Studies on the Ideological Education of College and University Students in the New Era

Abstract

Strengthening the cultivation of ideological and political awareness among college and university students guarantees that the quality of college and university students may be enhanced across the board, and ensures the nurturing of people of talent qualified to participate in the modernization of socialism. To sum up the experience in this area, to analyze the ideological characteristics of college and university students under the new conditions, to explore problems that have the significance of law, and to seek ways to improve the work of cultivating the ideological and political awareness of college and university students, a team was convened from April 1986 to July 1987 under the leadership of the education department and the research office of the municipal party committee. More than one hundred specialists, scholars, practitioners [in higher education], and personnel in pedagogical research from the colleges and universities, the municipal committee of the Communist Youth League, and the municipal Education Workers' Union undertook to carry out a survey and investigation, guided by the spirit embodied in the directive of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee. This was to be an important project of study and research in the areas of philosophy and the social sciences for Beijing municipality in the Seventh Five-Year Plan period. The contents of this investigative survey include the following twelve special subjects: general ideological conditions among college and university students; the legacy of and innovations in the work of raising the ideological and political awareness among college and university students; party building among college and university students; the circumstances with regard to Youth League organizations; the paths of growth and maturity of young intellectuals; the management and education of graduate students; the building of political work teams; the political work system; the idea of teaching from books but educating people; and the coordination of moral education from the primary schools through middle schools to colleges and universities. In this survey, while employing the conventional survey methods, we have also broadly adopted the method of questionnaire survey, sending out nearly thirty thousand copies of a number of questionnaires. The general topic study group, based on the results of the special topic research, produced an analytical synthesis, which attempted to evaluate realistically the ideological conditions among college and university students in the capital, as well as the conditions with regard to the work of nurturing ideological and political awareness in the colleges and universities. Furthermore, centering on the party's new key task in the new historical era, on the basis of the fundamental demands and requirements set forth by the party when formulating its line for the primary stage of socialism, and in light of the actual conditions in colleges and universities, this team has also made an eight-point proposal regarding the improvement and strengthening of ideological and political work in colleges and universities. This volume is primarily made up of the reports on the twelve aforementioned special topics and the general report. Three chapters, "An Investigation of the Conditions of Young Teachers' Ranks," "An Investigation and Analysis of Crime and Delinquency Among College and University Students," and "An Outstanding Attempt at Reforming the Teaching Material for Socialist Economics," are not among the list of twelve special topics, but they are of considerable value as reference material for understanding the conditions in a particular area. For this reason we have appended them to this volume.