Several Issues on “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng”

An education and teaching reform called “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng” is rising and booming in Chinese higher education to incorporate ideological & political education into all courses. “Ke-Cheng” means courses, “Si-Zheng” means ideological & political education. “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng” means that, all courses shall carry ideological & political education, and ideological & political education shall be embodied in all courses. The reform aims at establishing a comprehensive three-dimensional system of ideological & political education with all staff, whole process and all courses involved in. “Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng” (meaning ideological & political theoretical courses) carries out explicit ideological & political education using clear-cut instruction, while other courses carry out implicit ideological & political education in the form of recessive penetration to embody, digest and sublimate what the former has done. All kinds of courses shall go in the same direction as the “Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng” concerning ideological & political education, and a synergistic effect shall be realized. This paper discusses on the connotation of “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng”, the relationship between “Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng” and “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng”, and several issues for keeping the right direction of “Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng” reform.

tion has been an essential part and a distinctive characteristic of Chinese higher education.
Traditionally, the explicit ideological & political theoretical courses (called "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" in Chinese) were the main, even the sole, channel for ideological & political education. They are core theoretical courses in higher education mainly introducing Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Important Thought of Three Represents, Scientific View of Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for A New Era. But, the traditional "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" has long been "fighting alone" and borne alone the important task of ideological & political education, either actively or passively. In the new era, traditional "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" has encountered new challenges and problems. The blending and collision of diversified cultures and values imported by globalization inevitably lead to the formation and spread of various social trends of thought, which produce great impacts on the ideology, value orientation, faith and belief, and behavior orientation of people, especially young students (Zheng, 2015;Zhao, 2010;Wu & Wan, 2019;Qin & Jin, 2019;Guo, 2018b;Zhang & Zhang, 2016). The single approach and monotonous form of traditional "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" instruction may weaken its attractiveness, educational effectiveness and value-guiding force. Some students may have misunderstandings of "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" instruction and even extreme views on it, thinking that the courses are just moral preaching and force-feeding of old ideas that constrain their freedom of thought. It encounters difficulties to cultivate and practice the social core values as mainstream thought in college students. Ideological & political education needs to be strengthened, the educational effectiveness needs to be improved, and corresponding education and teaching reform is urgently needed.
"Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" emerges and rises at this right moment to establish a comprehensive system of ideological & political education.
"Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" is not a certain course or the adding of one or more courses. It is a teaching reform and innovation. It means to run Marxist theory through the whole process of teaching and reform, to deeply explore the ideo- In this way, a comprehensive system of ideological and political education shall be formed, and a three-dimensional "Da Si-Zheng (meaning big Si-Zheng, comprehensive/all-around ideological & political education)" involving all staff, whole process and all courses shall be established.

The Relationship between "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" and "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng"
People need to figure out the right relationship between "Si-Zheng Ke-Cheng" and "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" is a complicated systematical project. Scientific design, planning, evaluation and management are essential. "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" construction and reform need continuous exploring, deepening and perfecting. Not only the teaching level and effect should be improved, but also experience and practice that can be used for reference should be formed. It requires people to conclude and learn from the successful cases, to correctly understand the right connotation of "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng", to strengthen research, to put heads together, to associate with reality, to actively explore, and to make timely summa- imitation, making "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" become a label and leading to formalism and vulgarization. Some colleges just simply simulate and copy the successful cases, just emphasize the form but despise the content. And so, "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" just becomes an image project, and a great deal of manpower and material resources are wasted with no practical effect. And some people, even some institutions utilize "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng" to seek fame and gain, for example, to acquire research projects, funds, awards, and etc. These phenomena exit, but the quantity or proportion cannot be accurately counted. People must be vigilant against bad utilization of "Ke-Cheng Si-Zheng".