The Genesis of a Model Citizen in Communist China: Translation and Analysis of Selected Chinese Communist Elementary School Readers. Final Report

This document consists of a translation and analysis of a set of grammar "Readers" in use in Communist China in the first five grades of elementary school from about 1958 through 1966. The analysis begins with a discussion of the background and sources of the selections in the "Readers," proceeds to a discussion of moral and patriotic education in Communist China since 1949, and to an outline of more recent work in educational psychology. Following this, a review is presented of techniques of teaching reading as advocated by Chinese educational theorists. In addition, a number of teaching outlines for selections in the "Readers" are also included. In the actual analysis of the "Readers," each selection is analyzed on the basis of its topic and its manifest themes, which are classified in three categories: informational, political, and behavioral. The dominant emphases of the "Readers" were determined from the total scores for these categories. From this information, a profile was drawn of the "ideal" or "model" child, that is, the child who would have adopted the political attitudes and behavioral norms of the "Readers" as his own. The study concludes with a discussion of conflicting values in the "Readers" and their implications. (Author)