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from the perspective of in-depth field research

the dilemma and future of county education

wen zhou xincheng school of sociology, wuhan university 

the book "county middle schools: a perspective on china's county education" compiles more than 30 essays written by professor yang hua on the topic of county education in recent years. in this book, professor yang hua takes "how county education can promote overall educational equity and social mobility, especially play a good role in providing a safety net and cultivating elite talents" as the core problem consciousness, and conducts an in-depth analysis of the nature of county education and the characteristics of my country's basic education system. he systematically thinks about the functions of county middle schools, the causes and hazards of the collapse of county middle schools, and how to revitalize county middle schools. he also conducts an in-depth discussion on the implementation effect and reform direction of basic education reform, especially the "double reduction" policy in counties. he analyzes a series of issues such as the particularity of county and township education ecology, development model, and county and township school management, home-school relations, teacher mobility, student development, and vocational education development, and puts forward some important judgments of his own.

in the introduction of this book, "general laws and influences of county middle school revitalization", professor yang hua summarized five general laws of county middle schools and county education development based on the research of county middle schools in many places across the country, and on this basis analyzed the general process of the decline of county middle schools across the country and its negative impact, and discussed the direction and path of county middle school revitalization based on empirical analysis. the summary and refinement of these laws come from professor yang hua's overall research on county society, especially county education, and also provide a basic perspective and basic judgment for the ten chapters in the main text of this book that discuss various aspects of county education.

the first extremely important law proposed by professor yang hua is the "law of average education quality in counties". the so-called "average education quality in counties" means that "under certain conditions of county financial investment, school management methods, strategies and measures, education and teaching content and methods, and family education investment, the education quality and results of each school will vary, but on average the education quality of the entire county is certain, and the difference between a few years will not be too large. the average education quality of compulsory education in the county will ultimately reflect and determine the education quality of the county. the higher the average education quality of a county, the greater the proportion of top students and excellent students, and the smaller the proportion of average students and underachievers."

the author uses two assumptions to further understand this law: first, suppose there are two counties with similar population sizes and economic and social development levels. under normal circumstances, the number of top students, middle-level students, and underachieving students in the two counties is roughly the same. unless a county local government attaches great importance to education investment and the educators in the county's basic education stage are very motivated, it is possible that the college entrance examination results of one county are significantly better than those of another county. from this, it can be inferred that in reality, when there are differences in population size between counties, as long as the economic and social development levels between counties are similar, under normal circumstances, the difference in the number of students of each type in the two counties will be roughly the same as the difference in population size. under normal circumstances, this state is relatively stable, that is, the proportion of students of each level in each county will not fluctuate too much each year, and the overall results of the college entrance examination will not fluctuate too much.

secondly, assuming that a county used to have 1-2 students admitted to tsinghua and peking university every year, and had about 10 "tsinghua and peking university seedlings" (i.e., the scores in the senior high school mock exams and the college entrance examination were generally not lower than the admission score of tsinghua and peking university by about 5-10 points). then, if the admission policy of tsinghua and peking university is not adjusted, the county's population size has not changed significantly, there is no outflow of high-quality students, and the county's education investment and education development are stable, among the top students who enter the county middle school and undergo the test training in the county middle school this year, there will be about 10 "tsinghua and peking university seedlings", and the number of students who can finally be admitted to tsinghua and peking university will probably be about 1-2, and it is unlikely to increase sharply. in other words, if other conditions do not change, no matter how much the county middle school strengthens the test training, it will be difficult to significantly increase the admission rate to tsinghua and peking university, the "tsinghua and peking university seedlings", and it will be difficult to significantly increase the admission rate to top prestigious schools in the county middle school.

this law can help us understand three important issues: first, when the economic and social development level of some districts and counties is greatly improved, the government's fiscal revenue increases and it pays attention to the development of county education, the average education quality of these districts and counties will improve. second, when provincial capital cities or some districts and counties strongly support the development and expansion of "super high schools" and cross-regional enrollment of top students through government financial and policy support and the introduction of market forces, super high schools will definitely improve their admission rates to tsinghua university, peking university and other famous schools through "top students" enrollment, thus forming a "matthew effect". in this case, the decline of county high schools is not because the average quality of compulsory education in the county has declined, but because the "top students" in the county, especially the "top students" of tsinghua university and peking university, have been snatched away. in counties, especially in the central and western counties, the families of top students can be roughly divided into two categories. one category is families with a middle-to-upper economic level and parents with relatively high education. such parents mainly work in the system. if the quality of education in the county middle school is high, they are generally more willing to send their children to the county middle school, which is convenient for family care and supervision, and can also achieve better home-school cooperation under the semi-acquaintance social system; the other category is "study material" from ordinary families. compared with the former, there are fewer such students at present. the education, training and living costs of super middle schools are a huge expense for their families. in super middle schools, they generally face greater psychological pressure and difficulties in adjustment. however, with the continuous decline in the admission rate of county middle schools to tsinghua university, peking university and famous schools, families in the county with the ability and willingness to invest in education or families with children with relatively good grades in primary and secondary schools will find ways to send their children to the city where the super middle school is located in the primary and secondary school stage.

