A Revolution Demanded In Rural Education

In the 21st century, building a well-off society in an all-round way is a key issue of the social development in China. And the Three Issues—the issue of peasants, countryside and agriculture is the bottleneck of building a well-off society in an all-round way in China. The essence of " the Three Issues " is the peasant problem, and the peasant issue is not only the problem to lighten the peasants' burden and increase the peasants' income, its core is the problem of peasants' knowledge poverty. The knowledge poverty is the source of all the poverty, and it influences human-based development and social development profoundly. It is obvious that we must solve the problem of peasants' profound knowledge poverty if we solve " the Three Issues", and it is inevitable that the educational reform be chosen to solve the peasants' knowledge poverty. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and realistic meaning to have a perspective of the rural education problem from angle of the phenomenon of peasants' knowledge poverty.The paper consists of five main parts.In the introduction, brief explanation is given as to the significance and the present research status of this issue in the academic circle. In the first part, Chaling County in the middle part of Hunan Province is selected as the survey objective in order to find out about current situation of peasants' knowledge poverty in this county systematically. And it contrasting with all the country, the conclusive idea is drawn as follows: In the new century, serious knowledge poverty phenomenon does exist for peasants, which is not only for the peasants in Chaling County, but for those all over China. And it is pointed out further that peasants' knowledge poverty influences the development of politics, economy, culture, society and people seriously in the whole rural area even in all the country. In the second part, the deep exploration to the reason for peasants' knowledge poverty in this county is carried on from the angle of education mainly. For this reason, the current situation of rural education in this county is surveyed and reviewed, and then several typical cases of rural education happening in recent years are selected in order to have a perspective on the commonness and specialty of the rural education. Detailed account of the rural education is given in the hope of grasping the essence through the phenomena. According to the survey result mentioned above, the conclusive ideas are given as follows: In one hand, peasants' demand for education has been under the multiple trends in the new century. In the other hand, the rural education has not met peasants' multiple educational demands in the countryside: first, Rural education is following the same pattern of exam-oriented education as urban education; second, the expenses of rural education are too high; third, Rural education is out of joint with the local socio-economic development in the countryside.In the third part, the common sense is derived from the comparison between the current situation of peasants' knowledge poverty and the rural education in Chaling County and that in all parts of the country. On this ground, the reflection is comprehensively given on peasants' knowledge poverty in the new century and the rural education that is one of the causes of peasants' knowledge poverty. In author's opinion, peasants' knowledge poverty not only influences peasant's own developments deeply, but also retards the development of the rural economy, politics, culture and society seriously. And the edged rural education has an inescapable responsibility for the serious peasants' knowledge poverty phenomenon existing at present. A revolution is urgently demanded for rural education. Only in this way, can we solve the current situation of peasants' knowledge poverty, give the ability, the way-out, the hope to the peasants, and really solve " the Three Issues " from the profound level, and then promote the economic, social and people's overall, sustainable development, achieve a great rejuvenat...