The scholar spoke passionately and Deng Xiaoping decided on the spot to resume the college entrance examination
2024-08-24
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Hubei Daily Omnimedia Reporter Wen Xin
August 22, 2024 is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Deng Xiaoping. In 1977, Comrade Xiaoping decided to resume the college entrance examination, which was like a spring thunder that inspired people. A generation of young people with ideals and ambitions entered the examination room, and their fate changed. However, the final decision to resume the college entrance examination was inseparable from the call of a scholar from Wuhan University. He is Academician Cha Quanxing, who is known as "the first person to advocate the resumption of the college entrance examination."
Academician Zha Quanxing is a famous electrochemist and one of the important founders of modern electrochemistry in my country. In 1950, he graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Wuhan University and stayed on to teach at the university. In the late 1950s, he returned to China from the Soviet Union after further studies. Under the difficult conditions at the time, he overcame many difficulties and carried out scientific research and talent training.
In August 1977, the National Symposium on Science and Education was held in Beijing, chaired by Comrade Deng Xiaoping. At the meeting, Zha Quanxing, then associate professor of the Department of Chemistry at Wuhan University, made a proposal that higher education enrollment must be through examinations, which shocked everyone.
Cha Quanxing pointed out sharply several major drawbacks of the current enrollment system.
"We must act decisively and seize the day. Things that can be done this year should not be postponed until next year!" Cha Quanxing's speech won the support of many scholars attending the meeting, and also made Deng Xiaoping feel everyone's strong desire to resume the college entrance examination.
Deng Xiaoping asked Liu Xiyao, the Minister of Education, who was sitting next to him: Is it too late to resume the college entrance examination this year? Liu Xiyao said that it is not too late to postpone the enrollment for half a year. "Since there is still time this year, we must resolutely change it! Take back the original enrollment report and rewrite it based on everyone's opinions. The enrollment involves millions of young people who have gone to the countryside. We must come up with a method that can select outstanding talents without causing fluctuations."
Just before the symposium, the national college admissions meeting had already been held, and the 1977 enrollment according to the old method was almost a foregone conclusion. However, after listening to Cha Quanxing's suggestion and soliciting opinions from those present, Comrade Deng Xiaoping decided on the spot: the college entrance examination would be resumed that year! So, in late 1977 and summer 1978, the college entrance examination door, which had been closed for 11 years, was reopened, and China ushered in an unprecedented and largest college entrance examination, with a total number of applicants reaching 11.6 million.
In a later interview, Cha Quanxing recalled that after the two batches of students in 1977 and 1978 came in, the entire university teaching work changed. Those who could get good grades in that situation were generally ambitious young people who insisted on self-study under extremely difficult conditions. "Now people seem to attribute the advocacy of the restoration of the college entrance examination to me. In fact, most people had this idea at the time, and I just had the opportunity to speak a few truths."
The resumption of the college entrance examination became a turning point for a country and an era, adding fresh blood to the talent pool that had been gaped for many years in all walks of life. The fate of many people was changed as a result, and the fate of the country was further changed.
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