Study On The Problems Of Children Left Behind In Rural Areas During The Social Transformation Period

Since the reform and opening in the late 1970s, China has entered a very special historical period of social transformation, in which the society is changing from a closed, traditional, agricultural and planned-economy into an open, modern, industrial and market economy. With the acceleration of the economic development and the urbanization, thousands of millions of peasant workers migrate into cities. Due to the dual-division system and the delay of the relative policies, millions of migrant children are not able to receive equal compulsory education in cities. Meanwhile, when their parents try to find jobs in cities, tens of millions of children are left behind in the countryside, facing various of problems in their life, study, security, personality, psychology, etc.The problems of these children left behind in the countryside are caused by many factors, such as the delayed reform of system, distempered laws and policies, lack of care from society, backward rural school education and dated family education ideas, etc. From the angle of public goods supply theory, the education of these children shows obvious qualities of public goods, such as noncompetitiveness and nonexclusiveness of consumption and externality. These characters make public goods short in supply and therefore should be provided mainly by government. The problems of this huge children group not only involve their own future, but also influence the China's future population quality, the modernization process, and the establishment of a harmonious society. These problems will exist for a long time during the transformation period and the whole society should take the responsibilities of solving them. Only if all the strengths make cooperative efforts to help these children, can they grow in a healthy development environment.