Should high school be compulsory in China?
A story...
My five cousins and I grew up in a small town; but only one of them and I went to high school. All others started to make a living after middle school due to family finances. When I was in middle school, I saw many dropouts from high school in my hometown, with the number sometimes even ranging to 50%. The dropouts bring two questions to me: how many middle-school students are there who quit their education after graduating from middle school and take whatever job they can to make a living? Which countries have had compulsory education extended to high school? Currently, education is compulsory for nine years in China. However, compulsory high school education functions as a vital tool to empower students for their careers and increases their job competencies. Moreover, high school education contributes to a promising human capital strength of China by generating education equity and raising China’s human resources quality. Therefore, it is critical that high school education should be compulsory in China.
My five cousins and I grew up in a small town; but only one of them and I went to high school. All others started to make a living after middle school due to family finances. When I was in middle school, I saw many dropouts from high school in my hometown, with the number sometimes even ranging to 50%. The dropouts bring two questions to me: how many middle-school students are there who quit their education after graduating from middle school and take whatever job they can to make a living? Which countries have had compulsory education extended to high school? Currently, education is compulsory for nine years in China. However, compulsory high school education functions as a vital tool to empower students for their careers and increases their job competencies. Moreover, high school education contributes to a promising human capital strength of China by generating education equity and raising China’s human resources quality. Therefore, it is critical that high school education should be compulsory in China.
High school serves as a transition for students to transfer from teenagers to adults and provides students with the valuable academic knowledge and fundamental skills to survive in the 21st century. In light of China’s High School Curriculum Plan and Standards (2017), the goal of Chinese high school is to increase national quality and it is fundamental for all the people; it shall not only prepare students for higher education but also for their careers. Guided by the national reform of education curriculum in 2017, the access to high school education for middle school graduates becomes quite natural and important.
Compulsory high school education enhances students’ personal competitiveness for the current job market: “The unemployment figures don’t lie: The Great Recession accelerated a long-term trend in the job market, in which education and skills are the best guarantees for work and good pay” (Trumbull, 2012). It is the same situation in China. Most of junior middle school graduates end in labor intensive factories, where the jobs are lower paid and easily replaceable. Though in the past, these jobs could even be available to primary school graduates, nowadays, things have changed. Along with technology development, the factories now require workers to have high school diplomas at least. Besides, “For an employee who has worked there for five years, he/she still couldn’t even get any chance to be promoted due to the lower diploma,” as said by my cousin who has worked in the same factory for five years.
A researcher points out that “half of the graduates from middle schools do not have access to higher education and become job seekers. Inadequate high school education opportunities have become a major problem that restricts the development” (Sreemati, 2014). On the contrary, in the most high-income countries including America, Canada, and some North European countries, there are at least three in four who are high school graduates among the labor force, whereas in medium-income countries, the number is merely one (Beijing Youth Daily, 2017). The policy of compulsory high school education will greatly improve the overall quality of the national labor force and enhance our national competitiveness.
Compulsory high school education promotes education equity and alleviates unbalanced economic development. In less developed areas, the main reason of high school dropout is poverty. Moreover, research has shown that the rate of return in China’s education investment is higher than physical capital (Shangwu Zhoukan, 2004). So, what if the government takes the responsibility of high school education financing? Young people in these areas can go to high school without having their parents pay for the tuition and in return, their education investment could eventually bring a higher rate of return than other investments for these areas. Compulsory high school education can definitely relieve financial hardship of people in rural areas and low-income families in urban areas.
The high school education in China should be compulsory based on the above evidence.
With compulsory high school education, I hope my cousin’s child can go to a high school and even a university abroad to study;
With compulsory high school education, I hope our next generation can compete with the kids from other countries when they have to apply for the same position;
And with compulsory high school education, I hope one day, China will grow into a real power, having its highly-educated national human resources adapted to its fast-developing economy.
With compulsory high school education, I hope my cousin’s child can go to a high school and even a university abroad to study;
With compulsory high school education, I hope our next generation can compete with the kids from other countries when they have to apply for the same position;
And with compulsory high school education, I hope one day, China will grow into a real power, having its highly-educated national human resources adapted to its fast-developing economy.
References
Beijing Youth Daily (2017). Retrieved from http://epaper.ynet.com/html/2017-10/24/content_266761.htm?div=4.
Wu, Dan. (2017). Evaluation on the Development Mode and Process of Modernized
Education in China. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, pp. 117-122.
Juyou Zhongguo Tese Guoji Shiye De Gaozhong Kecheng Gai Ruhe Dazao. (2018). Ministry of Edcuation of
the People’s Republic of China. Retrieved from
http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/xw_fbh/moe_2069/xwfbh_2018n/xwfb_20180116/mtbd/201801/t20180117_324957.html
Renli Ziben Yu Wuzhi Ziben Touzi Tongdeng Zhongyao (2004). Shangwu Zhoukan.
Retrieved from http://news.chinabyte.com/160/1862660.shtml
Trumbull, M. (2012). Entering the job market? Your education matters more than ever. The Christian Science Monitor.
Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/0412/Entering-the-job-market-Your-education-matters-more- than-ever