The Mechanism Of Adult Education Development In Rural Areas Of Western China

Adult education plays an increasingly important part in modern society. Especially in western rural areas of China, adult education is of great consequence for the achievement of all-round individual development and the construction of a harmonious society. The development of adult education in western rural areas has been lagging behind the developed areas. Conventionally, rural adult education was mainly regarded as a kind of educational compensation based on the individual needs of the adults in the countryside, and the government as the subject of implementing adult education, did not provide effective policies and a warranted system. Nowadays, factors hindering the development of rural adult education becomces numerous and severe. Through literature research and surveys, this dissertation analyzes the history of adult education in western rural areas of China and investigates the current situation, and it also observes that the mechanism of adult education development (MAED) is backward and lacks substantial progress. So this dissertation aims to provide a solution to the bewilderment of MAED in rural areas of Western China. It states that MAED as the relationship between each component and its operation mode of adult education, integrates the structure and function of the system and helps to promote its overall development. Therefore, the major points of this dissertation are to straighten the complex relationships that restrict the western rural adult education, and fundamentally promote the effective integration of these relationships or isolated elements on a collaborative and innovation level. Taking the above mentioned factors into condieration, this dissertation starting from the connotation of MAED, attempts to probe into the duality and dialectics of MAED. Underlying by lifelong education theory, public product theory, mechanism design theory and system science theory, the paper makes a general survey of historical changes of MAED, views its current situation, and then analyzes its problems and reasons. Based on the above, the paper tries to design MAED in rural areas of Western China and seeks its effective operation.The paper has six chapters; the main content of each chapter can be summarized as follows.Chapter one:the introduction. Education is the internal impetus of development. MAED in rural areas of Western China faces up to the reality from the perspective of entirety, openness and association, which boosts the development of rural adult education and lifelong education. But MAED of rural areas has not been paid enough attention in China.Chapter two:overview of MAED in China rural areas. In the field of social science, mechanism refers to the joint, cooperation, penetration, and restriction between various components of things. It is an invisible "soul" of the system connecting the function and structure. MAED of rural areas is the relationship and operation mode of each component of rural adult education to guarantee and promote the sustainable development, which embodies integrity, relation and openness of rural adult education. The logic structure of mechanism theory system and the fact form of MAED running reveal the importance of the behavioral agent, behavioral conduct, profitable way and feedback system of MAED. The four aspects have also turned into the inscape of MAED. In addition, everything has duality, which is the basis of deeper analysis. MAED in reality is a kind of compromise of contradiction. Dialectical analysis further defines its direction and the effectiveness.Chapter three:theoretical foundation of MAED in rural areas of Western China. With the widespread of lifelong education, lifelong education idea has become the theory guide of adult education development and revolution. The inherent attribute of public goods is one of the characters of adult education, which highlights the importance of the government and non-governmental organizations. The government is the main body in the adult education development, but "government failure" exists. So, non-governmental organizations and individuals have also become participants. By designing specific forms of game playing and satisfying participants’respective constraint conditions, mechanism design theory makes participants to choose the strategy of interaction with self-serving behaviors, which enables configuration result consistent with the anticipated target. It provides the thought and method for MAED analysis. In view of mechanism design theory, meeting participation constraint and incentive compatibility constraint are the two requirements for social goals attainment. In the1950s, the establishment of system scientific standard enhanced people’s understandings of adult education. The feedback principle reveals changes in the stability, orderly principle reveals unity in diversity, and overall principle reveals the integrity of the contact, which helps us to capture MAED in rural areas of Western China on the whole.Chapter four:the reflection of MAED in rural areas of Western China. The historical changes of MAED demonstrate adult education achievements, but questions remain. Investigation and survey is valid for further knowing MAED in rural areas. The problems and reasons are focus on three aspects:insufficient understanding of adult education in Western rural areas, policy and institution failure to promote its operation and none function of MAED.Chapter five:the reconstitution of MAED in rural areas of Western China. Discussion about MAED in rural areas of Western China from the guiding ideology, principle, target, elements (behavioral agent, behavioral conduct, profitable way, feedback system) and operation mode is the embodiment of mechanism characteristics and the appeal of its working.The guiding ideology of MAED in Western rural areas including based on overall attention to plan as a whole, straightening out relations coordination.The principles of MAED in Western rural areas should uphold some principles, such as the whole and the parts combination, fairness and efficiency combination, independent development and external support combination, and diversity and characteristic combination, etc.Goal guides people’s behaviors. The goals of MAED in rural areas include the encouragement of individual and society development, the promotion of harmonious society construction, the gap-reduction between different regions, and the enrichment of education resources. The analysis of MAED elements is beneficial for discussing MAED connotations deeply in order to improve the effectiveness of mechanism design and operation. Among them, the behavioral agent covers government, non-government organizations and individuals; behavioral conduct includes both explicit laws and polices, and implicit consciousness and values, which is the core of system, regulating behavioral agent’s ideas and conducts to ensure self-interests and overall benefits to eventually realize incentive compatibility; profitable way is benefit division resulting from the mechanism, which is directly related with the behavioral agent’s concrete behavior, with effective profitable way motivating the participation; and feedback system is the foundation of mechanism development, through which people can decide to continue, adjust or correct the operation of mechanism. In a word, self-implementation and compelling enforcement jointly consist of the operation modes of MAED in Western rural areas.Chapter six:the effective operation of MAED in rural areas of Western China. From the mechanism design, the effective operation of MAED involves the follows: improving the behavioral agents’ cognition of adult education in Western rural areas, redeploying the internal and external motivation of MAED operation, clarifying the values of its policies and regulations, completing its organization and management, emphasizing the integration of different education resources, and strengthening the guidance and service of MAED in Western rural areas.