The Educational Hopes and Ambitions of Left-Behind Children in Rural China

An Ethnographic Case Study

Yang Hong

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000457728
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

This monograph highlights the educational experiences of rural children who are 'left behind' by their migrant worker parents in China, analyzing how this situation impacts on their aspirations and self-identity.

Via an ethnographic and qualitative case study of a rural school in southwest China, the author presents the real lives of these disadvantaged children along with their challenges and needs, and provides an in depth understanding of how being 'left behind' impacts on their future aspirations. Building on the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu, the author makes an original contribution by combining seemingly incompatible disciplinary perspectives, such as cultural capital from sociology, rational action from behavioral economics, and self-efficacy from psychology. Hence, the book endeavors to transfer these Western theories to an Eastern context and demonstrates cultural nuances that are not always captured when applied in the West.

The book will attract academic scholars and postgraduate students in the area of socially disadvantaged children and young people as well as those who are working on youth studies and rural education.

1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781003187264-1

Chinese left-behind children are the product of China’s process of urbanization and modernization which cannot be prevented. The number is overwhelming, and they are often the most deprived and disadvantaged, particularly in relation to rural education in China (Hannum, 2003; Tan, 2011; Xiang, 2007). Research in different national contexts has demonstrated that being ‘left behind’ can have a profound impact on young people’s educational attainment and their psychological development. However, debates remain on how left-behind children should be defined and there have been mixed findings on whether being ‘left behind’ has a negative impact on children’s educational outcomes at all. Also, many of these studies tend to be mainly quantitative and so lack the depth of exploration and understanding (Luo, Wang, & Gao, 2009; Ren, 2007). Therefore, whilst they describe the area of left-behind children, they do not clearly explore and explain their experiences of being ‘left behind,’ at home as well as at school. This book aims to fill some of the gaps in existing left-behind children research by presenting data from a qualitative study. It gives voice to some of these young people by exploring in-depth the post-compulsory educational aspirations of a group of left-behind children who are in their last year of junior high school. These ambitions are explored in relation to their educational experiences and within the context of being ‘left behind.’

Fieldwork

To address the questions of aspirations I opted to conduct a qualitative case study approach, a popular method within educational research (Yin, 1994). Furthermore, I used ethnography, a distinctive form of qualitative research, as the primary research technique (Merriam, 1988). As this research was firmly located within the midst of the Chinese-rural-left-behind childrens’ cultural context, and with its emphasis on context and thick descriptions, my study sought to provide a good sociocultural interpretation and, therefore, has drawn upon data collected from different sources. By doing this, I was able to understand processes, complex and diverse experiences, viewpoints, emotions, social relations, and thus was able to portray the experiences of this particular group of young people in their natural setting and as closely as possible to the meanings they attach to it (McNeill, 1996). By living in the village with students under research where the fieldwork of this case study was located, I endeavoured to get at the richness of understanding that ethnography can allow.

The school under study – Riverside Comprehensive School, is the only school located in the central area of the Riverside Xiang,¹ a rural region in the south west of China. Before commencing field work, I was looking for a rural school that had a relatively high proportion of left-behind children, and was willing to host me and was likely to be cooperative and supportive for my research. Thanks to relatives’ and friends’ help, I was gladly accepted by several schools in my hometown province. At last, I chose the Riverside Comprehensive School as the best fit. The selection of Riverside was mainly due to practical considerations as Riverside was the closest to reach among all other schools (it takes five hours to travel one-way to Riverside, whereas it takes at least eight–nine hours to travel one-way to other schools).

At Riverside school, I focused on left-behind children in Grade 9 class. Grade 9 students were selected as they were in the last year of compulsory education thus were beginning to consider their futures. These students were followed for over four months and relied upon a variety of data collection methods that include participant observation, a questionnaire, school documents, structured and semi-structured interviews. This multi-method approach was adopted with the view that it would provide much richer data than using one method alone. Participant observation in school was used to explore, at first hand, students’ behaviours and activities in different time slots, activities and settings within school life to gain some initial understanding of these individuals; for example, in classrooms, during assemblies, lunch area and self-study sessions. This permitted observations to be made during both structured and unstructured periods of the school day. Both the questionnaire and school documents were used to collect preliminary background information of left-behind children regarding family situation and attainment level. The questionnaire proved useful in that it helped quickly gain an understanding that left-behind children under study had different ambitions and plans, and different views about higher education as well as other issues. Interviews focused on students’ plans for the future (education and occupation), their attitudes to education, their opinions about the society, their family, family life and personal history of being a ‘left-behind’ child, their feelings about school and school life, and how they consider being ‘left behind’ has an impact on them. Left-behind children who participated in the interview session were both girls and boys, with different post-16 educational intentions, various family situations, and different attainment levels. The students chosen were also the ones with whom I had spent most of time at school and had gained their trust being not only a researcher but also an adult friend who had shown great interest and care for them the whole time. After explaining in detail about my research to each student and asking for their consent to be interviewed, 17 of them agreed to take part. Most students were interviewed formally between two and three times. Data is drawn from unstructured conversations also.

Structure of the book

Chapter 2 provides background information important in understanding the left-behind children phenomenon in China. It introduces five areas of detailed information to explain the Chinese social context and institutional challenges causing the emergence of left-behind children, educational inequality between urban and rural China, and the broad culture of Chinese education. The five areas are: 1. Economic Reform and Urbanization in China; 2. Urban-Rural Inequality in China; 3. Rural-Urban Migration in China; 4. The Local Household Registration System in China – Hukou; 5. The Basic Education System in China (including ‘Educational stages,’ ‘Exam-oriented education culture,’ ‘Inequality in education’ and ‘Education in rural China’).

