Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.3, 2013

 

Educational Opportunities of Chinese Rural and Urban Residents in 1978-2008: Inequality and Evolution

(Abstract)

 

Wu Yuxiao

 

Despite the expansion of Chinese education and the steady increase of the educational level of rural and rural residents since reform and opening up, the problem of educational inequality has persisted. This study employs CGSS2008 data to examine the effects of household register, family socio-economic status, length of parental education, and sibship size on educational opportunities at three stages of junior school, senior school and university, as well as the trends of such effects in 1978-2008. The results show that there is no observable rural-urban disparity in school continuation opportunities at the junior school stage, but the rural-urban inequality at senior school and university stages displays a rising tendency; that the influence of a father’s occupational status on the educational opportunities of his children remains largely the same, indicating that the stratification in educational attainment has not changed considerably since 1978; that the length of parental education plays a marked and increasing role in children’s educational attainment; and that the educational inequality arising from sibship size also tends to rise. To understand the structure and evolution of the inequality in Chinese education since reform and opening up, it is also necessary to study the micro mechanism affecting residents’ educational decisions.