third, if there is no large-scale loss of "tsinghua and peking university seedlings" in the county, no matter how the college entrance examination system is changed, only these top students will be able to enter tsinghua and peking university and famous schools in a relatively constant proportion. from the author's education research in various parts of the country in recent years, after the collapse of the county middle school, due to the early outflow of these students, some of them may suffer the tragedy of "zhongyong" because they are not adapted to the learning and living environment or high competitive pressure. most of them can still be admitted to top universities after entering the "super middle school", but only a very small number of them can enter tsinghua and peking university. in addition, it is not impossible for those top students who have flowed out of primary and secondary schools to become top students under the training of primary and secondary schools and super middle schools in the city where the super middle schools are located, but the family investment is huge, and these top students are under great psychological pressure in a highly competitive environment.

after understanding the "law of average education quality in counties", the four laws proposed by professor yang hua, namely, the "law of the indispensability of top students", "law of county middle schools as the education outlet for most families in the county", "law of the pursuit of educational performance by municipal and county governments", and "law of the limited flow and concentration of educational resources in the county", will be easier to understand. when top students are taken away or actively flow out, the enrollment rates of county middle schools to tsinghua university, peking university and other famous schools decline. capable parents, many top students and some parents of excellent students will "follow the trend" and send their children out for education, which will greatly increase the educational investment and competitive pressure of families and students, and increase the risk of educational investment-return. in other words, when the function of county middle schools as the education outlet for most families in the county weakens, families at all levels in the county will be harmed. when the financial investment in education at the municipal and county levels is not proportional to the educational performance, the municipal and county governments may make some policy actions that violate the laws of education, which will not only damage the overall fairness but also fail to achieve good results. therefore, county educational resources, especially high-quality students, must not flow in an disorderly manner. they must follow the law of priority flow and concentration to better ensure overall educational equity and efficiency and balance the relationship between the two.

based on the analysis of the above five general laws of county education, professor yang hua further analyzed the general process of the decline of county middle schools, and pointed out that the decline of county middle schools stems from the "super middle schools" and "selective" enrollment. initially, super middle schools attracted top students by offering various preferential conditions and high scholarships, which attracted top students whose family economic conditions were in the upper middle class of county society and those whose family economic conditions were average. as a result, no matter how hard county middle schools tried, it was difficult to improve the enrollment rate of tsinghua university, peking university and other famous schools. county middle schools "lost their trust" in county society, and top and excellent students in counties began to leave on their own initiative. when super middle schools formed the "matthew effect", especially in the process of the new college entrance examination reform and the reform of the enrollment system, super middle schools became more and more advantageous in cultivating top innovative talents, which led to an increasing scale of loss of high-quality students in counties. in this case, the remedial measures introduced by municipal and county governments had limited effects and even polarized the county's test-oriented education. as a result, the decline of county middle schools led to the overall decline of the county education system, triggered anxiety about universal education, and also led to excessive academic competition pressure and prominent psychological problems among students.

based on professor yang hua's solid research and rigorous analysis and argumentation, we can find out the mistakes made by some scholars and media when discussing the issue of "collapse of county middle schools". for example, the famous news media southern weekend once published an article titled "is the decline of county middle schools due to the "cherry picking" of middle schools in big cities?" in the article, the author wrote:

how do you view the outflow of high-quality students and excellent teachers? some people regard the outflow of high-quality students in the county as the "cherry picking" of the best by the middle schools in cities and provincial capitals. however, the high-quality students in a county are not the exclusive property of the county middle schools. where students go to study depends on the decision of the students and their parents, which is also their right. the so-called "cherry picking" is just that the middle schools in cities and provincial capitals attract high-quality students with more favorable conditions. whether good students go or not is decided by the students and their parents. the society and academia do not need to accuse or even interfere with their autonomy.

now all schools have kpis for the college entrance examination. to this end, they must first attract high-quality students and increase the undergraduate admission rate and the admission rate to prestigious schools. therefore, the strategy for targeting high-quality students is, first, to invite graduates from good universities or famous teachers to be teachers. some first-tier city universities are full of doctoral students from peking university and tsinghua university, who serve as the nucleus for attracting good students. secondly, they often do not ask for their tuition fees and even give them living expenses and scholarships. there are also material rewards for being admitted to prestigious schools such as peking university and tsinghua university, thus creating a "good high school"; other students and their parents see the outstanding undergraduate admission rate and the admission rate to prestigious schools, and of course they are willing to spend a lot of tuition fees to enter a "good high school" in the hope of "being close to the red will be redder."

this "lighthearted" argument really reflects that some current educators and news media do not understand our national conditions, county conditions and people's sentiments, nor do they understand the general laws of education and education governance. this also highlights the advantages of professor yang hua's book "county middle schools: a perspective on china's county education". based on extensive, long-term and in-depth field research, with the revitalization of county middle schools as the core issue, professor yang hua conducted an in-depth analysis and discussion on the current status of china's county education, the system and policy of county education governance, the composition and operation of the county education system, home-school relations and school management, teacher mobility and student growth. this is of great significance for us to understand the current real education situation, problems and difficulties in china, as well as the future direction of education reform and development. in my opinion, many of the "common sense" summarized and refined by professor yang hua in this book, as well as some of the views that seem to be inconsistent with "common sense", are worthy of in-depth thinking and debate by scholars and education practitioners, policy makers and the public who care about education issues.

august 20, 2024