Time: Thursday April 24, 15:45-17:15 BJT

Location:  LIB 1123; Zoom: 712 479 4662

Guest Speaker: Dr. Dan Wang, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Abstract

Educational migration has become a prevalent trend in rural China over the last decade, with many rural families relocating to urban areas to access urban schools for their children. Drawing on in-depth interviews and questionnaires administered among rural parents and guardians, rural and urban teachers and principals, educational officials, villagers, and village officials, this study reveals that rural families actively seek upward mobility for their younger generation through educational migration. In addition, the current educational system is dictated by the goal of social mobility. However, the private pursuit of social mobility through educational migration has impeded the socioeconomic sustainability of rural communities. Instead of narrowing the rural–urban gap, mobility-driven education has deepened place-based inequality. Thus, our study raises major criticisms of the goal of social mobility and calls for the restoration of the public good as the primary goal of education.

Bio

Dr. Dan Wang is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education in The University of Hong Kong. She is trained in the discipline of Sociology of Education. Her research focuses on educational inequality and social justice issues in China with special interests on the rural-urban divide, class reproduction, and rural community development. She is the author of the book The Demoralization of Teachers: Crisis in a Rural School in China. Her current work explores the role of education in rural community reconstruction and sustainable development.