Who They Are Decides Where They Go

Zhou jiaan

“I have to think about how to continue my studies at the vocational high school，and put in more efforts to improve my marks. It's extremely difficult.It would be much easier if I could just go straight to high school here and take the national college exam.”

——15-year-old Zhang Qingyao， a migrant child in Shanghai

Introduction

Is the Chinese proverb“Someone who is outstanding never minds having a humble origin”（好漢不怕出身低） correct nowadays？From keju in ancient times to the college entrance examination （CEE） since 1977，China may be one of the few countries where education always plays a more important role than other places in the world to encourage the social mobility.Despite the increasing income inequality and obvious weaknesses of the education system， most people in China believe education is the only way to change one’s fortune.Through the CEE，one can go to a good university and then find a good job after graduation，which can be the first step to become social elite.Thus the relatively fair CEE system never stops reminding people the golden principle：if you are excellent enough，who you are or where you are from should not be a barrier to achieve success. And since key point high schools are indispensable parts in the process of accepting education in China，this principle can also be interpreted as：high school characteristics are more important than family characteristics in explaining entrance to elite universities.However，this principle does not apply to an increasingly large population of migrant workers’children.

With the rapid economic development in China，a huge number of more than 200 million people from rural areas flood into cities to find jobs.As they start families of their own，the education of their children has become one of the important issues in the many problems that come along with the migration. One of the two choices for the migrant workers to settle down their children is to bring them to the cities.These migrant children are called ‘the generation of no return’，which means they only prefer to stay in the cities for their future planning.

According to the nationwide census in 2010，the number of migrant children in the whole country was more than 36 million;about 60 percent of them are school-age children，and the number keeps growing.On one hand，this huge population brings challenges to the inflow cities，and the urban educational resources are always in short supply.On the other hand，for the migrant children themselves，things do not become better because they have to compete for the limited quota of accepting high quality of education with their urban counterparts.To improve the situation， from the early 2000s onwards，the central government has made laws and policies to ensure the same education rights for migrant children. Nevertheless，these efforts are largely limited to the stages of primary schools and middle schools.Now the migrant children are facing a dilemma of getting into urban high schools，they have to make a choice between staying in the cities and going back to their rural hometown，between managing to step across the high threshold of public high schools and tolerating low teaching quality of private vocational institutes，or even between continuing or stopping accepting tertiary education.As being a student of a key point high school is an important step to get into elite universities in China，the migrant children find they are excluded from such a normal procedure.In this sense， it is their family characteristics——who they are and who their parents are，the low family income and education level，the high instability of migrant life——that explain the migrant children’s entrance to elite universities more than the high school characteristics.

Analysis

The issue of post-compulsory education of migrant children--going to high schools—has always been ignored because it is beyond the reach of the policy of nine-year compulsory education.The China National Institute for Education Research showed that 58.25 percent of migrant workers hope their children continue going to high schools（especially public high schools） in the cities after the graduation of middle school，yet many migrant children realize this strong desire is so hard to achieve.According to the Educational Development Department，only one-third of migrant children who pass out of middle school go onto high school，compared with 95 percent of urban children. The biggest obstacle in front of them is the existing high school enrollment system and CEE system that are both based on the country’s household registration system （hukou），as the former hinders migrant children’s right to accept tertiary education in urban areas，the latter makes it impossible for them to take CEE in the inflow cities.

In the context of the high school enrollment system，although the procedure of getting into high schools is similar to that of getting into middle schools： by taking an exam，the results are quite different due to less public high schools and higher entrance threshold compared with the middle schools.Despite a few“wealthy”migrant families whose children are good enough to meet the rigid requirements of the key point high schools and can afford to pay the tuition fee，many parents have to send their children to their hometown.There a child can attend the high school as a registered “local”students instead of being a transient student，regardless the frustrating fact of the totally different syllabus，the worse management level and poor teaching quality of the local school，and the irresponsible care of the relatives or friends.For those children who don’t want to leave their parents，they can choose to go to a vocational high school， but that also means a large amount of tuition fee is needed.As a consequence，many children became the drop-out children in the cities，who either started to find jobs or just have no plans for the future.

In terms of the CEE system，after the year of 2005，the education bureau made a strict policy that one can only take the college entrance exam in places where his/her household （hukou） is registered.Since the test questions are different among different provinces，many children who returned home have to face to the double pressure of the change of living environment and study style，as the head of the Shanghai Joint Working Committee on Migrant Workers，Zhao Jiande，said：“Many migrant children go back to their permanent residence with the intention of going to high school， but few in fact continue with their studies. Most simply stay at home.”And their final grade of the CEE will be affected without doubt.

It is definitely not by accident that the public key point high schools closed the door on the migrant children.From the perspective of the children themselves，there are four reasons to explain their family characteristics which influence them to accept equal education rights as the citizens：

Humble origins

Before going to the big cities for a better future for their families，many migrant workers came from the relatively poor middle and west regions of China，who lived in poverty with bad living conditions.Even after they have already found jobs in the cities，their poor situation did not get improved too much.A survey of the migrant workers carried out by the State Statistic Bureau has pointed out that，by 2012，the average monthly income per worker was 2290 yuan;however，the average educational expenditure for migrant children per capita per year account for about 20 percent of family income，with the cost in some coastal cities being even higher. If a migrant child wants to go to public key point schools，he has to pay for the temporary student fee （借讀費），education compensation payment（教育補償費） and school selection fee（擇校費），which are huge financial burdens for his family.When the family income cannot afford to pay the fees，the children have to give up the chance of accepting education.According to the survey， 35.95 percent of migrant workers attribute their children’s failure of going to public schools to the high tuition fee. Besides， since only 0.6 percent of migrant workers have their own house in the inflow cities， the poor and noisy shantytowns can largely affect children’s studying process when they are at home; and the humble situation of their families has limited the ability of migrant children to participate in social activities.

