The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Shi'an, are you reviewing math?"

Seeing his deskmate flipping through a book, Wang Zhijie asked a question.

"Yes! Let's take a look first, so we can be prepared in case the teacher asks us a question!"

Zhao Shi'an nodded.

"Then you should review Russian. Math is fine, it's easy! Don't be afraid of the teacher asking questions, Russian is the big problem."

"Yes! Math is much simpler than Russian. I wish I didn't have to learn Russian!"

"Dream on! Even if you don't learn Russian, you should at least learn English. In my opinion, foreign languages ​​are all difficult to learn!"

"Absolutely! If only exams didn't test foreign languages!"

The surrounding classmates started to chime in upon hearing this.

"It's impossible not to take a foreign language exam. We and the Soviet Union are brothers in the socialist camp. They provided us with a lot of technology and equipment, and our relationship will definitely become even closer in the future. Learning Russian will be very useful!"

"It's useful, but it's so hard to learn! I've been learning it for almost four years, from the first year of junior high until now, and I still only have a vague understanding. What's with all the vibrato, soft sounds, hard sounds, and all the variations! It's really giving me a headache!"

"Alright, you should be happy about it! We've caught a lucky break."

I heard that starting next semester, junior high students won't learn foreign languages ​​anymore, and they'll have to start learning them again in high school. Foreign languages ​​are already so difficult; starting to learn them in high school will only make things worse, won't it?

Listening to the crowd's discussion, Wang Zhijie couldn't help but offer some advice.

"Why?"

Zhao Shi'an was very surprised to hear this. He could understand not learning English, but at this point in time, not learning Russian in junior high school seemed very strange.

"Why else? To reduce the burden on students! The textbooks we're using now are from the Soviet ten-year system!"

In the Soviet Union, primary school lasted four years, and junior and senior high school lasted a total of six years.

We have six years of primary school and six years of junior and senior high school, which is two years longer than in the Soviet Union.

Since its official implementation last year, the math, physics, and chemistry courses for junior high school students have become too demanding; foreign languages ​​can be studied in high school!

"Actually, there's also a shortage of teachers! There are simply not enough foreign language teachers to begin with. Many secondary schools start teaching Russian in junior high, and many junior high schools don't even have a foreign language teacher!"

"That's right! In 51, we carried out a reform of the school system, changing the six-year primary school system to a five-year system."

Because of a shortage of teachers, the program was changed back to a six-year system last November!

"Hey! Shi'an, you should have experience with this!"

"Yes! Shi'an, after the education reform, the school changed from spring to autumn enrollment. You studied the junior high school textbook on your own and passed the high school entrance exam. It's like skipping half a grade."

"What experience could I possibly have? I just want to graduate as soon as possible and get out there to contribute to the country!"

Seeing everyone's gaze fall on him, Zhao Shi'an quickly offered an explanation.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in October 51, the State Council made the "Decision on Reforming the School System", changing the original "four-two system" primary school to a "five-year integrated system".

The "4-2 system" of primary school refers to the six years of primary and secondary school, also known as the six-year system.

Primary school consists of grades one through four. After graduating from primary school, students need to take the "primary school to high school" exam. The dropout rate is not high, around 15%. However, in Longxugou, the dropout rate is much higher due to the students' poor foundation.

Only those who pass the entrance exam can continue to study in primary school; otherwise, they can only drop out or repeat a grade. After graduating from primary school, they must take an exam to enter junior high school.

The "five-year integrated system" does not distinguish between primary and upper primary schools. After completing the program, students graduate from primary school and directly take the "primary school to junior high school" entrance exam. The reason why it was only implemented for two years before being terminated was mainly due to a lack of teachers!

The original owner relied on the knowledge learned from his mentor to pass the entrance exams for higher primary school, and then went on to pass the entrance exams for junior high school, and finally to his current high school.

As for the students' mention of skipping grades, this was due to the education reform, which changed the spring semester enrollment to the autumn semester enrollment, requiring existing students to study for an extra semester.

The original owner didn't want to waste time, so he skipped directly to the third year of junior high school, spent a semester learning the junior high school curriculum, and successfully passed the high school entrance exam.

In addition, the school and teachers strongly encouraged this, and quite a few students did so at the time.

After being admitted to high school, I continued to study at the same school, so many people in my class knew about it.

"Shi'an is right! We've driven out the invaders, and now is the time to build our country. Graduating sooner means we can contribute sooner!"

"That's right! The country is in dire need of rebuilding, and it's the time when we need to contribute. So the sooner we come out, the better."

If I weren't worried about not having a solid foundation, I would have skipped a grade long ago!

"I also want to skip a grade, but I'm afraid I won't learn Russian well."

"I couldn't do well in my first year of high school, and I did even worse after skipping a grade."

Wang Zhijie spoke with great helplessness.

"Zhijie, don't worry. Although Russian is difficult, we still need to study it well. It's not just us who think it's difficult; everyone thinks it's difficult."

Even city dwellers find it difficult to learn Russian!

Seeing everyone looking dejected, Chen Yongfu encouraged them.

"Really? Yongfu, you're not lying, are you?"

"Yes! Yongfu, how did you know?"

"I heard it from someone when I went to Xinhua Bookstore."

At first, I also felt something was wrong. Those wealthy people in the city must have already learned foreign languages.

Later, I heard that person say that the rich young masters and ladies in the city all learn English, French, German and the like. Back when the Japanese were around, people in the city had to learn the Japanese language.

Few people learn Russian.

"Now, everyone's learning Russian in roughly the same way."

"That makes sense. So, does that mean we're all the same?"

"It's still different. Those people come from wealthy families with a strong academic background. They started school earlier than us and learned more. If they can't learn Russian, they can take the English exam! We don't have that choice!"

"That's true. I've heard that English is much simpler, with only 26 letters, nine fewer than Russian..."

"This is only temporary. We are in the same camp as the Soviet Union, and Russian will definitely become more and more important in the future..."

Zhao Shi'an couldn't help but speak up as he listened to the crowd's discussion.

Chen Yongfu's words reminded him that in Beijing during the Republic of China era, the political landscape was constantly shifting, with one leader rising and another falling.

At that time, most intellectuals and students studying abroad learned English, while some learned French and German.

As for Japanese, it was forcibly taught by the invaders when Kyoto was occupied.

As a result, Russian appears to be an extremely niche language, with very few people learning it apart from those who studied in the Soviet Union and a few others.

Thinking of this, Zhao Shi'an felt much more at ease.

Currently, Russian is being vigorously promoted in China. Although well-off intellectuals have family backgrounds in learning Russian, fortunately, everyone is basically at the same starting point when it comes to learning Russian.

It seems that his poor Russian is not just his problem, but that everyone's is!

If everyone is bad, it's the same as everyone being good. The college entrance examination is a selection exam, and if everyone's scores are low, it naturally won't play any selection role.

In this way, he no longer needs to worry about his poor Russian language grades.

The country is currently in dire need of reconstruction, and there is a severe shortage of talent in all sectors.

The cessation of primary school reforms is the best example, as is the elimination of foreign language instruction in junior high schools!

Judging from the college entrance examination admission results of the previous two years, it can be said that in this era, whether you score well or poorly, you can get into a university. As long as your score is not too outrageous, you can basically go to university.

Even if you fail the exam, you can still be assigned a good job!