문화대혁명 시기 공농병 대학생(工农兵学员) 선발제도가 교육에 미친 영향

초록

The purpose of this study is to analyze the background and operation of the 'Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers(工农兵) College Student' selection system implemented during the Chinese Cultural Revolution(1966–1976), and to examine its subsequent impact on education. This system emerged from Mao Zedong’s radical vision of the 'Educational Revolution.' Judging that the existing education system was monopolized by bourgeois intellectuals, Mao advanced the so-called 'Two Estimates'(两个估计) to dismantle it. Consequently, the traditional 'Gaokao'(高考, the college entrance exam) was entirely abolished and replaced by the principle that education must serve proletarian politics and be integrated with productive labor. Under this paradigm, university admissions were suspended for approximately four years after 1966, until the selection system for Workers, Peasants, and Soldiers college students was officially introduced in 1970. This new system prioritized political background and practical labor experience over academic achievement. Students were selected through a rigorous political process: 'public recommendation, leadership approval, and school review'(群众推荐、领导批准、学校复审). This politically driven selection system and its educational practices triggered severe structural crises in higher education. Due to the vast disparities in students' academic preparedness, universities were forced into the abnormal position of providing remedial primary and secondary education. Furthermore, university curricula were largely reduced to Maoist ideology and short-term production techniques, leading to a widespread decline in academic depth and foundational capabilities. As intellectuals were branded targets for criticism and re-education, faculty-student dynamics and academic order collapsed, while educational facilities and scholarly assets suffered catastrophic damage. Ultimately, this series of changes led to a profound disruption in talent development. Following the conclusion of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, efforts to normalize education began, culminating in the official abolition of this system alongside the reinstatement of the Gaokao in 1977.

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