Guangdong Public Agricultural College was established in 19 17, and Deng Zhiyi took charge of the school from 1920. At that time, the domestic warlords were in melee, the political situation was unstable and extremely difficult, and the course of running the Agricultural College was bumpy. The school not only lacked the start-up expenses, but also was requisitioned by the army because of insufficient students, the experimental site was sold, and the school was forced to move and operated in a temporary shed factory for more than two years. Deng Zhiyi led all teachers and students to overcome many difficulties, and adopted measures such as raising funds from the society to build more school buildings, improving enrollment methods to increase students, hiring more famous professors to expand the teaching staff, and reforming the teaching system, which turned the school into a safe place and laid the foundation for further development.
1922, in order to promote the development of agricultural colleges and universities to a higher level, teachers and students of agricultural colleges and universities launched the "great change" movement. Deng Zhiyi clearly stated that "if our school wants to make progress, it must be changed into an agricultural university". After a year's struggle, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education finally agreed to transform the Agricultural College into a university, and appointed Deng Zhiyi as the president of the preparatory meeting of Guangdong Agricultural University. 1924, Sun Yat-sen founded Guangdong University, and reorganized the Agricultural College in the process of building a "big university" into the Agricultural College of Guangdong University. Deng Zhiyi was appointed as the first dean.
At that time, it was the period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party during the first revolutionary civil war. The concern, attention and even enthusiasm of agricultural students in Guangdong University for participating in the peasant movement ranks first in the country. The Voice of Peasants, published by the Students' Union of our college, actively publicizes the significance of the peasant movement, reports the dynamics of the peasant movement and points out that the student movement must be combined with the peasant movement. Deng Zhiyi adopted a correct attitude towards the agricultural student movement. 1926 in may, Guangdong farmers' congress was held in Guangzhou, and representatives of agricultural students from Guangdong university attended the meeting as nonvoting delegates, and put forward five positive suggestions to the congress. In order to show support and respect for the provincial farmers' congress, the teachers and students of the whole hospital also held a meeting to welcome Peng Pai and other representatives. Deng Zhiyi personally presided over the meeting and introduced the current situation and development plan of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences to the participants.
During the period of 1932- 1940, when Deng Zhiyi was the dean of the Agricultural College of Sun Yat-sen University, the first six years of his tenure were a period of vigorous development of the Agricultural College and by going up one flight of stairs. 1935 Sun Yat-sen University has established a research institute, which consists of the Department of Soil Science and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Plants. Deng Zhiyi was the first director of the Department of Soil Science, and began to recruit postgraduate students of soil science in major cities in China. It was the only institution in China that trained postgraduate students in soil science before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and trained the first batch of famous soil experts for China, including Jian Haoran, Lu Faxi, Zhang Bengeng and Zhang Shoujing.
While promoting the development of schools to a higher level, Deng Zhiyi has opened up various forms of running schools. For example, in order to help poor areas develop sericulture, he set up a roving sericulture workshop, where he served as the director and sent teachers to the countryside to teach sericulture application technology. The academic system generally lasts for half a year. This form of sending science and technology to the countryside is well received by the local government and farmers. During his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Sun Yat-sen University was in a state of drift from place to place and was frequently shocked by war drums. 1938 10 in June, Guangzhou was in a state of emergency and CUHK was ordered to go west. At that time, President Zou Luyuan was in Chongqing, but Deng Zhiyi led the whole school to run around and finally settled in Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province. On the way to the west, he was travel-stained and prepared for hardship. After he settled in Chengjiang, he traveled around and actively planned. Classes resumed on March 1939. At this point, a Sun Yat-sen University with 7 colleges and more than 2,000 teachers and students has finally settled down after more than 4 months and thousands of miles of relocation.
