Shanghai Crash Of Workers And Peasants In The Early Days After Foundation Of Middle School Study (1950-1958),

Creating worker-peasant short-term middle school is a big step of new China’s educational policies that education should serve for workers and peasants. The new-style worker-peasant middle school, whose unique organization mode rooted in the experience of Yan’ an decade and Soviet model, came into being like mushrooms after rain throughout the country from1950. The reform of school system in1951consolidated short-term school’s important position, as the third track of educational advance besides the regular schools.Worker-peasant short-term middle schools multiplied during the early1950s. By1954, a total of5,000students were enrolled in9such schools in Shanghai. Actually, Shanghai’s short-term educational experiment made remarkable achievements on improving teaching methods and textbooks. The teaching quality of these schools also surpassed national average level. These new agencies of worker-peasant education trained a number of personnel needed for the economic and material development of the nation during1950-1958. Thousands of cadres of workers and peasants, as well as industrial workers became eligible for higher education and entered college owing to these special schools.As a new educational experiment, these schools inevitably encountered several problems, such as recruitment, curriculum and graduation. Although the new regime constantly adjusted and modified relevant policies, the shortcomings and limitations of the short-term experiment emerged increasingly. In1955, the Ministry of Education decided to stop the enrollment of these schools. After graduates of1958left schools, worker-peasant short-term middle school quietly withdrew the stage of history.The failure of worker-peasant short-term middle schools certainly could not avoid inherent problems of short-term experiment. It’s difficult to improve the quality and efficiency of these schools. First, full-time study was in conflict with production. Second, short-term experiment for workers and peasants violated objective law of education. Third, the scale of expansion went beyond the limit of available resources. During the1950s, three educational traditions blended with each other, coordinated and continued conflict. We should pay attention to the worker-peasant short-term middle school in1950s, which had distinctive character of proletariat and political tendency. For new China, how to implement worker-peasant educational policy, how to both maintain the value of education and the revolutionary spirit, at the same time, to meet the needs of industrialization were the topics needed to be discussed.