Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 523 The Primary and Secondary School Textbook Evaluation Conference Concludes

In the Chinese language group meeting room, the first to speak was Yuan Weizi, the director of the Chinese language editing office of the People's Education Press. He had been Ye Shengtao's subordinate in 36 and later worked as a teacher in Zhejiang Province, trying his best to promote the idea of ​​resisting Japan and saving the country.

After 55, he joined the People's Education Press and worked for many years in the field of compiling Chinese language textbooks under the leadership of Ye Shengtao. He is known as the pioneer of Chinese language textbooks in New China and a master in the field of compiling Chinese language textbooks after Ye Shengtao and Lü Shuxiang.

"Hello comrades, I am a veteran in the field of Chinese language textbook compilation. Some of the committee members have not been engaged in Chinese language textbook compilation before, so I will first talk to you about the modules of Chinese language and the connections between the various parts."

The Chinese language curriculum currently includes excerpts from poetry, prose, and novels, with poetry divided into modern and classical sections. When compiling textbooks, we pay attention to the connections between characters, words, phrases, and texts; the connections between listening, speaking, reading, and writing; and we emphasize the development of students' understanding of things, language skills, and thinking abilities.

Liu Yimin quickly wrote down Yuan Weizi's speech. After introducing the basic sections of the textbook, Yuan Weizi began to offer his suggestions on the textbook outline.

He focuses more on the effectiveness of textbooks for students, their thinking development, and their future growth. He understands which texts will promote which aspects of students' development.

Yuan Weizi spoke for nearly an hour without taking a break. At the age of seventy-three, he could do so, which impressed everyone present.

After Yuan Weizi finished speaking, the person next to him quickly pushed the teacup in front of him, indicating that he should take a break.

"Comrades, I have finished my speech. Now it is your turn to speak." Yuan Weizi took a sip of tea and leaned back in his chair to calm his breathing.

After five speakers, it was Liu Yimin's turn to speak. Liu Yimin glanced at his prepared remarks but didn't look at them much after that.

"Comrades, my name is Liu Yimin." As soon as Liu Yimin introduced himself, applause rang out in the conference room.

"Comrade Yimin, it seems everyone is looking forward to your speech," Yuan Weizi said with a smile.

"I usually only teach Liu Yimin's poems and prose to students in the classroom. I never expected to see him in the conference room today," said Si Xia, a teacher at Jinling University Affiliated Primary School, with a smile.

A professor from Shanghai Normal University chimed in, "Yes, Comrade Yimin's literary works are first-rate. We should include more of Comrade Yimin's works in our textbooks in the future."

"Thank you for your praise, but let's discuss primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks. I have some experience in compiling university textbooks, but I am still a novice in primary and secondary school textbooks. If there is anything I say that is incorrect, please point it out."

Liu Yimin smiled and gestured for everyone to quiet down and listen carefully to what he had to say. Once the room was quiet, Liu Yimin began:
"Although I did not participate in the compilation of primary and secondary school textbooks, I completed the entire primary and secondary school education."

"Hahaha."

"I believe that the textbook outline is the top-level design of primary and secondary school textbooks. If this design is too lenient, it is not good; if it is too strict, local areas will not have any autonomy."

Primary school education focuses on cultivating students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing abilities, while also taking into account their holistic development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, and cultivating patriotic and virtuous socialist primary school students.

The regulations stipulate the pinyin ability, the number of characters a student can recognize, and the ability to use literary tools and dictionaries for primary school students.

As students grow older, their emotions also develop, making it a crucial time for them to cultivate well-rounded personalities and shape their values. Chinese language education should foster students' ability to apply and appreciate literature, and enhance their appreciation of traditional culture. The goal is to cultivate middle school students who love their country and its traditional culture.

This is a regulation on students' knowledge; on the other hand, I believe there should be regulations on the content of textbooks. When I was compiling university textbooks, I said that textbooks bear the responsibility of 'what kind of people to cultivate and for whom to cultivate them'.

To fulfill these two responsibilities, we must focus on the content. The proportion of different texts should be regulated, and there should be overall length requirements for patriotic poems and articles.”

Liu Yimin used several primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks as examples, talking from macro to micro and from macro to specific, and it took him almost an hour to finish his speech.

Ye Shengtao nodded frequently as he listened to Liu Yimin's insights, and he could tell from the content that Liu Yimin had done serious research on primary and secondary school Chinese textbooks.

