The Study And Countermeasures Of China’s Aged Education Differences Between Urban And Rural Areas

By the year of2013, the aged population in China will reach to as high as202million,taking up a14.8percent of all population. China has become one of the countries with thelargest aged population as well as the highest growth rate of elder group. After entering into21th century, the overall programs to tackle aging issues have made substantial progresses:the endowment insurance system has successfully covered both urban and rural areas, themedical care for elders has been largely improved, and the legal system has also beendeveloped. Nowadays, when the material standard of life has kept growing, the mentaldemands for the elders are also drawing increasingly attention from the society. Unlike thesocial system and material guarantee, the development of elder education is the foundation ofa harmonious family, community, and society, is an important way towards the fulfillment ofelder people’s individual values, and is also an indispensable part of improving the overalleducation and studying level of the society.In rural area, the current aging population has a high percentage of18.7%, far exceedingthe7.97%rate in the urban area. Because of the limitation of economy and culturedevelopment, lots of elder schools in the countryside are still struggling to live and therefore,the current system for elder education could not meet the needs from students. Under suchcircumstances, to solve the problems for aging education is no longer the only responsibilityfor the government and the party; rather, we should enhance our understanding of theproblems, enlarge the channels for resources, and encourage more involvement from thesocial sector, since we have reasons to believe that the participation of social forces wouldprompt a more healthy development of the enterprise of elder education.This article will conduct solid researches around the different development models ofChina’s aging education system under the context of the huge differences between rural andurban areas. In addition, through comprehensive analysis and scientific evaluation, iteffectively sums up the history of the development of China’s aging education, elaborates thecurrent operating situation of the system, and then based on the successful cases from bothdomestic and international experiences, it comes up with suggestions to further develop andadvance the elder education system.