There were two most significant achievements in the development of education during the Anti-Japanese War -

First, the focus of national education has gradually shifted from pre-war higher education to primary education, mainly the popularization of compulsory education and literacy.

The state government has explicitly stipulated that every township and town shall set up a central primary school and every national school shall be established, including children, adults, and women, so that public education and compulsory education will be integrated.

Of course, friends who don't like the Kuomintang can also spray the Nationalist Government as throwing the blame. Because primary education is run by the local governments, the main funds are raised by the local governments, and the central government only allocates a certain amount of subsidies each year.

However, after 1940, due to local financial difficulties, the Executive Yuan and the Supreme Council of National Defense issued regulations to include primary education funds in the budget as "special funds" and strictly prohibit local governments from misappropriating them without authorization. This initiative has greatly increased the penetration rate of primary education, and the central government has also increased the funding for primary education accordingly.

Second, secondary and higher education has gradually changed from elite education before the war to civilian education, breaking the monopoly of knowledge to a certain extent.

In the past, those who could go to university, except for the normal major, basically belonged to the children of wealthy families, at least they had to be born in well-off families, and there were very few poor college students.

However, during the Anti-Japanese War, due to the large number of students moving with the school, many lost their source of livelihood. Not to mention asking them to pay tuition, they can solve the problem of food and clothing.

As a result, the government adopted a "loan" system, which is, to put it bluntly, to issue student loans to students, and these loans do not actually have to be repaid. Later, the "public scholarship" system replaced the "loan" system, and public high schools and other schools were directly responsible for the government to support students.

The loan system and the public-funded system allowed countless poor children to go to secondary school and university for free, which was not possible before the war. Later, in the 60s and 70s, most of the social backbones, whether they were New China or Taiwan, benefited from the wartime education loan system and the public scholarship system.

Although students generally eat garbage food, at least they can eat enough, at least they can study, right? You really can't ask too much in this regard, after all, the country's financial difficulties are in difficulty, and the money for raising students every year alone is enough to support a few elite teachers.

During the entire period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, education was spent second only to the war effort, and was even much higher than the budget for the development of agriculture and industry.

Therefore, Chen Lifu later had the confidence to say: "I asked myself as the Minister of Education for seven years, and I am worthy of the Chinese people." ”

One can imagine the scene back then, from the top of the government to the bottom of society, the Chinese gritted their teeth and persevered in the war of resistance, while doing their best to develop education. It's like a poor family, bullied outside, hungry at home, but tightening their belts for their children to read – it seems that this gives a glimmer of hope for the future.

This kind of educational work was not only carried out in the rear areas, but also in the occupied areas occupied by Japan, and established 102 educational guidance areas, covering 18 provinces and 6 cities. A large number of educational cadres were dispatched to the occupied areas to engage in overt and covert educational activities, to liaise with and absorb primary and secondary school teachers in enemy-occupied areas, to eliminate the enslavement education of the Japanese resistance, and to actively guide middle school graduates in the occupied areas to go to the rear to go to university.

Of course, wartime education as a whole has achieved remarkable results, but for specific teachers and students, it has been a variety of ills. The wages are too low, the food is too poor, and the conditions are too hard...... Teachers and students have so much to complain about.

Especially in universities, the state government vigorously promoted party-oriented education and forced school leaders to join the party. How can this be endured by gentlemen who pursue academic freedom?

Take Southwest Associated University as an example, from the leaders of colleges and universities to the heads of departments, whether you want to or not, they will take the initiative to issue you a party membership card of the Kuomintang. Some people don't care about it, and some people are adamantly opposed, such as Wen Yiduo.

Nankai Principal Zhang Boling's attitude was to hide if he could, and when he heard that someone was going to issue a party membership card, he immediately ran away. was blocked at home and persuaded to join the party, Zhang Boling played all kinds of haha perfunctory, and even Kong Xiangxi and others were useless as lobbyists.

But Zhang Boling still joined the party after all.

Half a month ago, Wu Tiecheng, secretary general of the Kuomintang, visited in person and put a party membership card on the table when he took it away. Zhang Boling wanted to return it, but when he opened the certificate, he found that the column of the introducer who joined the party was written "Chang Kaishen", so he could only accept it with a wry smile.

……

A few days after Tao Xingzhi left, Zhang Boling also came to the Zhou Mansion.

