Investing in education is the mark of a rising nation. Imposing lifelong debt for it is the mark of a falling one.
US is screwed. 4 years getting wrecked by Trump is best case scenario at this point, but if he has his way it’ll all be fixed up so people don’t have to vote anymore and then the country is really doomed.
Weird that I would feel safer with China as the superpower instead of a Trump America.
So tempted to go to beijing for my PhD
Why not go, It would be an experience but I imagine you would need to speak Chinese.
My main concern with going would be that I can’t keep my mouth shut about politics… And I don’t fancy getting in trouble abroad
I understand, I wish you well either way 🙏
They’re just flexing on us at this point, aren’t they?
They don’t need to. What they’ve done with high speed rail in 15 years makes me want to cry. They built an entire national HSR network since the great recession. America is such a fallen empire.
Educated people won’t stay obedient. That’s why reactionary powers historically avoid aiming for truly educated masses—they prefer a controlled education system that reinforces their ideology, not one that fosters critical thinking or revolutionary action.
China’s ambitious education plan seems to promise quality and accessibility, but we must ask: what kind of education will it promote? True education awakens class consciousness and challenges power structures, but education shaped by the state can become a tool for reinforcing conformity, obedience, and the status quo.
As Marxist theory teaches us, the ruling class controls not just the means of production but also the means of ideas. The flex here is not in building ‘education power,’ but in demonstrating the capacity to shape minds for the future workforce, ensuring stability within their system of production and governance. In this context, the plan isn’t just about making smarter citizens; it’s about making a more compliant society under the guise of progress.
What is the ruling class in the PRC? Very important question to answer if you think investing in education will weaken the PRC, not strengthen it.
China’s ambitious education plan seems to promise quality and accessibility, but we must ask: what kind of education will it promote?
Why ask questions when you intend to answer them yourself and are most likely (speaking from experience) going to ignore any answers received?
True education awakens class consciousness and challenges power structures
The first part is true but the second part is not. The second part presupposes that whatever power structures are in place must always be challenged. You are imposing your own ideology in education. And I know that you are not talking about criticizing or improving the power structures, but rebelling against them because of your next sentence.
but education shaped by the state can become a tool for reinforcing conformity, obedience, and the status quo.
Basically, you want chinese education to become a tool for your euro-centric ideology to forment civil disobedience, in service of your euro-centric goals.
As Marxist theory teaches us
What Marxist theory theory actually teaches us is that we must be critical of everything, including our own biases and circumstances. You are applying your own ideology, developed under the experience of capitalist dictatorship to a socialist society.
I think there’s a misunderstanding. I’m not claiming to have any answers, and I’m being critical of my own biases too. Marxism teaches us to question everything to see if they serve the working class or just maintain power.
When I say ‘challenge power structures,’ I mean education should help people understand class struggle and how to improve society, not just obey the system blindly. This isn’t about imposing some ‘Euro-centric’ idea but asking if education is helping build socialism or just keeping things the same. It’s an universal issue.
Marxism teaches us to question everything to see if they serve the working class or just maintain power.
But this power itself could very well be working class power. Maintaining such power would not be a problem, and indeed should be the goal of socialist education.
When I say ‘challenge power structures,’ I mean education should help people understand class struggle and how to improve society, not just obey the system blindly.
Again, teaching children to blindly obey authority figures is not something you can accuse Chinese society of doing without actually compiling and analysing data/evidence.
This isn’t about imposing some ‘Euro-centric’ idea but asking if education is helping build socialism or just keeping things the same. It’s an universal issue.
Universalism itself is a rather euro-centric idea. The European colonists were eager to declare their ideas as universal and to apply them to other societies.
The only way to actually address issues in Chinese society is to first investigate into specific details in Chinese societies. Making general claims/questions is not helpful. Especially not when they are made against a country with one of the richest surviving marxist traditions.
Educated people won’t stay obedient. That’s why reactionary powers historically avoid aiming for truly educated masses—they prefer a controlled education system that reinforces their ideology, not one that fosters critical thinking or revolutionary action.
Your LLM knows it. China education good
What’s your argument? That they should implement the “American Way” - crush education and paywal it so only the elite can have it while the rest of the nation lives in ignorance?
Because if they end up with a highly educated, liberal population, mankind may actually have a chance to avoid extinction…
I’m not arguing. The American Way is already how the ruling class stifles the people
This text has the same LLM slop formulation as two days ago when you made China out to not be socialist 🥱
The claim that the comment “is slop” might overlook socialism and the role of education in class struggle. According to Marxism, socialism is about dismantling class structures and empowering the working class to control production and governance. Education under socialism should awaken revolutionary consciousness, not simply train workers to serve the system.
Marx warned that the ruling class controls both production and ideas to maintain power. A true socialist education system would encourage people to challenge these structures, not support them.
I don’t like accusing people of being bots, but damn is this comment written in chatgpt’s writing style.
Some users keep claiming the theory is just “AI slop” which is disheartening. I’ve already replied to a few.
I see, if you are not a native English speaking, then I apologise (this is partly why I don’t like bot accusations).
They can indoctrinate for a while, but education (as opposed to vocational training) inherently encourages critical thinking skills that make people progressively more resistant to the indoctrination.
