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Comment by baybal2 | Hacker News Reader

10 years ago people were telling me that such things could never ever happen in modern China again.

Prosperity didn't work at all as a safeguard against this.

There has always be such subjects in school. Firstly it was Mao Thoughts, then added Deng Thoughts, added Jiang Thoughts afterwards, now added Xi. Politics has been a compulsory subject since forever.

Yes totally agreed. Same experience. However I think it's more specialised, not quite like the general 'Politics' courses found in US/UK. More of a 'social conscience / collectivism education' type of empty content.

I actually liked it. The lectures are boring as all other subjects. I mostly enjoy reading all text books when I start a new semester, after I read everything, the subject becomes boring to me. The text taught about objective of life, the personal value and society actually made me wanting to go to university. There are so much interesting things in text book, but if a teacher is boring (as most of them), they will just read the text and ask you to recite it.

Actually you reminded me. There was one very funny lecturer who's bit of a rogue figure whose lecture became popular among the univ students. He used a lot of analogies in the class and the many 'innocent' innuendos all in the name of 'bring socialist values to students'. It was so lighthearted almost like a free stand-up comedy. A little colourful brushes in the dull boring political courses.

What thing? Adding the current leadership 'works' to curriculum? From my education since the 90s it's always the case. No students ever take these 'social political conscience' courses seriously. Most regard them as a joke and a scoring tool to join the party (that is if that's advantageous to their undergraduate degree). At least what I know.

> Politics has been a compulsory subject since forever.

It wasn't for most of nineties, and, 200x.

Second, this time it's very different from a side note in the history class, but a in manner of straigh hello from seventies.

> Adding the current leadership 'works' to curriculum? From my education since the 90s it's always the case.

I mean, when you put it that way education in the US was pretty much the same when I was in school. There was a lot of time spent showing how the checks and balances of the US government keep everything good and fair and totally not corrupt as fuck at all.

Checks and balances is how a guy like Trump can't stay in the White House regardless of how much he whines about fraudulent elections.

I'd say the US system works for the most part and isn't nearly as corrupt as Americans like to think.

This time, and it feels like it only just barely worked. We'll see if we get as lucky in round 2.

And the immediate passing of numerous voting laws are certainly uh... checks and balances

For a start, do you have a better method? Let us know which country is "not totally corrupt" and why is it so? Checks and balances in any system reduces efficiency and places a lower limit on how bad things can get. On the topic of adding these to the curriculum, I'd say its a good thing, although most of these 12 Xi thoughts are pure platitudes.

I think that prosperity is attributed to have risen because of this school of thinking, so that’s why they’re reinforcing it.

It’s not much different than how ingrained corporatism is in American politics. But instead of worshipping a company, they’re idolizing a school of thought dating back to the Cultural Revolution. It’s funny how their own government has become the reactionary one.

The more powerful the state becomes, the more it attracts a certain type of person to rule it.

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