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/940, Sun Yat-sen University moved from Yunnan to northern Guangdong, and the Agricultural College moved to Li Yuanbao, Yizhang, Hunan. At the end of 1944, Japanese invaders invaded northern Guangdong. On June/945, 65438+ 10/5, Li Yuanbao fell. Deng led some teachers and students from Agricultural College and other colleges to reach Lianxian from Li Yuanbao, and established the Education Office of Lianxian Branch of Sun Yat-sen University (when the headquarters of Sun Yat-sen University was moved to Meizhou), with Deng Zhiyi as the director. He was ordered by the crisis to try his best to keep the school running and prevent students from interrupting their studies. It was not until War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression won that he led the teachers and students to move back to Shipai. From then until 1949, Sun Yat-sen University changed hands several times, but Deng Zhiyi has been the president of the Agricultural College, trying to heal the wounds of war and restore the order of teaching and scientific research. Deng Zhiyi has been teaching for more than 30 years, and has accumulated rich experience for developing China's agricultural education, some of which are still of certain reference value for deepening the current agricultural education reform.
1. Attach importance to the establishment of a school management system that combines teaching, scientific research and extension, and promote the synchronous development of departments, disciplines, scientific research and extension institutions, so as to promote the school to face the countryside and serve agricultural production from the organizational management. Deng Zhiyi often said: "We should know that the mission of agricultural colleges and universities is not only to train talents, but also to improve local agriculture". Therefore, as early as 1923, when he was the president of Guangdong Agricultural College, he established the extension department, formulated a set of extension measures, and actively carried out agricultural technology extension work. Even in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's time, it didn't stop.
Deng Zhiyi strongly advocated that each department should establish corresponding research and experimental institutions, and teachers should actively carry out scientific research in addition to teaching tasks. As early as around 1930, the three departments of agriculture, forestry and agrochemistry of the College of Agriculture of Sun Yat-sen University successively established rice fields, agricultural and forestry plants research institutes, soil investigation research institutes, Baiyun Mountain demonstration forest farm, silkworm egg improvement research institutes and meteorological observation research institutes. The establishment and development of these research institutions have directly promoted the development of rice science, plant taxonomy and soil science, promoted the continuous improvement of academic level and teaching quality in agricultural colleges, and promoted the close combination of scientific research and production. After War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory, the Agricultural College also established the Guangdong Citrus Breeding Experimental Site and added a laboratory for pest control agents.
When the Agricultural College of Sun Yat-sen University was founded, there were only three departments. After years of efforts in Deng Zhiyi, it has developed into a relatively complete agricultural college with eight departments and scientific research and experimental institutions by 1949.
2. Build a team of high-quality and stable academic leaders. Deng Zhiyi's moral character of knowing people well and helping others enjoys high prestige among teachers, which makes a group of well-known professors with profound academic attainments, such as Ding Ying, Chen Huanyong, Zhang Jubo, Hou Guo, Wen, Huang Changxian, Xie Shen, Zhao Shanhuan and Pu Zhelong, who are interested in revitalizing China's agriculture, teach in the college for a long time and become the core and academic leaders of the teaching staff. This makes the Agricultural College the most stable faculty among the seven colleges of Sun Yat-sen University.
In the construction of teaching staff, Deng Zhiyi is strict with himself and sets an example. He holds two important positions: Dean of Sun Yat-sen University and Dean of Agricultural College, but he has never forgotten that he is also a teacher. Has been insisting on teaching soil science, geology, soil taxonomy and other courses to guide graduate students. He often leads researchers to the countryside for soil investigation and research in winter and summer vacations, and never leaves the forum.
