It seems that there appears to be a convergence around the construction of firewalls around speech that is permissible and speech that is taboo. That, at least, is one thing that the vanguards of the liberal democratic and the Marxist Leninist camps appear to agree about in their respective new areas of societal, political, economics, and cultural organization. Speech, uncontrolled, is dangerous to a society. It must be cultivated like the food that is grown to keep a population healthy. And to that end, each society requires a farmer to oversee and ensure that weeds do not invade and that noxious and deviant expressions are suppressed.
All for the good order of society. And society, as it comes to be defined in each era of its development, must be defended--especially against itself.
Yet it is not merely speech that is now understood to require a new set of taboos around which one can distinguish a permissible "freedom" and an impermissible offense to society, politics, culture and the like that must be administered (for we do live in an age of societal administration by organs of control fashioned in accordance with the pretensions of the political ideologies of the collectives that make and remake them). .
No, it is not merely speech, but knowledge itself that must be carefully cultivated, harvested, and consumed, for the greater good. That requires an even stronger administrative control element and a sharper drawing of lines between knowledge that is taboo and knowledge that must be naturalized among recipient populations. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, the correct management of knowledge (and its production) also requires a the sharpest distinction between knowledge that may freely circulate among the people--for their own good and the greater glory of the collective society managed by vanguards (each in their own distinct ways in liberal democratic and Marxist-Leninist order)--and knowledge that remains solely the province of the guiding vanguard itself or its instruments (human and singular or collective and institutional). Freedom to cultivate, disseminate and internalize knowledge, in every society and in every era must be carefully managed--from the definition of knowledge itself to its presentation, to its internalization and expression by recipients at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. The liberal democratic camp, like its Marxist Leninist counterpart are now in an intense period of (re)defining and (re)deploying knowledge in societally useful ways
These are old habits. The objectification, cultivation and management of knowledge in whatever forms are technologically possible is ancient. In the "old days" both book confiscations and destruction, and tight control over knowledge permitted to the masses, have long histories in the contemporary great seats of liberal democracy and Marxist Leninism. They now appear to return to human organization after the briefest period where knowledge and its production was for a time allowed to roam more of less freely (or at least more freely than it had before). The result has appeared catastrophic to some, and certainly highly disruptive of the maintenance of placid and efficiently operating societal orders. Not that either speech or knowledge production was ever entirely free of constraint, or freely shared outside of the guiding vanguard. But now both liberal democratic and Marxist Leninist vanguards have again converged around the older notion that both speech, and knowledge (its production and dissemination) but be both better managed and more tightly control for the achievement of core societal objectives (expressed in quite different ways in liberal democratic and Marxist Leninist political orders). That much the twin great antipodes of imperial power are (re)constructing for the world as they remake it in their respective images.
This is not so much a criticism--how can one criticize the waves for pounding a shoreline and in that process remaking it?--but an observation that while the great emerging imperial societies continue to express their attachment to notions of the great freedoms of expression and knowledge production/dissemination, the meaning of those concepts is undergoing some substantial change. And, of course, the great harbingers of this new turn toward well cultivated freedoms of the 20th century--those who insisted in the notion that within the state (or revolution, or Party) everything and outside of them nothing, might best recognize the trend which now appears to be unstoppable.
It is with that in mind that one might most usefully approach one small aspect of this transformation, of this better management of knowledge, its production, dissemination and expression, in the emerging context of protecting society against itself and against others.
To that end, on 6 April 2021 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued the "Administrative Measures for the Entry of Extracurricular Reading Materials for Primary and Secondary School Students" 《中小学生课外读物进校园管理办法》. It worth a careful reading, not so much for its uniqueness as for its candor. The Chinese Education Ministry is merely doing in a direct way what is being undertaken in culturally compatible ways within liberal democratic society. The focus is different of course. Yet both seek to preserve and advance their conceptions of the social and political order in in the manner that accords with the political strictures and institutions of these respective societies.
Each imperial camp with vigorous criticize and condemn the efforts of their rival in their efforts to operate their respective systems within meaning frameworks compatible with their core principles. That is both to be expected and necessary to sharpen and refine the difference that itself gives form and meaning to the principles and operations of each system. Yet as one undertakes this necessary performance of criticism one ought not to forget the equally necessary element of self.criticism (at least among members of elites and vanguards who have a hand in these operations). In that context..the better analysis is not the banal (but necessary) one: the extent to which the actions and understandings of the rival system are incompatible and dangerous to the integrity of one's home system and framing principles. That is easy enough. In this case, of course, those incompatibilities are glaring but also useful only as a means of analyzing what actual construction of taboo barriers for the protection of the integrity of the home system of knowledge production and dissemination. In this case there are no surprises.
