Structure Optimization Of High School Education

High school education is a basic social right. Its primary goals are to prepare students for college and employment. The reform and development of the high school education must serve society and the economy. However, the current structure of the high school education does not match the evolving structure of the local economy and workforce following the early industrialization in Jiangxi. Problems are present at two different levels: first, the unbalance and distinct separation between the general and vocational high school education and, second, the unreasonable structure and unclear positioning of vocational programs. This thesis suggests that the high school education should meet the needs of society and individuals, and it should be adjusted by the market to achieve a harmonized development. The thesis also indicates that eliminating the boundaries between the general and vocational education and promoting their fusion have become the international mainstream in the development and reform of high school education. Therefore, the structure optimization of the high school education needs to rely on the overall planning by the administration to change some general high schools to comprehensive ones to prevent the excessive expansion of the former. By putting more emphasis on the vocational education, the current duality structure of separated vocational and general education will then be changed to a more balanced trinity structure of interrelated vocational, general, and comprehensive school. The optimization also requires establishing a vocational education system which meets the requirements of lifelong education, and reforming the infrastructure and mode of the entry-level vocational education. The reform should be "guided by the employment and undertaken by the capability development" to strengthen the vigor and competitiveness of the entry-level vocational education, and to realize the order-type training through the cooperation between schools and enterprises.