Capacity or money? Why students choose to drop out of junior high school in rural northeast China

ABSTRACT

This study analyses student and parental perspectives on the decision to drop out from a rural junior high school in northeast China. Data were collected in 2017 via participant observation, focus groups with students who were considered at “high risk of dropping out”, and semi-structured interviews with parents. The official Chinese dropout rate during the nine years of compulsory education is 6.2%; however, in this case, the cumulative dropout rate was as high as 43.1%. Beyond analysing the poor education environment, low academic performance, and pressures from private tutoring, migrant families’ situations were also examined for a deeper understanding of the motivations of dropouts and their parents. Official discourse in China blames high dropout rates on students’ “study-weariness”; however, this study suggests that, given the intense competitiveness of the country’s education system and the disadvantages of rural residents, dropping out may seem a rational choice for many rural families.

KEYWORDS:

• Drop out
• low academic performance
• low quality
• junior high school
• rural China

Acknowledgments

The fieldwork for this work was made possible with the help of director Li. The author also thanks the school principal and teachers, students, parents who shared their stories and made this research possible. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author only.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The tuition-free policy only abolished tuition fees; schools still charge miscellaneous fees.

2. “Jiao xue dian” refers to small-scale schools located in remote rural areas of China, especially one-room type schoolhouses that offer instruction to students in grades one through three or four. These schoolhouses sometimes accommodate fewer than 10 students, and typically have only one teacher, who is responsible for multi-grade teaching.