"If there's a problem with the textbook, that's a big deal; we'll be the ones getting yelled at. The names of the reviewers and editors are printed on the textbook, so people can name them if they want to."

Therefore, we cannot give others a chance. In short, patriotism must permeate primary and secondary school education to cultivate national pride. The content must be rigorous, selecting only the best of the best. Textbook writers and review committee members in various regions must not show favoritism towards their own or their relatives' articles.

After Liu Yimin finished speaking, he looked at all the committee members and said, "Okay, I'm done speaking."

Ye Shengtao led the applause, and after the applause subsided, Ye Shengtao said with a smile, "Comrade Liu Yimin spoke very well. Comrades should recognize the importance of textbook compilation. I also hope that everyone will have Professor Liu Yimin's research spirit and do more homework."

The committee members come from different backgrounds, so their focuses naturally differ. Teachers with frontline experience consider what kind of articles are suitable for students, especially the difficulty level, which should not exceed the students' current comprehension abilities.

There were many committee members, but the length of their speeches varied. It wasn't until around 8 p.m. that everyone's speeches were reviewed.

Today's presentation mainly focused on outlining the main points of the outline; we will now move on to more specific discussions.

For example, how many grades should elementary school students take to finish learning pinyin, how many characters should they know by the end of first grade, how many characters should they know by the time they graduate from elementary school, whether it's four thousand or three thousand, etc.

These are all very complicated processes, and cannot be decided on a whim. It may seem that how many words a student knows by graduation is unrelated to the syllabus and only related to the student's academic performance, but in reality, these factors determine the difficulty level of the texts.

"Comrades, that concludes today's meeting. Thank you for your hard work. All your remarks have been recorded. Tomorrow, we will first formulate the general outline, and then formulate the various sub-sections under the general outline."

Hearing this, everyone in the meeting room breathed a sigh of relief, and sighs of exhaustion rose and fell. Only the Chinese language writing group remained in the entire building. Compared to the other writing groups, the Chinese language writing group had a truly heavy task, involving too many ideological issues.

Liu Yimin rubbed his back, picked up his notebook, and got up to leave. Ye Shengtao waved to Liu Yimin, signaling him to wait a moment. Yuan Weizi did not move either.

After everyone had left, Ye Shengtao got up with his cane and said, "Yimin, let's go have a meal together. The food at home is getting cold."

"Fengzeyuan Restaurant isn't far from here, let's go there to eat," Liu Yimin suggested.

Yuan Weizi placed his hands on his waist and swayed his upper body from side to side: "Comrade Yimin, I've long heard that you have a lot of influence at Fengzeyuan. Not only do you not have to pay when you go to eat there, but you also have to carry a bag of food when you leave. Today, I'll bask in your glory."

Liu Yimin quickly waved his hand and said, "Director Yuan, you can't just say that. Fengzeyuan does require no payment, but I've never pocketed any money. Which crooked monk spread this rumor? He's just trying to disgust me!"

"Oh? Hahaha, it seems there are too many bored people in the world." Yuan Weizi laughed.

Ye Shengtao said, "There is nothing wrong in the world, but fools make trouble for themselves. They have only heard of free services and imagine that their virtue is that of a comrade."

"Old Ye spoke the truth. In fact, after Fengzeyuan and Quanjude offered me free meals, I only went there for important matters. It's not comfortable to always eat for free." Liu Yimin helped Ye Shengtao out of the conference room.

Ye Shengtao said, "Then today I'll go and enjoy the treatment of eating for free."

The three of them went to Fengzeyuan Restaurant, ordered three dishes and a soup, and sat down to talk about the textbook.

Ye Shengtao and Yuan Weizi discussed many things that were not discussed in the meeting room. Finally, Yuan Weizi formally invited Liu Yimin to join the People's Education Press's Chinese language textbook editing office.

“As Elder Ye mentioned last time, the reason we haven’t taken action yet is that we want to wait until the evaluation committee is established. In addition, the new version of the textbook is also being revised, and Comrade Yimin can participate in the review and recommendation of articles at that time.” Yuan Weizi showed a questioning look.

Ten years later, the textbooks were updated, but the original ones were too chaotic, and revisions were frequently made based on the existing ones.

Liu Yimin said, "I have no problem."

