Abstract
With the rapid social change in Chinese society, the Chinese government launched a series of educational policies for supporting national development. Policies on public school admission in compulsory education (Grades 1–9) have been amended at both the central and local levels to accommodate national needs. Meanwhile, local governments (at the city and district levels) also released their regulations on public school admission in compulsory education to meet requests from the central government and demands from local interest groups. This chapter interprets how gaps of policies on public school admission to junior high schools at central and local levels came out and shaped inequalities in admission to public lower secondary education at the school level. It reviews policy changes from the 1980s to 2011 in public school admission to uncover the diversity of public school admission policy at different administration levels. Moreover, it analyzes the interaction between the central and local governments to visualize how the power relationship between governments at different levels shaped the implementation of public school admission policy at the lower secondary education level. Analysis of interviews with stakeholders , such as school principals , local education officials, scholars, and managers of private tutoring institutes, is utilized to explain further how policy making and implementation affect the practice of student placement to public junior high schools in Beijing.
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Notes
- 1.
As a resident, each student has to show their household registration ( hukou ) which belongs to the school catchment area. The hukou system was established in the late 1950s. It separates China into rural and urban areas. And it is closely related to different privileges to various social welfares, such as access to health care, public education , housing, and so forth (Wu & Treiman, 2004).
- 2.
According to Wang (2009 p. 19) and Wu (2012), in urban areas, if the residence certificate of the applying child is not registered in the same area as their parents or guardians, or as their actual living address, it is up to local education authorities to decide their school designation.
- 3.
Certificate refers to child’s talents and achievements received in after-school curriculum programs.
- 4.
Similar arguments are also found in the China Education Daily, February 28, 1995 (Bao, 1995, February 28).
- 5.
Interview with the manager of School H was conducted on May 10, 2011.
- 6.
In 1953, Mao Zedong gave the first definition of “three excellence students” in a statement for the Communist Youth League. He asked young people to achieve “good health, good study, and good work” (Mao, 1969). According to Chinanews.com, this evaluation of students was abolished during the Cultural Revolution. Then, it reemerged after the “lost ten years” (Retrieved from http://tv.sohu.com/20080916/n259584866.shtml, accessed on April 12, 2011). In 1982, the Ministry of Education and the Central Committee of Youth League promulgated the approach for selecting three excellence students in secondary education. The criterion should follow the students who are selected due to excellence in terms of morals (de), study (zhi), and health (ti) (Ministry of Education, 1982). According to CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Beijing started evaluation of three excellence students beginning in 1979. Three excellence students selected in primary schools could be directly enrolled by key junior high schools (CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, 1979).
- 7.
This interview was conducted on October 30, 2011.
- 8.
According to the principal of School I, problems caused by evaluation of “three excellence students” are quite complicated. In fact, the various evaluations have their reasons to exist. Now, if a child can be selected as a “three excellence student,” then he or she can save 50,000 yuan or 100,000 yuan for parents ! This title can change his life. To some extent, it is a reliable option for children to find out an access to popular schools . This evaluation also increases many management difficulties for participating schools. For these evaluations, we need to have four meetings among teachers. And finally, once the result is announced, school side has to accept parents’ questions and arguments. Furthermore, sometimes the evaluation process is difficult to manage. The number of students given by the education authority sometimes is difficult to distribute to each class . For instance, if we have to select seven or eight students from three classes, it is difficult to balance . It may even deteriorate the relationship between teachers and school leaders.
- 9.
A similar problem was also mentioned by the principal of School I. According to this principal, in Xuanwu District, the enrollment ratio of school recommendation students was about 87% in 2010. It means that not 100% of school recommendation students can be successfully enrolled by key schools (Interview with the principal of School I was conducted on October 25, 2011).
- 10.
The interview with the principal of School G was conducted on October 27, 2011.
- 11.
The interview with the office director of a private tutoring institute was conducted on April 20, 2011.
- 12.
According to an interview with the principal of School E, public schools which can enroll special talented students should be authorized by the local education authority. Mainly, the former key schools are those which are qualified to be selected as such a type of school. The interview was conducted on May 16, 2011.
- 13.
This interview was conducted on April 30, 2011.
- 14.
One of the private tutoring institutes in this conversation has been listed on the exchange market in China . According to independent scholar Feng Wen, nowadays, there are four private tutoring institutes which have been listed on the exchange market in China. The main reason for the rise of these institutes’ success is closely linked with the exam-oriented education. Since there are needs for Olympic math for education transition to public junior high schools , these private tutoring institutes identified the needs and responded efficiently. Mainly, private tutoring institutes in China are just supplements for school education at the basic education level. Their role is to strengthen what schools teach in the class . Without changing the education structure on the policy and systematic level, it is impossible for private tutoring institutes to change. The student selection-based collaboration between key schools and some private tutoring institutes is understandable. Since there is profit involved, there is collaboration (Interview with the Director of Private Tutoring Institute A was conducted on October 20, 2011).
- 15.
Parent 1 heard this information from other parents whose children studied Olympic math in the same institute as Parent 1’s son did. According to Parent 1, parents always shared rumors about school admission policies, enrollment numbers in specific key schools , and strategies for going to key schools.
- 16.
In the interview, Mr. Wen explained the paradox of Olympic math in terms of education transition. According to him, the Olympic math-based school admission is shaped by the lack of a standardized student evaluation system. For parents , Olympic math is an approach to send children to popular schools , especially for parents who do not have guanxi and money. Therefore, when Professor Dongping Yang publicly showed his firm opposition to Olympic math and its link with education transition, many parents stood up against him and protect their assurance for their children’s good quality education (Interview with Feng Wen was conducted on October 20, 2011). A similar argument can also be found on the China Education Daily, March 1. 2005. According to the China Education Daily, Siming Zhang, math teacher, Affiliated High School of Peking University, pointed out that the narrow student selection standard made Olympic math a standard for student selection (Bao, Zhang, & Chai, 2005, March 1).
- 17.
China Youth Daily, November 24, 2005. Retrieved from http://33te.com/education/edu_news/051214224518389638530.shtml, accessed on March 13, 2012.
- 18.
Interview with the principal of School E was conducted on May 16, 2011.
- 19.
Interview with the principal of School G was conducted on October 27, 2011.
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Liu, J. (2018). Where There Is a Policy, There Is a Countermeasure. In: Inequality in Public School Admission in Urban China. Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 43. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8718-9_4
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