“We Have Many Options, But They are All Bad Options!”: Aspirations Among Internal Migrant Youths in Shanghai, China

Abstract

This article explores the considerations internal migrant youths in Shanghai make as they orient themselves towards the future. Unlike their parents, these youths come of age with dreams and desires that mirror those of their local middle-class peers, yet they are funnelled into the vocational educational system since they do not have local household registrations. Cast as non-aspiring and failed students that break with doxic middle-class aspirations, I contend these youths still find ways to aspire and strategize to achieve a better life. As such, I argue for a more nuanced understanding of the grounds on which vocational education is chosen. Rather than a negative choice, I argue that migrant youths who attend vocational education may do so as a compromise between potential material gains, prestige, feelings of belonging, filial piety and closeness to family and friends. Therefore, educational aspirations cannot be untied from broader desires for the future.