A Study Of Ethnic Minority Education Policy In China

How to deal with the issues of ethnic minorities in the development of multi-national countries is currently a hot spot study. The development of education is an important strategy for all societies, to cater to the global economic competition and the need for a collective state. It has been proved effective to use education to solve the problem of the ethnic minorities for multi-ethnicity countries, and become a general rule for such countries to ensure national security and regional stability.Tibet is china’s special ethnic minority area. It is in the world’s highest plateau, and composed of one single ethnicity group. The traces of feudal serf system as well as theocracy can still be found there. All Tibetans believe in Lamaism, foreign forces have been active in planning separatist activities, therefore it becomes a politically very sensitive area. Tibet’s stability, development and security greatly affect the situation of the whole nation.Tibet’s security, stability and development fundamentally depend on economic development and cultural prosperity. The cultivation of new talents is the guarantee for economic development and cultural prosperity in Tibet. Tibetan middle school students studying in mainland China middle schools have grown rapidly these years, thanks to the policy established in1984which supports the installments of Tibetan classes in these schools. These students are expected to become the talents of Tibet and push forward the future development of Tibet. The policy is to enroll excellent primary school graduates from Tibet into the mainland middle schools to receive education. The central and local authorities provide quality education resources to these students. The policy gives chance to the Tibetan middle school students to learn knowledge in different cultural environment in mainland. Graduates from these Tibetan classes are encouraged to return to Tibet. They are expected to become high quality human resource in the development of Tibet. The installment of Mainland Tibetan classes is a peculiar experiment, and a proof that the central government will support the development of Tibet by all means.This thesis focuses on the analysis of the mainland Tibetan classes policy characteristic of the development strategy of multi-ethnicity countries, including the study of policy genesis, goal, structure, process and result. The theoretical framework incorporates equal education theory, multicultural education theory, human capital theory and sustainable development theory. The research purpose is to examine the interrelationship among the schooling mode of mainland Tibetan classes, the development of Tibetan middle school students in multi-cultural environment and the implementation of the Party’s minority policy through the study on how the Tibetan students adapt themselves to the new regional and cultural environment, and the demonstration of the implementation process and the results of this special education policy.This research is established on three levels:the macro analysis of different ethnic minority education policies and their implications in multi-ethnicity countries, and the research on the relationship between economic, social and educational development of Tibet; the middle level is a result research on the mainland Tibetan classes policy, including the evaluation of the adaptability of Tibetan students in different cultural environment; the micro analysis incorporates the study on the history and characteristics of Gongkang Middle School in Shanghai, and the study of the individual development of high school students in this school. This three-level research employs the following means:the document methods, which help to study the historical development and the latest research results of ethnic minority education policy; the questionnaire methods, to get the answers from up to50%of the Tibetan students of the same grade in the mainland middle schools and to do the data analysis; the interviewing methods, which are used to learn how the mainland Tibetan classes policy is implemented. The author visited in total11middle schools in Wuhan, Chongqing, Shanghai, Shaoxing, Changzhou, Nantong, Beijing, Tianjin, Zhengzhou where Tibetan classes are installed. Among those interviewed are the principals, moral instructors, head-teachers of the classes and students; Field survey methods, to get the information of the effect and value of mainland Tibetan classes policy. Field surveys are done in10schools in Lasha, Rikaze, Shannan, Linzhi and Naqu of Tibet Autonomous Region in2010and2011. The author went into the homes of those students studying in these schools to get the parents’opinion on this policy, to interview Tibetan classes graduates to ask about their feelings with and assessment of this policy, to visit the local primary and secondary schools to understand the development of Tibetan education and its difference with the education mode in mainland schools.This thesis also employs the method of factorial analysis. The author selected10indicators which can help a comprehensive analysis of the policy value. Among them are:quality evaluation, i.e. whether the implementation of the policy help improve the cultural knowledge of the students; impact assessment, i.e. whether the implementation of the policy help the students better understand the world and society; ability assessment, i.e. whether the implementation of the policy helps the students to improve independent thinking