Citation:
Date Presented:
February 9, 2013Abstract:
In my thesis, I seek to understand how the dramatic shifts in Chinese educational policy in the transition from the Mao period (1949-1976) to the reform period (1976-present) unfolded in the university students' everyday lives. In particular, I look at the experiences of the "Class of 1977" English majors of Jiangxi Teachers College. These students were part of the 4.7% of the nearly six million exam takers who gained admission to university based on their scores on the college entrance examinations held in 1977, the first truly competitive examinations held since the beginning of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which virtually shut down all institutions of higher education. The class of 1977 also had diverse educational backgrounds: while most of the older students were high school graduates, many of the younger students had received little formal schooling. During a time of explosive growth in cultural production and whirlwind political change, the motley crew would be trained—through hastily designed and often dysfunctional academic programs—to be agents of the modernization program of the reform era. Through tracing the history of education reform, interviewing the Jiangxi Teachers College students, and delving into primary sources from their time in college, I argue that the students were able to make sense of their unusual university experiences by following academic and political requirements and returning to pre-Mao modes of social relations. In doing so, they fulfilled both the demands of the school and their peers, families, and society at large.