Root Causes of Studying Weariness among Left-Behind Children in China

Abstract

This paper aims to disclose the attitudes of Chinese left-behind children towards school. To this end, the academic wellbeing of left-behind students was compared with that of the other students in an elementary school of a rural, ethnic minority area. Through a questionnaire survey, the learning attitudes and academic performance of the target students were assessed against Du Ningjuan’s Studying Weariness Scale of Young Children. The results show that the left-behind children had significantly higher scores in terms of negative attitude, external attribution and low study efficacy, and held a more negative view of learning performance than the other students. The survey results were also examined relative to gender and grade. Though the discussion on the research results, several strategies were presented to ease the study weariness among the left-behind children. This research sheds new light on the education of left-behind children.