China's Universities

During the Cultural Revolution, China's education system was the focus of one of the most radically egalitarian experiments ever attempted anywhere. Institutions of higher learning, representing the elitist pinnacle of the system, bore the brunt of the equalizing efforts. Today the Cultural Revolution stands officially condemned as a catastrophe foisted upon the nation by the Gang-of-Four at the behest of the aging Mao. Simultaneously, every facet and feature of their experiment is being methodically dismantled. There are apparently no exceptions to this process, and certainly none within the sphere of education. This was but one of several conclusions that emerged from three months of interviews at 15 universities in 1980.' But with the exception of personal asides concerning individual injustices suffered, educators could not be drawn into any in-depth analysis of the pros and cons of specific Cultural Revolution policies and practices beyond the prescribed line which proclaims the entire period an undifferentiated disaster. It was still, some said privately, "too soon" to explore such matters objectively with foreigners. Such was not the case, however, with the post-1976 period. Data concerning students, faculty, curriculum development, enrollment, academic policies, budgets, and administration were