and problem-solving skills; cultural link evaluation, i.e. whether the implementation of the policy helps students to learn about the relationship of Chinese culture and their present ethnic culture; the assessment of how the transmitted culture influences their ethnic culture; the evaluation of how this schooling experience promotes the expansion of cultural vision of these students; the assessment of how they better identify themselves with their ethnic culture with this schooling". With fixed assessment standards and factor analysis models I convert the10survey variables into the three main ingredients factors:study, culture, ethnicity. Questionnaire surveys were conducted among94students from Shanghai Gongkang High School, and factor analysis was done after the calculation of the three main components. The result is that the implementation of this Tibetan class policy is very effective since the compressive evaluation scores demonstrate a left distribution characteristic on the draft.Based on the factor analysis, questionnaire data and the interview, the conclusions are as the following:the mainland Tibetan class policy is proved effective since the distribution of comprehensive score is on the left of the draft; and study, culture, ethnicity are three main factors that affect the evaluation of the policy. In the aspect of policy implementation:the quality of the students enrolled is the guarantee for the sustainable development of mainland Tibetan classes; There should be an enrollment limit to the number of the children of leading cadres to ensure the fairness of the policy implementation. The separation of the cultivation and selection of these Tibetan students will help guarantee the fair assessment of these students’ performance, clarify the purpose of this teaching program and the sustainable development of the policy. In the aspect of the adaptability of the Tibetan students:the effect of the policy will be improved if the Tibetan cooks could work in the Tibetan schools in the mainland. The Tibetan language is more difficult than Chinese for these students in the mainland Tibetan classes. In the aspect of policy evaluation:the Tibetan class policy fully boosts the cultural exchanges between Han and Tibet ethnicities; a large number of students who graduated from the mainland Tibetan classes have developed into the local cadres of the Tibet. They have helped greatly to maintain state regime, ensure ethnic unity and embody a political function. The effectiveness of mainland Tibetan class policy also drives the implementation of other policies of central government in Tibet. In the aspect of policy suggestion:the mainland Tibetan class policy which has been implemented for26years needs to be modified to cater to the actual and present demands of the students, for example,"closed school management system" should be replaced by "household dwelling", some grant programs should be established to support the students to visit home, education resources should be allocated according to the rules of market, the quality of instruction of the classes needs to be further improved. There should also exist a close link between the mainland Tibetan class policy, the minority education policy and The Tibetan talent people cultivation policy.The innovation of this research is:first, the writer has selected an important and meaningful topic. Mainland Tibetan class policy is a unique minority education policy with Chinese characteristics which combines political and cultural values. It can promote the mutual understanding of Han and Tibet people. It also shows that the central government has found a way to enhance the harmony between different ethnic groups and guarantee the safety and stability of the nation, which gives a good example for those multi-ethnicity countries about how to solve ethnic problems. Second, this research examines the implementation and effect of the policy objectively, using accurate and scientific methods which evaluate both the quality and quantity of this education, based on the analysis of the roles of country, regions, schools and individuals. This research has been effective on the three levels of macro analysis, middle level analysis, and micro analysis, which can help instruct the policy-making of minority education of the country, the policy implementation of the region, and the cultivation of individual students.This special mainland Tibetan class policy demonstrates the stronger control of the central government, the subordination of the local government to the central government, the harmonious and continuous relationship of ethic regions with the mainland regions, the independence and autonomy of the schools, and the flexibility and adaptability of the schooling modes. It has been proved the most successful practice in China’s ethnic minority education policy. This success has a sound and positive strategy significance:to promote the development of minority regions through education; to guarantee the priority of minority education in national development in accordance with the principle of "positive differential treatment"; to ensure that the ethnic minority education adheres to the socialist orientation, and fulfill the mission of national unity, to pay respect to minority culture and tradition, giving priority to the cultivation of talented people in minority regions; to strengthen the macro-management of policy implementation, and incorporate the development of ethnic minority areas into the state’s overall development plan.