Education Justice

--How to achieve it?

Education Fair between city and countryside

Current situation of the education in countryside and city

65% of the population of China is from countryside. The illiterate and the half illiterate are 21.9 million. Even in the group of people who have job, the illiterate and the half illiterate account for 35.9%, and their average degree of education is four years. This phenomenon is quite different to the city. (Yang,2011)

There are several reasons for this embarrassing circumstances. The most crucial cause is the discrepancy of the government’s finance input. The input to the countryside’s education is really low. The educational appropriations mainly put into the city’s school and center schools of villages and towns. The research of the United Nations in 2003, the educational appropriations only took 3% of GDP. Additionally, the input from the government was 53%, while the rest was from the parents. For example, in 2000, the average educational appropriations of students in Shanghai was 2756 yuan, while in Henan was 261 yuan. It’s apperant that the input is not equal, but the government’s input makes a great difference for the education process. (Yu,2013) There is no doubt that the more investment in education, the better condition our students will get. However, the students from countryside can not get the necessary resource so it impedes them to know more about the high-technic and the newly scientific development.

Furthermore, the level of teachers are also distinct. And the gap is becoming wider and wider. The number of teachers in city is over its demand, while in the countryside is indeed limited and even lacked. For instance, it is very common in the countryside, a teacher has to take charge of several subjects or grades, but the subject don’t match their major and some of them didn’t graduate from the normal university. Therefore, maybe the ability of the teacher can not reach the standard and the teaching quality can not be guaranteed. Besides, more and more young people tend to work in the developed cities and for a better benefits so they do not like to work in the behindhand countryside where need them. As we know, teachers play an important role in fostering the youth. Thus, lacking of the professional teachers seriously affected the development of the education in the countryside. (Yang,2010)

The unfair phenomenon is also reflected in the rate of the admission to universities between cities and countrysides. For example, it would be a little bit hard for the students from countryside to get into the top universities in China, while it may be easier for the students from the city. The distinct distance results from the different levels of education quality between city and countryside. We can’t compare the students from the countryside with the students from the city, because their study and living conditions are far from the same. As a result, plenty of the students from the countryside can’t obtain a good job even though they had studied in a university. With time passing by, they will build up a mind that it is useless to study so they often drop out. In that case, it can cause many side effects to the development of the countryside.

Education equality is a urgent problem, we still have a long way to go.

Reference

Yang, B; the investment of countryside education: performance、mechanism and model [农村教育投入：绩效、机制与模式]; Chongqing, Southwest University; 2011.

Yu, LJ; the problems about the fair of education in today’s China and its solution [当代中国教育公平的问题及对策研究]; Hebei, Hebei normal university; 2013

Yang, WA; the research of the change of the system of the relationship between city and countryside [我国城乡教育关系制度的变迁研究]; Jilin,Northeast normal university; 2010

Our research in a high school in Gaomi and the second high school attached to Beijing Normal University

For the sake of propagating iGem, our team went to two schools, one is a high school in Gaomi, which is a countryside. And the other is a famous high school in Beijing, the second high school attached to Beijing Normal University. There were many differences.

Above all, the studying conditions in the countryside Gaomi is humble. The size of their school is small, the buildings are old and they are short of some necessary teaching equipment, such as the computers, projectors, experimental equipments and so on. On the contrary, the second high school attached to Beijing Normal University’s condition is much better. For example, their biological laboratory is well equipped, which is as complete as the lab in the university. They have enough microscope to satisfy the demand for every student. In a word, the school provides their students with sufficient support to foster their study interests.

What impressed us is that the students in the countryside were eager to know what we talked to them because everything might be the first time for them to hear of. The bad condition didn’t prevent their curiosity to science though they couldn’t get the chance to do research now. They are all hard-working and they have to help their parents to do housework or something else. While the students in the second high school attached to Beijing Normal University lives a opposite life. They can concentrate their focus on what they like and the school can inspire their interest and broaden their horizon in various ways and make use of kinds of resource. As a result, they can know much more and build up a scientific thinking way in their early ages.

The input of the government in Beijing takes more than in the countryside. And the government concerns more about the improvement of the city’s school. Consequently, the schools in the city can gain better and better condition and realize their desire to see and do more. But the lack of concern, the schools in the countryside achieved little. We can’t emphasize the essential role of our government any more, but we also have to do something to change the circumstances and improve the students’ study condition in the countryside.

Fig1. The second high school attached to Beijng normal university

Fig2, the high school in Gaomi

Proposal

Dear iGEM Foundation & all iGEM teams:

We are a team from BNU-China. When we were doing human practice in China’s rural areas, we were deeply moved by the students there. When we were talking about some knowledge out of their text books, they showed amazed expression and were thirsty to know more, for most of them don’t have any access to the Internet and the only way to know the outside world is by TV. However, TV program never deliver scientific knowledge timely in detail. They are the ones that in need of our help.

However, according to previous wikis, most of the teams only communicate with seni or high students from schools in urban areas. They never refuse students in rural areas, but they never inform them. High school students in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have already enjoyed best education resources, while rural areas in Shangdong Province, such as Weifang, are badly in need of that kind of education.

Hence, we suggest that iGEM headquarter may advise teams from developing countries pay more attention to the senior high students in the nearby rural areas and also invite them to have a lab visit. The teams from developed countries may also help donate some educational materials to them. Equality is not only the spirit of America, but also the wish of China.

We know that education inequality is hard to solve, but your action will make a difference!

BNU-China

Oct. 2014

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