The harder and more important analytical framework is whether the analyzed actions are themselves compatible with the principles and objectives in whose service they have been created and operated. That is by far the more interesting--and difficult (sensitive) question that tends to be avoided in this age of ideological competition and democratic centralism (applied in contextually appropriate ways in Marxist Leninist and liberal democratic orders). At least in conversations among and within ruling elites, that reticence is lamentable. And even within that framework there are compatibilities that might be usefully explored. First the importance of education institutions as gatekeepers of knowledge production and dissemination. Second, the focus on the definition of knowledge that must be avoided either as a contaminant or as a threat to the integrity of the social order. These impulses are shared in common among the leading elements of both Marxist Leninist and liberal democratic camps (through their parties in power). Third, the ways in which these differences and alignments suggest where each of these systems seek to project their approaches outward within their emerging spheres of influence, and in competition for the control of a global narrative of knowledge, knowledge production, management, and deployment.
The "Administrative Measures for the Entry of Extracurricular Reading Materials for Primary and Secondary School Students" 《中小学生课外读物进校园管理办法》follows below in the original (with thanks to China Digital Times for first posting) and in a crude English translation.
12种类型的读物禁止进入校园
04/06/2021
原文
来源：安徽日报
教育部近日召开新闻通气会介绍，为建立中小学生课外读物进校园的“防火墙”，教育部印发《中小学生课外读物进校园管理办法》（（以下简称《管理办法》），明确标准要求，规范课外读物进校园程序。
教育部教材局局长田慧生介绍，《管理办法》明确了国家、地方和学校在课外读物进校园中的管理职责及其管理边界，将进校园课外读物的推荐权赋予学校，将其他渠道进校园课外读物的管理责任压实到学校。
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（新华社发）
一、 这12类书籍禁止进校园
（一）违背党的路线方针政策，污蔑、丑化党和国家领导人、英模人物，戏说党史、国史、军史的；
（二）损害国家荣誉和利益的，有反华、辱华、丑华内容的；
（三）泄露国家秘密、危害国家安全的；
（四）危害国家统一、主权和领土完整的；
（五）存在违反宗教政策的内容，宣扬宗教教理、教义和教规的；
（六）存在违反民族政策的内容，煽动民族仇恨、民族歧视，破坏民族团结，或者不尊重民族风俗、习惯的；
（七）宣扬个人主义、新自由主义、历史虚无主义等错误观点，存在崇洋媚外思想倾向的；
（八）存在低俗媚俗庸俗等不良倾向，格调低下、思想不健康，宣扬超自然力、神秘主义和鬼神迷信，存在淫秽、色情、暴力、邪教、赌博、毒品、引诱自杀、教唆犯罪等价值导向问题的；
（九）侮辱或者诽谤他人，侵害他人合法权益的；
（十）存在科学性错误的；
（十一）存在违规植入商业广告或变相商业广告及不当链接，违规使用“教育部推荐”“新课标指定”等字样的；
（十二）其他有违公序良俗、道德标准、法律法规等，造成社会不良影响的。
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（新华社发）
二、 学校要当好“把关人”
《管理办法》明确，学校是 进校园课外读物推荐责任主体，负责组织本校课外读物的 遴选、审核工作。进校园课外读物原则上每学年推荐一次。推荐程序应包括 初选、评议、确认、备案等环节。
学校组织管理人员、任课教师和图书馆管理人员提出初选目录；学科组负责审读，对选自国家批准的推荐目录中的读物，重点评议适宜性，对其他读物要按推荐原则、标准、要求全面把关，提出评议意见；学校组织专门小组负责审核把关，统筹数量种类，确认推荐结果，公示并报教育行政主管部门备案。
进校园课外读物推荐目录要 向学生家长公开，坚持自愿购买原则，禁止强制或变相强制学生购买课外读物， 学校不得组织统一购买。对家长自主购买推荐目录之外的课外读物，学校要做好指导工作。学校图书馆购买课外读物按照《中小学图书馆（室）规程》有关规定执行。
三、 学校应科学引导 优化校园阅读环境
《管理办法》提出，中小学校要 大力倡导学生爱读书、读好书、善读书，可设立读书节、读书角等，优化校园阅读环境，推动书香校园建设。注重开展形式多样的阅读活动，提高学生阅读兴趣，培养良好阅读习惯。发挥家长在学生课外阅读中的积极作用， 营造家校协同育人的良好氛围。建立阅读激励机制，鼓励各地教育行政部门将书香校园建设表现突出的单位和个人纳入相关表彰奖励中，学校要采用适当的形式表彰阅读活动表现突出的师生。
专家说
清华大学数学科学系教授王殿军表示，中小学阶段正是儿童成长的“拔节孕穗期”，课外读物不仅能启智增慧，开阔视野，还可以培根铸魂，让学生在阅读中吸收中华优秀传统文化，引导学生树立正确的人生观、价值观。优秀的课外读物与课堂教学相辅相成，是教材、教辅的有益补充，对于弘扬民族精神、时代精神和科学精神，培养学生的家国情怀，提升人格修养，开拓国际视野，涵养法治意识，无疑具有不可替代的作用。
来源：新华社、教育部官网、《中国教育报》等
12 types of reading materials are prohibited from entering the campus
04/06/2021
original
Source: Anhui Daily
The Ministry of Education recently held a press conference to introduce that in order to establish a "firewall" for primary and secondary school students’ extracurricular reading materials to enter the campus, the Ministry of Education issued the "Administrative Measures for the Entry of Extracurricular Reading Materials for Primary and Secondary School Students" (hereinafter referred to as the "Administrative Measures") to clarify the standard requirements and standards The extracurricular reading material enters the campus procedure.
