Beginning in the mid-90s, military academies abolished the education of junior college diplomas, and all military academy academic education was undergraduate, which was also a manifestation of the "undergraduate education of officers." At that time, the army put forward the policy of "making officers undergraduate," and the academic requirements for officers were raised from junior college to bachelor's degree. This means that in order to become an officer, the academic qualifications are at least a full-time bachelor's degree.
From then on, military schools for college entrance examination enrollment only recruit undergraduates, and no longer recruit junior college students. The policy of military soldiers taking the military academy examination is also implemented with reference to local candidates (in the past, they could apply for the military academy junior college). The enrollment standards for soldiers and college entrance examination candidates are unified, and they can only apply for undergraduates, and there are no junior colleges.
Military undergraduates, like local undergraduate colleges, are full-time for four years, and upon graduation they are awarded the rank of lieutenant and then assigned to the unit as a platoon commander. This is true regardless of the specialty, starting from the regular re-office, they are divided into military cadres and political work cadres. The policy of awarding lieutenants after graduation from military academies lasted for more than 20 years, until 2021, in accordance with the relevant regulations of the army, starting from 2021, when military academy undergraduate cadets graduate, they will no longer be awarded lieutenants, but second lieutenants.
So why did the army change so much, and after the adjustment of military ranks, the treatment of officers was reduced?Some people even believe that changing the rank of military academy graduates from lieutenant to second lieutenant may affect the college entrance examination enrollment of military schools, is this really the case?
First of all, we need to understand why this is the way it is adjusted. Since the reform of the military rank system in 2018, the military has implemented one rank per post, that is, one position corresponds to only one military rank, and the setting of benchmark military ranks and auxiliary military ranks has been abolished. For example, the base rank of an officer of the rank of deputy is Major General, and the rank of Auxiliary is Colonel, so there is both a deputy colonel and a major general of the deputy rank.
In the new military rank system, the deputy military rank corresponds to only the rank of major general, and all deputy military officers are all major generals. The same is true for officers of other ranks, officers of one rank have only one rank, and there will be no more situations where there are different ranks in the same rank.
On the other hand, the military has also determined the principle of the rank-led system, and the management system for officers has been adjusted from being dominated by ranks in the past to being dominated by military ranks, and military ranks play a leading role in the officer management system.
In this context, the military rank of the cadets at the time of graduation was also adjusted from lieutenant to second lieutenant. Before the adjustment, the platoon commander of our army was generally a senior lieutenant (that is, a lieutenant platoon leader), and normally it should be a second lieutenant platoon commander. After the adjustment of military ranks, it actually returned to a normal state.
Before the policy of "undergrading officers", military academies had two levels, undergraduate and junior college, and cadets were awarded the rank of second lieutenant upon graduation and lieutenant upon graduation. After the "undergraduate officerization", there were no junior college cadets in military academies, resulting in the rank of second lieutenant prepared for junior college students in military academies being vacant for a long time. Generally speaking, only soldiers who have been promoted to the army will wear second lieutenant epaulettes, and graduates of military schools are lieutenants.
As for the issue of treatment, in fact, it cannot be said that it has been reduced. Because military academy graduates, whether they are lieutenants or second lieutenants, are platoon commanders in the army, and their salaries and benefits are implemented in accordance with the treatment of platoon commanders, but in the salary of officers, there is a clause of rank salary, but the rank salary of a lieutenant is only 100 yuan higher than that of a second lieutenant. Therefore, there is not much difference in the overall salary package.
Many people confuse military rank and position, thinking that a lieutenant corresponds to a deputy company commander and a second lieutenant corresponds to a platoon commander. This is incorrect, before the adjustment of military ranks, the rank of platoon commander of our army corresponded to lieutenant, which was adjusted from 2021 to second lieutenant.