A Study Of Vocational Education Promoting Peasant Stratum’s Upward Mobility

As the saying goes, "Water flows downwards; Man struggles upwards". Millions of rural labors are pouring into cities, to find a job and making a living, expecting to climb to a higher stratum. Vocational education, which has the closest association with economic and social development and has the most direct relation to career development and living, can work as a light tower, that is, providing knowledge and skills for peasants living in cities, and can provide impetus for peasants to move upward. Except for introduction,this essay has 5 parts.Analyzing from theory, vocational education is superior in promoting peasants to flow upwards-putting it in an exclusive club that other education types can’t match. Firstly, the nature of mass education in vocational education-benefit everyone fully protects the rights of receiving education. Secondly, the principle of employment-oriented and the school-running form of flexibility align with the knowledge and skills necessary to the flow of peasants. Finally, vocational education trained peasants can earn professional certificate and diploma, which is the most basic identity symbol to flow up in modern society.From the perspective of diachronic analysis, the informal vocational education is only a way to inherit skills in feudal society. In modern China, vocational education plays the role of "resisting the barbarians and defending the nation". From the foundation of Republic of China to the early period of reform and opening up policy, graduating from vocational school means the radical transform from peasants to civil servants and workers. Since the middle period of reform and opening up policy, vocational education provides little help for improving peasants’status. Since the 21st century, vocational education has aimed at ensuring employment and reducing unemployment.From the synchronic perspective, the mobility function of vocational education is based on the benign operation of the whole social system. At present vocational education, is playing a weakening role in promoting peasants’mobility in social status. From the sight of macroscopic social factors, the increasingly solidified hierarchical system has led to the loss of faith in the belief "Education changes destiny", and the local culture has potentially limited the fair development of vocational education. From the point of mid-educational factors, the division of basic education between cities and countries has led to the apparent disparities of students’ quality in vocational school in rural areas and the endogenous obstacles within vocational education has brought bad performance in skills learning for children of peasants.From the perspective of micro-individual factors, the great gap of family capital between different status makes children of peasants lack necessary social support on the road of mobility.There are many ways to enhance the function of vocational education in promoting the peasants’stratum. Firstly, reasonable and orderly rules should be instructed and positive cultural atmosphere should be created for vocational education. Secondly, training quality of vocational education should be improved so that peasants’children can boast necessary human capital. That is the key to breaking the weakening mobility function of vocational education. Lastly, the binary division of basic education in cities and countries should be broken, in order to provide the a solid foundation for quality students in vocational education in rural areas. In addition, the great gap in economy, social capital and cultural capital should be clearly noted and subsidy should be increased for the underprivileged in rural areas.