct guidance, and at the same time, was deeply influenced by the traditional concepts of teaching and labor and politics and education. The characteristics of JCLU were mainly embodied in the quest of the three above-mentioned relations.As to the relation between education and productive labor, JCLU held it was imperative to combine them by teaching while laboring. However, this combination should by no means be a mechanical one, but be a dialectical one:education existed in the midst of production and vice verse. The all-round development of people was the fundamental goal of the combination. To this goal, JCLU experimented with a set of school-running mode which went well with the part-work and part-study system. By implementing a management system with unified leadership and decentralized administration, establishing a productive system combining education and labor, and optimizing the teaching system combining work and study, JCLU helped ease the tension between education and production in its school running.With regard to the relation between education and the all-round development of people, JCLU conducted a quest unique both in epistemic line of reasoning and practicability. JCLU pointed out that the all-round development promoted by education means not only the development of students’ morality, intellect, physical condition and capacity, but also the harmonious unity between individual development and social development; the fundamental way to promote the all-round development of people through education was to combine production and study. In its schooling practice, JCLU promoted the all-round development of people by adopting practical measures to ameliorate knowledge structure and improving skill level.In terms of the education-politics relation, JCLU insisted that education had its class nature and that it served politics and that education should be guided by politics. In its school running practice, JCLU emphasized the following five points: strengthening the party leadership was the core of JCLU’s political education; integrating politic consciousness with professional qualification was the essential requirement of JCLU’s political education; strengthening ideological and political education was the fundamental guarantee of JCLU’s political education; closely keeping up with the political situation was the basic direction of JCLU’s political education; and drumming up the support of superiors and leaders was a crucial means of JCLU’s political practice.In reply to this question "what was the effect of JCLU’s school running mode", this paper, adopting dialectic analysis as the basic method, evaluates the merits and demerits of its talent cultivation, management system, structure and development pattern from the perspectives of historical background, contemporary condition, public needs, social effects and educational laws. Through an impartial, objective and profound examination, we can see that JCLU was making a strenuous inquiry into the development path of socialist education with Chinese characteristics. Apart from its important theoretical contributions to the study of the three main relations in education, its experience in school running is a precious treasure in the history of education, including its educational goal of coordinating the development of individuals and that of the society at large, multi-leveled and diversified school-running approaches, management system combining centralization and decentralization and teaching systems integrating work and study.However, JCLU, after all, was a special experiment on education conducted in a special era and its running practice, naturally branded by its historical background and its times, was itself a paradox. JCLU emphasized the combination of politics and academic studies, but failed to clearly position itself; it tried to combine work and study in its education practice, but didn’t stick to it; it claimed to be financially self-sufficient, but never made it; it pursued the all-around development of people, but insisted on the dominant position of politics; it hoped to popularize high education, but ignores the then real productivity; it overstressed the practical skills to such an extent that it paid a high price for its contempt for theory.Based on an in-depth study of JCLU’s trajectory of exploration, this paper points out four revelations that JCLU’s running mode provides for our further exploration of socialist education: it’s critical to change our mindset; theory should be combined with practice; correctly handling the relationship between the internal and external laws of education; adhering to the distinctive schooling features of each school. |
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