An Exploration of the Task of Ordinary Senior Middle Schools

Abstract

The question of the tasks of different schools at different levels and of different types is the most important question in education. The [kind of students that] schools take to be the targets of their nurturing, the content and substance of education and teaching, and the scale of school operation are all determined on the basis of the tasks of the schools. At the same time, the task also determines the structure of education itself. If the schools share the same task, that is, if they have the same targets for nurturing, then quite naturally we will have a unified and singular eduational structure. Historically, the tasks of the ordinary senior middle schools in our country have been defined as a dual set of tasks: On the one hand, they are required to cultivate a rich and superior reserve labor force; on the other hand, they are expected to provide for institutions of higher education qualified new students. Although the written expressions of these dual tasks may not have been consistent over the last thirty-odd years, their basic content and nature have largely remained the same. Therefore, these dual tasks have become the primary guiding thought for the operation of ordinary senior middle schools and one of the standards by which we measure whether the orientation of running the schools is correct.