3. Incorporate the education of learning agriculture and loving family farming into practice teaching. He believes that agricultural science is an applied science, and agricultural work is hard. Therefore, agricultural students must be determined to learn agriculture, and they must work hard in agriculture after their studies. To this end, he is very strict with students' agricultural labor and professional skills training. At the beginning of entering school, freshmen will engage in farm work for a period of time to "exercise their mental health and avoid being easily changed by bad environment in the future". In the future, we will organize students to go to the agricultural and forestry farms inside and outside the school for summer internships and scientific experiments, correctly guide students to integrate theory with practice, cultivate students' ability to solve production problems, and strengthen their will to love and devote themselves to agriculture. Most agricultural graduates of Sun Yat-sen University can persist in working in the agricultural sector for a long time, maintaining a hard and simple style, which is inseparable from Deng Zhiyi's inculcation and strict requirements. In the practice of running a school for decades, Deng Zhiyi insisted on revitalizing agriculture in China, and always emphasized that agricultural education should be closely integrated with agricultural construction, and should be oriented to rural areas, farmers and agricultural production. He has published many speeches and papers on education, such as On Guangdong Industry and Industrial Education, On the Past and Future of Agricultural College, Thirty Years of Guangdong Agriculture, My Humble Opinion on Improving Agricultural Education in China, Agricultural Improvement and Rural Education, etc., which all reflect his thoughts on agricultural education. His main views on holding agricultural education are:
1. enthusiastic about farmers' education. He believes that farmers are the main body of the whole agriculture and live in a direct production position. Whether they can receive the education of agricultural scientific knowledge is very important for agricultural production. As early as 192 1, he put forward the proposal of setting up rural schools to the fifth education conference in Guangdong. He severely criticized the authorities for not paying attention to peasant education. "It's a pity that Ningfei has the largest number of farmers in our country ... being alone with most people is not an idea." He advocated the establishment of rural agricultural schools to remedy it, and put forward specific suggestions on its school-running policy. In 1938, he also pointed out that in order to change the situation of "farmers can't learn", we must actively promote rural compulsory education, reform the agricultural education system, and vigorously develop flexible and diverse forms of assisting farmers' education in order to facilitate the implementation of farmers' education.
2. Advocate the integration of education and construction. Deng Zhiyi believes that "agricultural education and agricultural construction should be communicated". Agricultural education should aim at the whole agriculture and plan according to the whole agricultural policy. To this end, he suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Industry jointly organize a committee to preside over the whole agricultural education, so as to eliminate the gap between agricultural education and agricultural construction and make them go hand in hand.
3. It is suggested to establish an agricultural education system suitable for the national conditions. His idea is that the establishment and distribution of agricultural colleges and universities are "inexpensive but steady", and he advocates the appropriate transfer of some agricultural colleges and universities to enrich the teaching staff and rational use of limited funds. However, the development of agricultural schools in primary and secondary schools should be geared to the broad masses of farmers, with the aim of improving their cultural and technical quality, adapting to their children's easy access to school, and being conducive to the popularization of agricultural technology.
4. Attach importance to integrating theory with practice. Deng Zhiyi has always believed that agricultural education should focus on combining national conditions, and teaching must integrate theory with practice, reflecting the characteristics of China. He deeply regretted that the agricultural education at that time was "prone to vague diseases", the content of teaching materials was unrealistic, or foreign teaching materials were copied indiscriminately. He criticized the "lecture-style teaching materials" and "education on the blackboard" divorced from the actual agricultural production in China, which made it difficult to cultivate practical talents. When he cooperated with Peng Jiayuan in compiling the textbook Soil Science, he paid great attention to using the first-hand data obtained from the soil survey in Guangdong Province and consulted the historical materials about soil identification and land use laws in ancient books in China, so that the book was closely related to the reality in China and had the characteristics of China.
5. Attach importance to cooperation with brother universities and scientific research institutions. Deng Zhiyi believes that in order to change the backward situation of agriculture in China, the whole agricultural sector must unite and cooperate to achieve good results. 1923, when he was the president of Guangdong Agricultural College, he agreed with Agricultural Science of Southeast University and Beijing Agricultural University to establish cooperation agreements such as exchanging professors and sending students to each other, which promoted the good cooperative relationship among the three universities.
Deng Zhiyi also attaches great importance to the contact and cooperation with scientific research institutions. Not long ago, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and Professor Ding Ying began to cooperate with the National Institute of Rice and Wheat Improvement, and reached a wide range of cooperation agreements with the Institute, including the establishment of test sites, training of personnel, verification and testing of improved rice varieties, etc. Unfortunately, the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression has affected the progress of these cooperation.