“Alright, let’s toast with tea instead of wine.” Yuan Weizi raised his teacup.

Ye Shengtao talked with Liu Yimin about "The Pilgrimage of One Man" and felt that the book had a great impact on him.

"It's difficult to create a light yet profound literary work that avoids flashy writing techniques and uses simple language to make it so captivating that readers can't put it down. Recalling the past through a journey is a very good storytelling technique. Also, I read your recommended book, *Ordinary World*, which is also a very good book."

You have allowed realist literature to flourish even when it was declining.

"Mr. Ye, no matter what method you use, it's all just storytelling. The most important thing is to tell the story clearly."

“Explain it clearly. So many people can’t even explain the story they write. Three words, how difficult it is! Our outline also needs to be clear, what can be included in textbooks and what cannot,” Yuan Weizi said. The three chatted for two hours at Fengzeyuan before ending their conversation. It was almost eleven o’clock when they returned to the courtyard house.

Looking at Liu Yimin's tired expression, Yang Xiuyun said with concern, "This meeting has been going on for far too long."

"Mom, it's okay. We just went out for a meal and will be done by eight o'clock."

Zhu Lin was reading in the study when she heard Liu Yimin return. She quickly came out and said, "Teacher Liu, you must be exhausted. Go take a hot shower."

“Okay. Mother, I’ll take you to Yanjing Railway Station first thing tomorrow morning.”

“If you’re tired, I’ll go to the station myself. It’s not far, and I know where the train station is.”

"Don't worry, I'll definitely wake up at 5:30. I'm nowhere near here!"

Liu Yimin bought Yang Xiuyun a ticket for the 6:00 AM train, so that she would arrive at Ruxian Railway Station around noon, making it easier for her family to pick her up.

Liu Yimin took a hot shower and fell asleep within five minutes of lying down on the bed. He wasn't physically tired from the meeting, but he was mentally exhausted.

Zhu Lin noticed that Liu Yimin had fallen asleep, so she massaged his neck for a while before lying down to sleep herself. At five o'clock sharp, Zhu Lin got up to cook some eggs for Yang Xiuyun so she could take them with her on the way.

Walking into the yard, she saw the kitchen light was on and steam was billowing out of the window. When Zhu Lin entered the kitchen, she saw Yang Xiuyun busy at work.

The food was ready, several pancakes were baked, and steam was rising from the steamer on the stove, filled with steamed white flour buns.

"Mom, when did you get up?" Zhu Lin asked, leaning against the door frame.

Yang Xiuyun rubbed her eyes, the steam from the steamer had gotten into them. "I just woke up too. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd make you something else to eat."

Zhu Lin glanced at the steamer: "These steamed buns are almost cooked. You haven't slept much, have you?"

"I'm going to sleep now. I'm getting old, so I'm a light sleeper. Besides, I can still sleep on the train. Perfect, I'll sleep until I get home." Yang Xiuyun tucked a strand of silver hair behind her ear.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lin closed the kitchen door and joined Yang Xiuyun in bustling around the kitchen.

Liu Yimin didn't get up until the alarm clock rang. The temperature was very low in the early morning of late September. He put on his clothes and walked into the yard, where he shivered.

Stepping into the kitchen, Zhu Lin saw that the steaming white steamed buns were already ready. When Zhu Lin saw Liu Yimin come in, he quickly said, "Mom got up at three o'clock and started preparing. She made a whole table of dishes and steamed a basket of buns."

“Mother, why are you making all this trouble? You don’t need to worry about us,” Liu Yimin said.

"Sigh, I can't sleep, so I'll do whatever work I can. Ximei's steamed buns are nowhere near as good as mine!"

Zhu Lin quickly packed the boiled eggs into a lunchbox. Liu Yimin and Yang Xiuyun ate a quick bite in the kitchen before heading to the train station.

There weren't many pedestrians on the road, the sky was overcast, and the air was very humid. Occasionally, an early riser would appear, but they would always wrap their clothes tighter around themselves.

They arrived at Yanjing Railway Station at exactly 5:40. Liu Yimin helped Yang Xiuyun carry her luggage onto the platform. The platform was already full of people, but the train had not yet arrived.

Yang Xiuyun was giving Liu Yimin instructions, telling him to take good care of the family.

“You and Linlin are both busy, but no matter how busy you are, you should spend more time with my precious grandchildren, otherwise they won’t be close to you when they grow up.”

