Recalling the College Entrance Examination in 1962
Text/Li Xinkui
Welcomes the 70th anniversary of the No. 1 Middle School of his alma mater. Looking back on the present, we are filled with emotion. I spent my junior high school and high school years in Shanxian No. 1 Middle School. The six years (1956-1962) at my alma mater were an important period for me to grow both intellectually and physically. In 1962, I entered the university from Shanxian No. 1 Middle School. I will never forget the kindness of my alma mater in nurturing me.
Time flies, and it has been 60 summers since I left my alma mater. The past events of studying and living at my alma mater still often come to mind, especially the 1962 college entrance examination that determined my future and destiny.
Although nearly 60 years have passed since the college entrance examination in 1962, the scenes of welcoming and participating in the college entrance examination that year are still deeply engraved in my mind. In 1962, in order to reverse the serious difficulties of the national economy, the country was thoroughly implementing the eight-character policy of "adjustment, consolidation, enrichment and improvement". The education front was adjusted very vigorously. Vocational colleges were discontinued and only undergraduate colleges were recruiting students. The admission rate dropped from 44.6% in 1961 to 24.3% in 1962. The sharp drop in enrollment has greatly increased the difficulty of entering the college entrance examination.
In the three years from the summer of 1959 when we entered the senior high school of Shanxian No. 1 Middle School to our graduation in 1962, our country has been in a period of severe national economic difficulties, with extreme shortages of materials and food. In the context of serious difficulties in people's lives, the party and the government are very concerned about the health of middle school students in schools, and each person can still supply more than 20 kilograms of food per month. Many teachers and students suffered from edema due to lack of food. School leaders do everything possible to take care of everyone's life and health. There is not enough food to replace wild vegetables. During the autumn harvest, the school organized teachers and students to go to the outskirts of the city to help the production team dig up red taro, and collected the red taro leaves that fell on the ground and brought them back to school. It also mobilized students who live in rural areas to bring some red taro leaves from home. Due to severe food shortage, the county supplies only part of the pure grain, and the rest is dried red taro seeds converted into grain. In the school kitchen, the red taro leaves are soaked, mixed with crushed dried red taro seeds (sometimes with sugar residue), mixed with a small amount of flour, and rolled into round eggs. After steaming, they become dark and sticky. It turns black and hard when cool, and the students jokingly call it " shot put ". The "shot put" is also limited and must be shared strictly according to each person's level (divided into several levels according to the size of the meal). To this day, the story of eating the "shot put" is still a favorite among the county's education circles.
Difficulties and hardships have strengthened the will of teachers and students in the school. Faced with many difficulties and unfavorable factors, the leaders, teachers and all high school graduates of Shanxian No. 1 Middle School were united and worked together to prepare for and meet the 1962 college entrance examination with high morale, perseverance and courage.
In the early 1960s, Liangshan County , which was located in Heze area, ranked first in the college entrance examination rankings of all counties in the region. Fujian Province's college entrance examination scores rank first in the country, and Fuzhou No. 1 Middle School ranks among the best in Fujian Province. Shanxian No. 1 Middle School set up ambitions, set high aspirations, and loudly put forward an inspiring slogan with amazing courage and courage: "Hold high the red flag of Mao Zedong Thought, work together, be resourceful and make good decisions, cross Liangshan , surpass Fujian, and vow to be with Fuzhou Although this slogan has been marked by the times, under its encouragement and inspiration, the whole school set off a trend of teachers working hard, students studying hard, employees working hard, teachers and students working closely together, and classmates learning and helping each other. I rush, strive to be the first to achieve excellence, and welcome the climax of the college entrance examination.
At that time, Shanxian No. 1 Middle School was already a famous key middle school in Heze area. In the teaching practice, No. 1 Middle School has gradually formed the "Five Seriousness" teaching style of teachers carefully preparing lessons, teaching seriously, tutoring carefully, correcting homework carefully, and taking exams seriously, and students "study carefully, listen carefully to lectures, review carefully, do homework carefully, The "Five Attention" style of study is "attentive to exams". After we entered the second year of high school, the school made great efforts to strengthen the allocation and supervision of teachers in various subjects, requiring intensive teaching, practice more, and diligent tutoring in each subject, and strive to improve the quality of teaching.The teachers who teach us various subjects are all well-known backbone teachers in the county, such as Chinese teachers Chen Xianshen and Zhu Shoushan, mathematics teacher Zhao Yufei, physics teacher Zhu Siyuan, chemistry teacher Yang Ziping, foreign language teacher Zhao Yiye, politics teacher Qin Lingjun, etc. These teachers are proficient in their profession, dedicated to their students, and deeply respected and loved by their students. Teachers Zhu Shoushan and Chen Xianshen prepared their lessons carefully and taught seriously. When correcting students' compositions, they were meticulous in making circles and hooks. Even an improperly used punctuation mark had to be corrected. Students left detailed and pertinent comments on each essay they wrote.
