Wartime Education Policy Research

After the war of Resistance Against Japan broke out, it became one of the focuses discussed by people that where the educational system would go. Some people thought the regular education should not be changed because it is a matter of fundamental importance for generations to come. On the contrary, some thought the regular education system would let a nation perish and it was necessary to turn middle schools and universities into short-term training courses that would produce qualified personnel for both the front and the rear .In others' opinion, the whole educational system should be arranged, enriched, adjusted, improved, and expanded, meanwhile, some facilities matching the war should be increased. After a year's meditation, the National Government that had not a definite policy in the beginning adopted "regarding wartime as peacetime", which was posed by Chiang Kai-shek, as the educational policy of the wartime in the 3rd National Educational Conference in 1939 .The gist was remaining the regular educational system.The reason why the National Government adopted this policy is not only the war but also building up its county because the function of education is sluggish. This policy gained the agreement from the educational circles .The presidents of almost all of the universities supported this policy including Luo Jialun who was a member of the Standing Committee of the Kuomintang and Zhu Kezhen who resisted joining the KMT. Even those professors who boosted freedom spirit also showed that it was wrong to seek short-term success and quick profits in education .A few students were urgent to change the regular form, but they were in the minority .Why did such a phenomenon appear? Besides the reality reason, there were also the traditional idea of nation and trend of thought which showed the education would save the nation. Needless to say, it was the agreement of the educational circles that paved the way to the implementation of this policy.A series of efforts was carried out for this policy by the National Government, such as expanding normal education in large scale, setting up national middle schools, building state expense for students, improving the managerial system of education at all levels and adjusting the curriculum structure of universities. This policy brought out a long-term effect on the modernization of China. Firstly, the professors of universities could go on researching in a relative stable environment. This research not only obtained lots of successes in both the basic and applied fields at that time, but insured the successive development of science knowledge in a long-term point of view. Secondly, owing to the maintenance of the regular educational system, there was no the fault of talent in spite of the war which lasted for 8 years. Instead of that, a number of qualified personnel at high, middle and low levels were supplied for gradually carrying out the modernization of China.