Analyzing the Education Gap Between Rural and Urban Environments in China

Abstract

Three major issues that widened the Education Gap in rural and urban environments in China are, 1) the lack of financial support in governmental funding, 2) the lack of qualified teachers in rural education systems, and 3) barriers in education after the National Curriculum Reform towards suzhi jiaoyu, human quality education. This paper provided details on the influences of educational investments and funding on reported rural school dropout rates, misconceptions about rural students ability and competence swayed by negative stereotypes, neglected rural students feelings and issues in rural ideology and values as burdens on rural students, and the mismatch in curriculum with examination as an assessment tool in the current education system. Along with current educational efforts at the core to increase literacy rates, quality of population, and promote human modernization, suggestions were offered on how society, government, and the field of education can take positive actions that have profound impacts on rural students life, such as to increase educational investments toward rural education in the maintenance of school functioning, hiring qualified teachers as well as raise their wages, and effective use of the internet as the access to high-quality courses to prepare rural students for future assessments. Doing so would help them attain quality education, have better academic, health, and life outcomes, and contribute to society.