There are always people who talk about china's politics, and the theoretical concept of paper is like a heavy shackle. But very few know that this is a special arrangement by which a large country solemnly hands over “the key to seeing the world”。
In many countries, politics and the economy are exclusive games at the elite level, and in the classroom of general secondary schools, history is wrapped into warm fairy tales, politics is a hollow oath, and the economy is far more subtle. They are eager to maintain the emotionalization and fragmentation of the public, without understanding the functioning of power, without exploring the essence of interests, but only with passive acceptance of established rules。
China is doing the opposite. We have put the subject of political economics, the “dismantling of the bottom logic of society”, directly into secondary school textbooks. This is not a rigid indoctrination of knowledge, but rather a “ceiling card” into the school bag so that every teenager has the bottom of the world。
The starting point for this game goes back to the start of the new china. In another case, the national illiteracy rate was over 80 per cent, and eight out of ten people did not understand signs, contracts and rules. It is difficult for ordinary people to defend their own rights and their fate is naturally left to others. The literacy campaign is by no means just a few words, but rather the installation of an “operational system” for the entire country. From 1949 to 2022, the illiteracy rate dropped sharply to 2. 67 per cent, a remarkable global speed miracle that has laid the foundation for universal access to subsequent education。
After literacy, the nine-year compulsory education system has used its institutional strength to hold children to the table. Free tuition, scholarships, and universal access to education, from the privilege of a few to the upward path sought by all. Behind parents who sell iron to buy school buildings is the belief of society in knowledge to change destiny. But more crucial than who reads, is what reads。
In china, teaching materials are developed with profound human wisdom. The language of primary school is more than just the romance of the snow and snow, and a large number of chapters reveal social realities and depict the worst. This is not simply a literary aesthetic, but the first civic enlightenment that allows children to understand the complexity of the world from an early age, to distinguish between right and wrong, and to grow up less easily blinded by sweet words。
In the middle of high school, the "heavy hammer" of the political class really fell. “the state is the product of class conflicts”, “the law is based on the coercive power of the state”, a seemingly cold expression that, in many countries, is the exclusive subject of elite seminars, while china speaks freely to every student. This is not the transmission of negative energy, but the most rare form of honest education — telling children the true logic of the functioning of society and teaching them a rational view of rules and order。
The same is true of history classes, which go beyond talking about the surfaces of the dynasty's rise and decline, and more about the deep-seated patterns behind land mergers and conflicting accumulations, building the framework for the analysis of society with an objectistic perspective. When a child encounters a social phenomenon, it first considers the pattern of interests and then explores the institutional arrangements before expressing emotions rationally. This ability to think is central to the response to a complex world。
Classic studies such as capitalism give children the understanding of the bottom patterns of the market economy. It reveals that the real economy is the foundation of wealth, explains the intrinsic logic of the technological revolution and industrial upgrading, so that children are no longer distracted by slogans such as the “renovation dividend” but are seen through phenomena。
Why do these walls of knowledge exist abroad? As the lack of structural understanding among the general public increases, the lower the cost of social governance, the more simple emotional guidance is required to maintain stability. The bottom line is institutional logic. Our emphasis on people's identity, reliance on people's awakening and participation, and capacity to mobilize, depends on everyone's understanding of the rationale and cost of national development。
Of course, we do not shy away from the evils of the education that should be tested. But criticism cannot be extreme, “basic training” is not “strangling creativity”, and “disciplinary rules” are not “pressing personality”. At the stage of national development, it is a pragmatic path to train millions of people who can solve engineering and industrial problems and to sustain innovation in the no-man's-areas。
The ultimate goal of education in china is not to create a minority of “rulers”, but to allow the majority of ordinary people to move up as a whole. Patriotism is no longer decorative, but a community consciousness based on common interests — this land, this order, determines whether we can read, live in dignity and move up。
Putting a “floor card” in the bag is the greatest confidence the nation has in the next generation. This education, which equips young people with a clear mind, a rational mind and the ability to carry out their affairs, and to stand firm in a complex world, is the most precious foundation of a country。