Low education level

The education level of the parents is a significant determinant for their children to accept education，however，the survey showed that a big proportion （60.5 percent） of the migrant workers only have the junior diploma.The consequences of such a low education level are obvious，with an over-simple and non-systematic parenting style，a low expectation for the next generation，a lacking emphasize on education，and an inability to tutor the children’s study，the children are easily influenced by their parents to give up their study.A good example is the popular value of ‘the uselessness of study’among the group of migrant workers and their children.Furthermore，with the parents’narrow understanding of education，the children’s ability of cognitive learning and development of cultural capital are limited，they will be less ambitious or confidence compared with other peers who come from the families of middle and upper class.

High mobility

In his research of mobility of the migrant workers，Tianming （2013） has suggested that the migrant workers are not only the highest mobile employment groups in China，but also in the world， which is reflected both in the categories of work and working place. The higher mobility a worker has，the more likely he is going to move ， has lower income and has a more unstable life. In contrast， those who have lower rate of mobility tend to be more likely to join the endowment insurance system， have better relationship with the neighbors， get used to the local life more easily， have better language skills and be more confident about themselves. As a result， the children who live in high mobility families cannot enjoy complete education， they have to change schools frequently and adapt to the new environments over and over again， which is a big challenge to their psychological development and their behaviors at school. Because their parents work long hours and are rarely home， migrant children receive little emotional support and usually have to rely on themselves. Moreover， the high mobility makes them far away from the community culture， which is important for their social skills and cognitive abilities to understand the society.

Weak position in the society

Being an external population of the inflow cities， the migrant workers and their children feel they are marginalized by the mainstream value of the society where they live in. Since they are not registered as the urban residents and have the feature of high mobility， it is difficult for them to form a stable social class or any formal organization， which makes them lack of channels to express their appeals， including ones that are about their children’s education rights. Such a weak position in the cities of the migrant group also suggests the migrant children have to tolerate the social discrimination and stereotypes at school;pressure from local parents can even force the authorities to scrap plans for greater school integration， sending a clear signal to children that they are outsiders. Thus the migrant children are more prone to anxiety over study due to the feeling of relative deprivation.

Conclusion and suggestion

Being a sensitive group in the process of urbanization，the migrant workers and their children are described as a heavy burden for the country during its process of economic development. Although we cannot deny the great efforts made by the whole society and the governments to help the migrant children， there is still a long way to go in terms of whether they can enjoy good post-compulsory education and go to public key point high schools or not. The migrant children are not only inferiors and outsiders of urban life， but also at schools， in the aspects of decent education， harmonious school environment， high quality of teaching， advanced teaching equipment as well as healthy completion with classmates， which can all contribute to the success of one’s access to elite universities. In this sense， it is who they are that matters， the ‘fair’ CEE system does not work on them because at the beginning they lose the chance to go to key point high schools.

Behind the family characteristics， a deeper factor is the existing policy of household registration. Although the governments have legislated to protect migrant children’s education rights and gave them some priorities to study in the cities， the laws are not implemented fully， and negative effects brought by the household registration still exist. Moreover， the urban and rural areas are divided into two independent systems and take charge of education on their own. Thus the urban areas will have more good education resources based on their developed economy; this increasing gap between two areas makes it difficult for the migrant children to adapt when they go back to the countryside.

Therefore，the government should take strong and enforceable measures to offer equal education rights to the migrant children. Although to free them from their resident status through abolishing the hukou system can completely solve the problem， it seems not possible to achieve easily.

Hence，speaking of the short term， I would recommend the government try to focus on integrating the children into urban life and provide them with welfare. Most importantly， the local government could set a minimum period of years in which migrant children should live in the cities， if they meet the requirement， they can be considered to take CEE in the cities. In fact this is more practical than reforming the hukou system， which is involved in the existing point-based locating system （積分落戶制） of the government’s plan for urbanization. According to the system， the local government will gradually loosen control on the migrant workers’ registration as city dwellers based on requirements including the employment years， reside years， or professional skills. Due to the different economic development level of different cities in China， the extent and schedule to carry out such a system varies. Take Zhongshan city in Guangdong province as an example， the huge influx of external population brings pressure to the supply of public resources， the local finance bureau estimated that 450 million yuan is needed annually for managing all migrant children to go to public schools if they try to entirely solve the education issue. The point-based system is a moderate way to reduce the financial burden so as to help the migrant children， which consists of basic point （include reside years）， extra point and minus point. The children can go to public schools if the sums of their points meet the requirement of the system. According to statistics， by 2010， there were 6070 children who applied to go to public schools， while 4318 of them were allowed for application， compared with the total 200，000 migrant children. Although the proportion （0.02%） is quite small， it gave hopes to the migrant group， and the government never stops trying to improve the situation. The latest data has showed that the quota for the qualification of public school entrance increased 50 percent compared with that of last year. Judging from Zhongshan’s example of solving the entrance problem for the migrant children， we can suggest that the barrier of taking college entrance exam can also be gradually removed in the similar way.