At that time, Teacher Zhu Shoushan was over fifty years old and was wearing a pair of reading glasses . He spoke kindly and taught tirelessly. When giving lectures to students, in order to facilitate time control, he always puts a small horseshoe watch in a paper box on the podium. Life was difficult at that time, and few teachers wore watches. Teacher Zhu is knowledgeable and has a strong foundation in classical Chinese. He is especially good at teaching classical Chinese. When he explained to us classical Chinese texts such as " On the Passage of the Qin Dynasty" and " The Tombstones of Five People", his voice was mellow, and his explanations were simple and vivid, which left a deep and beautiful impression on the students. For a while, Teacher Zhu was in poor health and walked with a limp, but he still insisted on teaching students. The students were very distressed when they saw Teacher Zhu insisting on teaching despite being ill. Once during class, a classmate moved a bench for him and asked him to sit down and lecture. Teacher Zhu politely declined. Teacher Zhu fell ill due to overwork, and the school leaders transferred him to Jinan for treatment. The students all hoped that Teacher Zhu would recover soon and return to campus, but he never came back. The beloved teacher Zhu Shoushan left with his attachment to Shanxian No. 1 Middle School and his reluctance to care about the senior high school graduates! The students are deeply saddened by the loss of such an amiable and respectable teacher!
Teacher Qin Lingjun, who teaches high school politics class, is the head teacher of Class 2 of our Grade 4 class. He is a member of the school party branch and a model class teacher. He is approachable, loves students like his son, is good at doing ideological work for students, and encourages students to see the light in difficulties. Zhao Wenqu, a classmate in my class, has a poor family and cannot afford food. He goes home on Sunday and does not return to school. He is about to drop out of school. After Teacher Qin learned about it, he rode his bicycle to his home dozens of miles away from the city to do ideological work, took him back to school, and helped him solve specific difficulties so that he could complete high school. In 1962, Zhao Wenqu was admitted to the Department of Foreign Languages of Shandong University.
In addition to the textbook "Common Knowledge of Dialectical Materialism", the 1962 college entrance examination political examination also included content on current affairs. Teacher Qin carefully guided students to review for the exam. He selected materials on current affairs from newspapers and periodicals, printed them and distributed them to everyone for study. Due to Teacher Qin's effective guidance, close cooperation between teachers and students, and sufficient preparation, the political examination results of Shan County No. 1 Middle School in 1962 were good. Based on her rich experience, Teacher Qin carefully analyzed the college admission brochures, and then carefully guided the students to fill in the college entrance examination application (fill in the application before the college entrance examination) according to the specific situation of each student, avoiding the blindness of the students' application.
Until we graduated and left school in July 1962, Shanxian No. 1 Middle School did not have electric lights. It turns out that the classroom is illuminated by gas lamps at night. Due to the shortage of kerosene, the gas lamps could not be lit, so the evening self-study was interrupted. Difficulties cannot scare away the students who are nervously preparing for the exam. When I'm hungry, I tighten my belt; when there's no light, I review my lessons in the dark at night. Whenever night falls, some students who have worked hard all day will memorize foreign languages, and some will sit together in a group to discuss history and politics by one person reciting and everyone adding to it. The Spring Festival of 1962 arrived. After the school’s winter vacation, in order to prepare for the college entrance examination, some students in my class spontaneously stayed in school to review their homework. Before the Spring Festival, my family slaughtered a home-fed green goat. My parents repeatedly told me to go home for the Spring Festival. I really wanted to stay in school and review my lessons with my classmates, but I couldn't bear to let down the old man's wishes. During the winter vacation, I didn't relax and study at home for a day. I finally found some kerosene and used an empty ink bottle to make a simple oil lamp. Every night I studied under dim light until late at night, and only turned off the lights to rest after the old man's repeated urging.
At the end of 1961, we completed all high school courses and took the graduation exam.Shortly after the start of the winter vacation, in order to facilitate centralized review and tutoring, the school divided subjects into subjects based on graduates' intention to apply for the exam. The four classes in Level 4 are divided into two science and engineering classes, one medical and agricultural class and one literature and history class. As the college entrance examination is approaching day by day, the review for the exam has entered an intense sprint stage. Teachers from each subject take turns tutoring each class. The students reviewed harder. School leaders and teachers are very concerned about the health of students. During nap time every day, the teaching office sends people to patrol to ensure that students have a good nap. When it’s time to take a break at night, urge everyone to go to bed on time.
htmlAt the beginning of July, after the non-graduate students had a holiday, the school tried its best to arrange the lives of the graduating students as conditions permitted. Seasonal vegetables came out from the school garden, and the graduating class ate fresh vegetables and had tomato salty soup for breakfast. After the wheat harvest, fine grains were added to the rations supplied by the county. At the time, it was about improving life. In order to keep students full when the weather is hot and the review is very stressful, the school makes an exception and allows graduates to bring wheat from home to school to exchange for steamed bun tickets and add steamed buns. At that time, life in rural areas was generally difficult. Although not many students could bring some wheat from home to school in exchange for steamed bun tickets, the school leaders' affectionate care and love for the students warmed everyone's hearts.Hunger and hardship are nothing, there is also joy in suffering. Although the conditions are difficult and the review is intense, the campus is filled with the sound of books, singing, and laughter, and is filled with an atmosphere of unity, tension, seriousness, and liveliness. During extracurricular activities, students can still be seen actively exercising on the playground.
