Education Of Children Left At Home In Rural Areas

The children left at home in rural areas are a special minor group that appeared in the economic transitional era in China, and the core issue with this group is their education. The educational issue of the home-left children is a hypernim concept, which covers more than education itself. It is an objective reflection of multiple conflicts and contradictions, which deals with a series of social maladjustment, such as the social system, economic development, family structure. Therefore, it is a comprehensive social issue. Proper solution of this problem is actually the impending demand of the economic development, social stability and security, social fairness and civil quality in China.Based on the above background, following the logic order of"problem raising, revealing, affirming, solving", this study, borrowing theories from the education policy, systematic management, marginalization theory, public products theory and economics etc., began with the real education situation of the children left at home in Shaanxi province, trying to develop an overall picture of the living status of the home-left children, with a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods, such as observation, survey and field investigation etc. The main factors that affect the education of home-left children were further studied. Finally the suggestions were given on policies, coordination systems and countermeasures to solve the educational problems of the home-left children in rural areas.This study includes 5 parts, or 10 chapters.The first part, also chapter one and chapter two, deals with the design of the study plan and theoretical analysis. It states the background, the purpose and significance of the study after an objective review on the study advancement in both China and the world. The study clue and methodology are stated and an analytical framework is developed, based on multiple theories of education, sociology, psychology, management, economics, etc. which forms the theoretical foundation for the study to make it more of scientific reasons and standardability. Part two, including chapter 3-6, makes fundamental analysis to reveal the educational problem with home-left children.Based on the investigation on the current status of the home-left children in northern Shaanxi, Guanzhong(middle part of Shaanxi) and southern Shaanxi, analysis was made on the aspects like custody, living, schooling, psychological health, emotion, moral status and safety etc. Farmers-going-out-for-job has been an irreversible trend in China. Comparatively, children with their fathers going out for jobs were found to be more lightly affected than those with both their parents, or their mothers going out for jobs. Therefore, most families chose to have mothers left at home while fathers going out in accordance with the rule of utility maximization. The present situation shows that the most serious problem with the home-left children is their emotional perplexity as most of the home-left children's psychological problems are related to the dissatisfaction of their emotional pursuit. Followed is the problem with their morals and conducts. The absence of moral examples consequently leads to moral judgment and conduction anomie. As to the safety, it is more a serious problem with home-left girls in rural areas.Part three, including chapter 7 and 8, makes systematical analysis as to affirm the issue.A profound study is conducted on the 4 major factors of family, school, society and children themselves, simply to find the breakthrough point to improve the home-left children's educational situation. The main educational problems with the home-left children was then discriminated and summarized in light of development. Analysis was also made on the characteristics of the educational problems. We believe that, as a proportion of the children in rural area, the home-left children are impossibly separated from other children. They face common problems. As a part of the rural education, there are of course similarities between the home-left children's education and the rural education. There are mainly two similarities. The first comes with the compulsory educational imbalance between the urban areas and the rural areas. The second is that the rural educational system needs to be rationalized. The home-leftness aggravates the fragility of the rural children and leads to peculiarity of the home-left children's education, which is reflected in two aspects: one is that education is not well linked between family, school and the society. The other is the related problems with the home-leftness. Therefore, the educational issue of the home-left children is actually complicated, imbalanced and discriminated.Part four, also chapter 9, provides suggestions to solve the problem.Typicalness analysis was done on the countermeasures adopted against the educational problems with the home-left children in three rural regions of Shaanxi. Integration of the countermeasures was made and experience summarized. Suggestions on policy, coordination system and countermeasures were provided to improve the educational situation of the home-left children in rural areas from the macro-, medium- and micro perspectives.Suggestions on the macro- level, or policies, include: (1) equalization of the public service for children in both urban and rural areas should be assured. (2) the public financial support for the rural education be increased to enhance the balance of the educational resources between the urban and rural area. (3) the rights and interests of the minors be protected, and the social welfare of the home-left children strengthened. (4) the design ideology of the educational policy in rural area be adjusted. Suggestions on the medium level refer to constructing the public service system of the home-left children in rural area, including: (1) the government-oriented coordination mechanism of the compulsory education be constructed. (2) the schooling and public service system be strengthened. (3) family educational system be improved and perfected with outside force. (4) social support network with double-way-oriented rights protection be constructed. Suggestions on the micro- level refer to the countermeasures, including: (1) schooling measures with more pertinence under the goal of quality education be adopted. (2) the family custody and protection be strengthened. (3) regressive family measures should be gradually restored. In terms of school education, specific quality-oriented measures should be adopted. (4) multiple social education measures be adopted on the base of community.Part five, also chapter 10, summarizes and extends the study.This part makes a general summarization of the whole study as follows: (1) the headstream mechanism plays a key role in solving the educational problem of the home-left children. (2) the solving of the educational problem with the home-left children also depends on the coordination mechanism with linkage between urban and rural regions. (3) school stands in the core position in the educational chain for the rural home-left children. (4) high attention must be paid to the educational discrimination of the rural home-left children.(5)mental health problems of the home-left children should be treated objectively. In the end, the weak points of the paper and the sequent study directions were provided.