Tian Huisheng, director of the Textbook Bureau of the Ministry of Education, introduced that the "Administrative Measures" clarified the national, local and school management responsibilities and management boundaries for the introduction of extracurricular reading materials into the campus. The right to recommend extracurricular reading materials into the campus is given to the school, and other channels are allowed to enter the campus. The responsibility for the management of extracurricular reading materials is condensed to the school.
1. These 12 types of books are prohibited from entering the campus
(1) Violating the party's line, principles and policies, slandering and stigmatizing party and state leaders, heroes, and joking about party history, national history, and military history;
(2) Content that harms the honor and interests of the country and contains anti-China, insulting, or ugly-Chinese content;
(3) Leaking state secrets and endangering national security;
(4) Endangering national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity;
(5) Content that violates religious policies and promotes religious teachings, doctrines and canons;
(6) Content that violates ethnic policies, incites ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, undermines ethnic unity, or does not respect ethnic customs and habits;
(7) Propagating erroneous views such as individualism, neoliberalism, historical nihilism, etc., and have an ideological tendency to worship foreign and foreigners;
(8) Those who have bad tendencies such as vulgar, kitsch and vulgar, low style, unhealthy thinking, promote supernatural power, mysticism, and superstition of ghosts and gods, and have value-oriented problems such as obscenity, pornography, violence, cults, gambling, drugs, suicide inducing, abetting crime, etc. ；
(9) Insulting or slandering others, infringing on the lawful rights and interests of others;
(10) There are scientific errors;
(11) There are illegal placement of commercial advertisements or disguised commercial advertisements and improper links, and the illegal use of the words "recommended by the Ministry of Education" and "designated by new curriculum standards";
(12) Other violations of public order and good customs, moral standards, laws and regulations, etc., causing adverse social effects.
2. The school must be a good gatekeeper
The “Administrative Measures” clarified that the school is the main body responsible for the recommendation of extracurricular reading materials on campus, and is responsible for organizing the selection and review of the school's extracurricular reading materials. In principle, extracurricular reading materials on campus are recommended once every academic year. The recommendation procedure should include preliminary selection, evaluation, confirmation, and filing.
The school organizes management personnel, class teachers and library management personnel to propose a preliminary selection catalog; the subject group is responsible for reviewing, re-evaluating the suitability of the readings selected from the recommended catalog approved by the state, and recommending principles, standards, and requirements for other readings Comprehensively check and put forward comments; the school organizes a special team to review and check, coordinate quantity types, confirm recommendation results, publicize and report to the administrative department of education for the record.
The recommended catalog of extracurricular reading materials on campus should be disclosed to the parents of students, adhere to the principle of voluntary purchase, and prohibit compulsory or disguised compulsory purchase of extracurricular reading materials, and schools shall not organize unified purchases. Schools should do a good job of guiding the parents to purchase extracurricular reading materials outside the recommended catalog. The school library purchases extracurricular reading materials in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Primary and Primary School Library (Room) Regulations".
3. Schools should scientifically guide and optimize the campus reading environment
The "Administrative Measures" proposes that primary and secondary schools should vigorously advocate that students love to read, read well, and read well. Reading festivals and reading corners can be set up to optimize the campus reading environment and promote the construction of scholarly campuses. Pay attention to the development of various forms of reading activities, increase students' interest in reading, and cultivate good reading habits. Give full play to the active role of parents in students' extracurricular reading, and create a good atmosphere of home-school collaborative education. Establish a reading incentive mechanism and encourage local education administrative departments to include units and individuals with outstanding performance in the construction of scholarly campuses into relevant commendation awards. Schools should adopt appropriate forms to commend teachers and students with outstanding performance in reading activities.
Experts say
Professor Wang Dianjun of the Department of Mathematical Sciences of Tsinghua University said that the primary and secondary school stage is the “joint booting stage” of children’s growth. Extracurricular readings can not only inspire wisdom and wisdom, broaden their horizons, but also can bacon and cast their souls, allowing students to absorb Chinese excellence in reading. Traditional culture guides students to establish a correct outlook on life and values. Excellent extracurricular readings and classroom teaching complement each other. They are a useful supplement to teaching materials and teaching aids. They are undoubtedly useful for promoting national spirit, zeitgeist and scientific spirit, cultivating students' home and country feelings, enhancing personality cultivation, broadening international horizons, and fostering awareness of the rule of law. Irreplaceable role.
Source: Xinhua News Agency, the official website of the Ministry of Education, China Education News, etc.
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