July 20, 21 and 22, 1962 were the unified national college entrance examination times. The examination room of Shanxian test center is located in Shanxian Normal University. Candidates applying for science, engineering, medicine, agriculture, and literature and history, the common test subjects are: Chinese (A), that is, composition, foreign languages, and politics. In addition, candidates for science and engineering will also take exams in mathematics and physics; candidates for medicine and agriculture will take exams for chemistry and biology; candidates for literature and history will take exams for history and Chinese (B). The Chinese Language (B) test requires that a classical Chinese text without punctuation be added with correct punctuation and then translated into modern Chinese within 80 minutes.
There were two essay questions in the 1962 college entrance examination (choose one): one is "Say you are not afraid of ghosts"; the other is "After the Rain". "Say you are not afraid of ghosts", this seemingly weird and elusive topic is actually very political and pertinent. It is related to the domestic and international situation at that time and the book "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts". In order to meet the needs of the domestic and international situation at that time, the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Sciences edited and published the book "Stories Not Afraid of Ghosts" in 1961. He Qifang, my country's famous literary critic, poet and then director of the Institute of Literature, wrote a preface to the book. Chairman Mao Zedong attached great importance to the publication of the book "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts". He listened to He Qifang's reports twice and gave important instructions and many additions to the preface written by He Qifang. Chairman Mao wrote: "There are still many demons and monsters in the world, and it will take some time to eliminate them. The domestic difficulties are still great. The remnants of the Chinese-type devil are still causing trouble. There are still many obstacles on the road to the great construction of socialism. need to be overcome, the publication of this book (referring to "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts", cited by the author) is very necessary. "The "ghosts" recorded in the book "The Story of Not Afraid of Ghosts" are not scary, as Chairman Mao said. The "demons" in the world and the "devil remnants" of the Chinese type are not terrible either. The author believes that this is the contemporary connotation of the essay question "Say you are not afraid of ghosts".
The Chinese language (B) test questions were very difficult, and most students did poorly. The Chinese history part of the history test questions was not difficult, but there was an world history test question (20 points, a must-do question) that stumped many students. Generally, they did not do well in the history test that year. It is said that various subjects such as science, engineering, medicine and agriculture also have difficult test questions.
Only hard work pays off. The good news about the college entrance examination has arrived! More than 200 people from the four classes of Shanxian No. 1 Middle School took the college entrance examination, and 50 people were on the college entrance examination list (including Mr. Zhang Chengzhong, who was the deputy director of education and secretary of the school youth league committee at the time). All of them had undergraduate degrees, and most of them were from across the country. Key universities, including Peking University 2.There are 15 people in my second class of Level 4 who passed the exam, including 1 from Peking University, 1 from Beijing Institute of Mining and Technology, 43 from Shandong University, 42 from Harbin Institute of Technology, 41 from East China Normal University, 41 from Hefei University of Technology, and 2 from Shandong Normal University. , there are 41 students in Shandong Institute of Technology, 42 students in Shandong Agricultural College, and 1 student in Shandong University of Chemical Technology. They are the best among the four classes in Level 4. In 1962, Shanxian No. 1 Middle School's college entrance examination admission rate for Level 4 was the lowest in the history of No. 1 Middle School's college entrance examination. However, despite the special circumstances of facing many difficulties and unfavorable factors, it was still able to achieve relatively good results. It is really commendable!
The college entrance examination in 1962 is something I will never forget. It not only rewrote my life's destiny, but also the fighting spirit of being able to endure hardships, not being afraid of difficulties, working hard, and constantly striving for self-improvement, and the amazing energy and perseverance that the teachers and students of Shanxian No. 1 Middle School showed in order to prepare for the college entrance examination. He taught me deeply, inspired and nourished me, and benefited me.
About the author
Li Xinkui, an alumnus of Class 2, Grade 4, Shanxian County No. 1 Middle School, served as Secretary of the Shanxian County Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Director of the County Committee Office, Member of the Standing Committee of the County Committee, Director of the Propaganda Department of the County Committee, and Deputy Director of the County People's Congress.
Reprinted from the website of Shanxian No. 1 Middle School
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