1On February 7th, 967, the Central Committee, the State Council, the Central Military Commission and the Central Cultural Revolution Group issued the book "On Chairman Mao's Educational Revolution", as the program of the proletarian educational revolution, calling on all schools to immediately carry out mass movements to study and implement this program. After the publication of the book, teachers and students in various schools set off a learning craze.

Half a year after the publication of this book, * * * pointed out a specific "road" for the "educational revolution" in universities of science and engineering, namely "7.21"instruction. This is a passage that * * added to People's Daily on the way to train engineers and technicians in Shanghai Machine Tool Plant. "University or to do. What I'm mainly saying here is that universities of science and engineering should still be established, but the educational system should be shortened, education should be revolutionized, proletarian politics should be led, and Shanghai Machine Tool Works should take the road of training technicians by workers. Students should be selected from workers and peasants with practical experience, and after studying in school for several years, they will return to production practice. " Because it was announced in the broadcast of July 2 1 65438, it was later called "July 2 1 day" instruction.

According to the instruction of * * * *,1September, 968, Shanghai Machine Tool Works founded the "July 1st" Workers' University. According to the needs of the factory, the school set up a grinder specialty, which was recommended by the workshop and approved by the factory revolutionary Committee, and recruited 52 workers in the factory. The average age of students is 29 years old, and their education level ranges from primary school to high school. The educational system is 2 years (extended 10 month). * * * Thought, labor, military sports, specialized courses. Combining with the typical products or scientific research projects of our factory, we will reorganize the courses, compile teaching materials, select teachers and teach in stages according to the production order. Students study full-time, return to the workshop regularly, and still "return to production practice" after graduation. Since then, similar July 1st Workers' Universities have been established in many places, some of which are called July 1st Universities. But most of them are not of high quality and worthy of the name.

The "July 21" instruction was an important basis for reforming the direction of running a university and the whole education and teaching work during the Cultural Revolution. The Gang of Four even used this instruction to undermine education, attacking and persecuting cadres and teachers who insisted on running schools according to educational laws. In fact, recruiting workers and peasants with practical experience to go to college can only be a way to train engineers and technicians. Taking this mode of running a school as the only way to train engineers and technicians, completely denying the necessity of recruiting college students from fresh high school graduates will affect and reduce the quality of higher education. Especially in our country, because the education level of workers and peasants is generally low, far from reaching the level of high school education, and there is no opportunity for further study and improvement in practice, therefore, only recruiting workers and peasants with practical experience will lower the level of universities and affect their teaching and scientific research work.