Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The People's Republic of China in the first decade of the 21st century experienced dramatic growth and expansion that altered the educational environment of children. Rapid economic development increased prosperity and lifted more Chinese out of poverty and expanded educational access for their children. As China's middle class swelled and an urban elite emerged and inequality grew. Many targeted policies focused on poverty alleviation were enacted to bridge the growing inequalities. Rural families experienced food insecurity, illness, hardships of family separation, migrant life on the margins of the cities, and a resource gap between the home conditions of rural children, compared with their urban counterparts.
This book highlights the complexity in extending educational opportunities to rural children--including migrant and ethnic minority children. Each chapter offers field-based research in seven provincial level entities, including Anhui, Beijing, Gansu, Hubei, Shanghai, Shanxi, and Tibet. The book illustrates the diverse strategies of poor rural and minority children and their families to secure access to quality basic education and the challenges of policy initiatives designed to do the same in this momentous period in China.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of rural educational policy and practice in china and worldwide.