"Mom, I understand, don't worry. Don't do anything too strenuous when you go back to pick corn or anything like that. There's a lot of rain in autumn, so don't go out if the weather is bad."

As Liu Yimin watched the train slowly pull into the station, he quickly picked up his luggage from the platform and prepared to board.

After settling the luggage, Liu Yimin said, "Mom, drive carefully. When we get home, have my older brother send a telegram. If there's anything urgent at home, remember to send me a telegram."

"Hurry up and get out of the car. Go back and take a nap. You have a meeting this morning." Yang Xiuyun waved her hand, urging Liu Yimin to get out of the car quickly.

"Mother, I'm going downstairs."

Liu Yimin left the platform only after the train started moving.

Liu Yimin returned to the courtyard house before 6:30 a.m., then went back to sleep until 8:00 a.m. He ate a few more bites of food and rushed to the venue before 8:30 a.m.

Inside the meeting room, Ye Shengtao and Yuan Weizi nodded slightly to Liu Yimin, officially beginning the second day's agenda.

After discussion in the morning, everyone carefully formulated the outline goals for the education of primary and secondary school students.

In the afternoon, we discussed various learning indicators for primary school students, from pinyin to Chinese character recognition, and the results were determined after much discussion.

Some experts have suggested that to improve primary school students' basic Chinese character recognition ability, they should learn at least 5,000 Chinese characters, and be able to read and write 4,000 of them.

The primary school teacher immediately objected, feeling that this would place too much of a burden on the curriculum.

Liu Yimin said, "It is indeed a bit heavy. It is already very good for first and second graders to learn pinyin, initials and finals, and be able to read books by pinyin. They start learning to use a dictionary to look up words in the third grade. By the time they graduate from elementary school, they will have learned 3,500 Chinese characters, mastered about 2,000 of them, and be able to form words and sentences with 1,000 of them."

"Comrade Yimin, the more you learn in elementary school, the easier your secondary education will be!"

"But we shouldn't force growth. Compared to so-called strengthening the foundation, we should cultivate good learning habits. Three or four thousand basic Chinese characters are enough to meet the needs of daily life. Mao Zedong's Selected Works are profound and extensive, but they are only composed of more than two thousand commonly used Chinese characters," Liu Yimin retorted.

Ye Shengtao said, "Five thousand words is indeed not in line with actual needs. Let's not forget that we also have a goal of reducing the burden on students this time."

The final version stipulates that students must learn 3,000 Chinese characters and master 2,500 of them. Students must also learn to write with pencils and pens, and will also be taught calligraphy.

Having finished discussing literacy, let's move on to reading.
The discussion on the elementary school section took a whole day to complete the outline.

The subsequent middle school syllabus took even longer, from junior high to senior high, almost four days in total.

At Liu Yimin's suggestion, the Chinese Language Evaluation Committee will also compile a list of recommended contents for inclusion in Chinese language textbooks, providing a reference standard for textbook compilation committees in various regions.

This list includes a large number of classic poems, articles, patriotic poems and articles, and reportage works on the deeds of revolutionary heroes, such as "The Most Lovable People" and "Huang Jiguang".

"We compiled this list to provide textbook writing groups in various regions for reference and guidance. Only by honoring heroes can heroes emerge in great numbers," Liu Yimin said.

During the discussion, He Dongchang, a leader from the Ministry of Education, walked in, applauded, and praised, "Comrade Yimin's suggestion is good. It is both a reference and a guide. Textbooks must embody patriotism. No matter how times change, no matter how textbooks change, the content of patriotism must not change."

He Dongchang came to see the results of the Chinese Language Evaluation Committee. After reviewing the outline, he was very satisfied and praised all the evaluation committee members on the spot.

"Thank you for the efforts of all the committee members. The closing ceremony of the inaugural meeting of the evaluation committee will be held tomorrow," He Dongchang said.

Upon hearing this, everyone present applauded and congratulated them, leaning back in their chairs with relaxed expressions.

"With National Day just around the corner, comrades from other places who want to visit Beijing, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City can pick up tickets at the ministry. If they miss home, they can buy tickets and go home immediately."

In addition, our Chinese language group has an extra perk: the stage play "The Overseas Chinese's Son," written by Comrade Yimin, will officially premiere during the National Day holiday. Anyone who wants to see it can receive an extra ticket.

(End of this chapter)