Title: Su Yu’s Promotion Record in the ‘60s
Translator: Fuyu
Chapter 49 - No one is allowed to encroach on our home! (2)
Sure enough, Yan Xiaofang didn't doubt her. On the contrary, she admired her. She was more fortunate in her life than Su Yu. If Su Yu had the same starting point as her, Su Yu could have been so outstanding.
"Comrade Su Yu, you're so capable. Although I went to high school, I feel that my learning ability isn't very strong."
Seeing Yan Xiaofang like this, Su Yu smiled. Then, she shyly asked, "By the way, I had something I wanted to ask you. I want to apply for the provincial evening school, but the application requires a recommendation from the work unit. Do you know who's responsible for this matter in the factory?"
At this time, money wasn't enough to enter school. Each work unit had a quota restriction for how many recommendations they could give. Before registering and taking the exam, she needed a recommendation. Taking the exam was just a process, getting the recommendation was the important thing.
Yan Xiaofang said in happy surprise, "You're ready to go to school? That's great! Go to Administrative Assistant Gao in the factory committee to sign up. It shouldn't be a big problem. Pursuing progress is a good thing. Plus, we published your thank you letter in the factory. Everyone said you wrote well and that you have progressive thinking."
Su Yu happily held Yan Xiaofang's hand. "Thank you, you're my guiding star!"
After Yan Xiaofang left, Su Yu honestly worked.
When noon came, she went to see Director Xu to ask for leave during the break period. Then, she went to the factory committee office.
"You want to sign up to go to school?" Administrative Assistant Gao was a man in his thirties with elegant manners and speech. He almost thought he hallucinated Su Yu's words. He looked her over. She didn't seem like someone that would go to school.
"Yes, learning never ends. Educated people like you do important things and make important contributions to the factory. I hope to become an educated person and improve my skill level. After all, the factory is my home. Improvement requires everyone's efforts. Only by improving ourselves can we make the factory even better."
Administrative Assistant Gao nodded. That was correct, but… "Comrade Su Yu, it's basically the children of the employees in the factory that go to school. As you know, we try to reserve the opportunity to learn for the children as much as possible…"
"Yeah, I think that way too. That's why I'm prepared to learn now and educate my children myself in the future. That way I won't trouble the factory. What family doesn't have many children? If you let everyone's children go to school, that would be such a burden on the factory. Let's work towards improving our living standards with our own hands."
"..."
"Most importantly, the Chairman said the working class must always learn new ideas and new knowledge in order to better contribute in building the motherland."
With a stunned expression, Administrative Assistant Gao asked, "The Chairman said that?"
"Yeah, I heard someone else say that, and that quote stuck in my head. It can't be that you haven't heard of it, right? I thought everyone knew."
The Chairman had said tons of words.
Administrative Assistant Gao: "... Of course I know, I was just testing you."
Excited, Su Yu said, "So you see, I have to answer the call of the Chairman. I want to be a working class member that's always pursuing knowledge!"
Administrative Assistant Gao scratched his head. He felt a bit confused from her words. Still, he took out the application form.
Su Yu eagerly took it and filled it out. Lastly, Administrative Assistant Gao stamped it.
After Su Yu left with the application form that had the factory committee stamp on it, Administrative Assistant Gao hadn't thought it through yet. Should he give the student quota to Su Yu? Forget it, he had already given it. He couldn't take it back.
Ahem, workers had to learn new knowledge. That's what the Chairman said. Later on, he had to learn the spirit of the Chairman. It was too embarrassing that a factory committee officer knew less than a weaver.
Having obtained the application form, Su Yu was elated. Once she got money from the Liu family, she would go sign up. Then, she could go to school.
Evening schools weren't as strict as they will be in the future. You didn't have to attend for x number of years before getting the certification of completion. As long as she studied well and passed the exam, she could get the certification of completion.
After that, she would have a technical secondary school degree on her file. Although it was a technical secondary degree, it was officially recognized. The value of it was pretty good. It wasn't that much worse than a high school degree.
She had been a graduate of a prestigious university in her old life. And now, she was immeasurable satisfied just being able to attend a technical secondary school. She suddenly felt that she had fallen so far.
She had to go to university someday.
It was 1959 now, and she was 26. There were still a few years before the change. She might be able to graduate from college before then. Otherwise, she would have to wait over a decade. By then, she would be too old to enter a university.
(T/N: Colleges and universities were shut down from 1966 to 1976 in China. Most Chinese universities don't accept students over 30 for a bachelor degree program.)