Zhang Boling did not come to Zhou Hexuan to raise funds, although Nankai Middle School and Nankai Primary School are private and cannot receive "loan" support from the central government, but Zhang Boling is not short of money at all. He is a master of making money, in the past, Zhang Xueliang rushed to donate to him when he was in charge of North China, and now Chang Kaishen also took the initiative to donate to him.

At a time when all institutions were short of funds, Zhang Boling even had the money to take over other schools, such as the Shuguang Middle School in Zigong that was merged into the Nankai system three years ago.

Zhou Hexuan hugged his fists and said, "What kind of wind blew Mr. Boling here?" ”

Zhang Boling joked: "I'm here to do home visits to students. ”

Xiao Weilie was promoted to Nankai Middle School last year, and finished his first year of high school, and will be in his second year of high school next semester.

Doing home visits or something, of course, is a joke, and now the summer vacation is almost over.

Zhou Hexuan said: "The dog is stubborn, and it troubles Principal Zhang." ”

Zhang Boling laughed: "If everyone can be like your son, I hope there will be a few more naughty students." Although I don't go to the school often, every time I go to inspect it, I hear from the teachers that Nankai Middle School has a genius. ”

"He's still not good at liberal arts." Zhou Hexuan shook his head again and again.

Zhang Boling also put away his smile: "Indeed." I personally reviewed Wei Lie's exam papers for the last semester, and his Mandarin level was not enough to graduate from junior high school, so it was time to work hard. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "I will not allow him to skip another grade. ”

After chatting a few words about children's topics, Zhang Boling finally got down to business. He clenched his fists and said: "Mingcheng, the Southwest Associated University has received the materials sent by you, and President Mei wrote to me to thank you in person." ”

"Just a little bit of thought." Zhou Hexuan said.

"No matter what, Mingcheng's move is to help the Southwest Associated University solve practical difficulties." Zhang Boling said.

The two haven't seen each other for a long time, and they each talked about the current situation, as well as various interesting things in the education and academic circles.

Suddenly, Zhang Boling asked, "Can Mingcheng know Zhang Zhengquan?" ”

Zhang Zhengquan is Zhang Daqian, Zhou Hexuan said: "I have met in Tianjin. What's wrong? ”

Zhang Boling said a little angrily: "I just came back from Chengdu and heard Feng Hanji, the director of the Sichuan Provincial Museum, talk about something. Director Feng received a report letter a few days ago, accusing Zhang Zhengquan of wantonly destroying and painting Dunhuang murals, which has caused irreparable huge losses. ”

This is an indelible stain in Zhang Daqian's life, Zhou Hexuan knew a little before the crossing, but he didn't know the specific situation.

"Is this true?" Zhou Hexuan asked.

Zhang Boling said: "For the time being, I don't know the truth or falsehood, but the person who wrote the letter is not a nobody, and I am afraid that he will not easily open his mouth." Zhang Zhengquan has a close relationship with important officials of the state, and is a close friend of Mr. Yu Youren. Without obtaining sufficient evidence, no one dared to touch him, and it was not even possible to directly denounce him. ”

Zhou Hexuan asked: "Who wrote to denounce it?" ”

Zhang Boling said: "Wei Juxian." ”

"That should be true." Zhou Hexuan said.

Wei Juxian was a student of the second class of the Tsinghua Institute of Chinese Studies, where he studied under Liang Qichao, Chen Yinke, Wang Guowei, Zhao Yuanren, Li Ji and others, and also served as the director of the Nanjing Antiquities Preservation Institute, and he was also a famous archaeologist.

Zhang Boling said: "Wei Juxian is preparing to return to Sichuan from Dunhuang, and he has no ability to stop Zhang Zhengquan. The Sichuan Provincial Museum will also have to wait for him to come back and get definite evidence before he dares to condemn it. ”

"I'll take a look." Zhou Hexuan said.

Stupidly waiting for Wei Juxian to return to Sichuan, the daylily will be cold.

Historically, the Sichuan Museum was unable to stop Zhang Daqian, so it could only write a letter to the Central Museum to denounce it. The Central Museum attached great importance to this, so it asked the Ministry of Education to organize an inspection delegation to Dunhuang, and by the time the delegation arrived in Dunhuang, Zhang Daqian had been destroying the Dunhuang murals for a whole year.

However, Zhang Daqian's hands and eyes were all over the sky, and even the delegation of the Ministry of Education couldn't stop him, and he left on his own after a few months of fooling around in Dunhuang.