Chapter 3 firstly discusses concepts within macro-sociological theories that have been widely used to understand and explain class reproduction within education, as well as some empirical findings pertaining to these theoretical ideas. A particular concern is on how family plays a role in shaping children and young people’s educational outcomes. Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas of ‘cultural capital’ and ‘habitus,’ and James Coleman’s notion of ‘family social capital’ are explored. In the chapter, these mainly western-contextualized theoretical ideas are applied to the Chinese social and cultural context and cultural nuances are identified. This chapter then addresses critiques of these theoretical views. Additional theoretical perspectives including the Rational Action Theory and self-efficacy as an explanatory tool are discussed to understand different educational ambitions that seem more individualized. The chapter also explores literature relating to social support outside of the family, the role of school, and the role of friends and peers within education and aspirations.

Chapter 4 provides detailed information on the region the research was carried out as well as a rich descriptive account of the school under study. Information about conducting the fieldwork is also provided, including the researcher’s daily life situation, travelling and transport issues, and the process of building a trusting relationship with left-behind children under study. The chapter helps the reader to understand the research context of this ethnographic study, and gives the audience an intuitive understanding of poverty, school life and education in the research region. Information includes: 1. The geographic and demographic background of Riverside; 2. Education of Riverside; 3. The Riverside school history; 4. Placement, layout and facilities of the Riverside school; 5. Riverside – a boarding school; 6. Care and support of the students at Riverside; 7. Left-behind children in Riverside.

Chapters 5 and 6 are the empirical chapters of the book. These two chapters present the results of my findings and are organized to reflect the different educational attitudes and aspirations of left-behind children. Chapter 5 addresses ‘University non-aspirers and “the undecided”’ (i.e., those who do not intend to receive university education or those who have not yet decided), Chapter 6 addresses ‘University aspirers’ (i.e., those who intend to receive university education). In these chapters, I explore students’ aspirations in relation to their attitudes to education, values and life goals, and sense of self, and I situate these ambitions within the context of their families and their experiences and relationships with school and friends. Impacts of ‘left-behind-ness’ on aspirations are also explored.

In Chapter 7, I discuss main findings that emerge from the data and address them in relationship to key theoretical concepts within macro-sociological theories that have been widely used to address educational inequalities, as well as some empirical findings pertaining to these theoretical ideas. I argue that there are cultural nuances when applying these mainly western-contextualized theoretical ideas to the Chinese context. I then explore other important individual factors that appear significant in shaping the different attitudes and aspirations among left-behind children under study, particularly in terms of how these young people evaluate future choices differently, relationships and degree of emotional connection within the family, and self-beliefs in the ability of achieving in education or other life ambitions. I also address some of the findings that relate to the role of community, school and friends in aspirations; and finally discuss how being ‘left behind,’ as a distinct social characteristic of these socially disadvantaged young people, impacts on their educational experiences and aspirations.

Chapter 8 summarizes each chapter’s main points and reiterates the book’s arguments and contributions. It further locates the book within the academic context of educational identity/identity construction, educational values and aspirations studies. It also highlights potential areas for further consideration and inquiry for future studies.

Definition of left-behind children

The term left-behind children first appeared in Chinese literature in 1994 (Ren, 2007). Since 2005, there has been a dramatic increase in research nationwide covering many issues of this special group in China (Lin & Yuan, 2007). Yet, up until now, there is still a great disparity in the definition of left-behind children amongst researchers in China in terms of what it actually means. Due to the absence of a universally accepted definition, Chinese academics tend to define left-behind children according to the specific purpose of their research in relation to the local condition of the place where the research is conducted (Luo et al., 2009). However, considering the extremely complex state of a country like China, for example, geographically, culturally and socially, providing a precise, unanimously accepted definition for the term left-behind children seems to be very difficult.

Lin and Yuan (2007) did a very useful study in which they reviewed 313 research papers published between 2005 and 2006 in China and found that only 43 gave a specific definition of the term left-behind children. From all the definitions given in those studies, they identified six main types in which a generic concept of left-behind children was largely acknowledged, with certain defining characteristics which were distinctively adopted by different authors. The six main types of definitions are as follows:

1. Left-behind children refers to those children under the age of 16 who need to be taken care of by adults but are left in their original regions because of their parents’ or one parent’s migration to work in other places (Wu et al., 2004, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007).
2. Left-behind children refers to those children whose parents or one of the parents out-migrates to other places but they are left in their registered home place so they cannot live with their parents. There are two authors who specifically put an age limit for the children: Wu (2006, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007) defines them to be under 14, and Yu (2006, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007) defines them to be between 4 and 16. Wu (2006) also specifies that this is the definition of the rural left-behind children (cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007).
3. The rural left-behind children refers to children who are taken care of, educated and supervised by one of the parents, grandparents or other people in the rural areas because of the long-term migrant status of their parent(s); the corresponding ‘not left-behind children’ then refers to children under the age of 18 whose parents seldom or never out-migrate and are living with both parents (Ye & Murray, 2005, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007).
4. Left-behind children refers to children as well as juveniles who are in the stage of primary school education or junior middle school education and are left in their rural home place by their migrant parents (Lv, 2006, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007).
5. The so called left-behind children refers to a special group of children in the country’s rural and urban areas. It is a term used to describe a ‘child-parent separation’ phenomenon which is caused by the child’s parents or one of them who migrates to other places for work (Song, 2006, cited in Lin & Yuan, 2007).
6. Left-behind children refers to the under-aged children of the surplus rural labourers who out-migrate for work for a long period of time and leave their children to be looked after by their parents (the child’s grandparents) or siblings (the child’s uncles or aunts) or even the child itself (Xu, 20...