Atypical Youth: Educational Choice And Cultural Practice Of Art Candidates In An Ordinary High School

Art candidates are a special group in general high schools.Despite the stigma attached to them as “bad learners” and “not do honest work”,the popularity of art examination has increased instead of decreasing in recent years.This study focuses on why general high school students choose to take the art examination and their daily cultural practices after becoming art candidates,with a view to exploring the complex relationship between micro-level individual choices and macro-level social changes involved.Using qualitative research methods,this study interviewed 18 art candidates in L city,H province,as well as other groups such as parents and teachers,and conducted several field observations in Y high school and D school for a total of three months,in an attempt to draw a picture of the atypical youth of art candidates in an ordinary high school based on these data.This study draws mainly on Bourdieu's theory of practice,and is supplemented by rational choice theory,body culture theory,rites of passage theory,and total institution theory,etc.,to put the educational choices and cultural practices of art candidates in the context of relevant theoretical strands of educational anthropology.There are four main findings:Firstly,it is a complex process influenced by many factors that ordinary high school students choose to take the art examination,which is the interaction between individual and society,emotion and rationality.The choice is influenced by a variety of factors,including social and cultural backgrounds,the examination and admission system,family capital,gender expectations,educational aspirations,and artistic enthusiasm.“Choice” itself is the acquisition and demonstration of “self-technology”in Foucault's theory.By making choices,students also experience self-exploration,selfseeking and self-confirmation.Secondly,art examination has shaped the institutionalized body.In terms of body technique,body awareness and body-related gender temperament,students have presented “dexterous” bodies,“absent” bodies and “being gazed” bodies respectively.Art examination training is committed to building an institutionalized body,which puts the bodies of art candidates to the test of both the educational evaluation system and gender expectation constructed by the social culture.In this process,the material body and consciousness are jointly involved in the reconstruction of the art candidate's self.Thirdly,art students achieve spiritual rectification in their preparation for the examination,which promotes the generation of the subjective self.The management model of off-campus training institutions allows art students to experience a fine sense of being controlled,which is similar to “total institution” put forward by Goffman.However,off-campus training institutions also help to achieve self-improvement in that students are able to adapt flexibly within the rules.Training is an important rite of passage in the life of art students,in which they realize the transition of youth.The“illusion” in the field of art examination was generated by the exclusion mechanism,and art students immerse themselves in the “illusion” and actively play with it,accompanied by struggle and resistance.In this process,the subjective selves of the candidates are gradually created.Fourthly,the main factors influencing success of the art examination include talent,acquired effort and personal luck.The students' different attributions to the success of the art examination reflect different cultural logic.Art examination places more emphasis on individual talent than ordinary college entrance examination,where talent refers not only to a student's innate physical condition and artistic sensibility and appreciation,but also to the ability to enjoy the arduous process of artistic training.The emphasis on talent has a fatalistic overtone.The emphasis on diligence in the examination process reflects the intertwining of cultural traditions and modernity.However,in some contexts,the term “diligence” can be interpreted as a devaluation of one's talent and ability.Attributing success in art exams to luck is a result of the uncertainty surrounding the process,and in order to gain a sense of mastery over uncertainty and alleviate anxiety about the unknown,many students engage in network superstition in a low-cost way.After analyzing micro-individual actions,this study returns to a reflection on the value of the art exam admission policy.The current admission policy of art examination causes two reflections: one is the reflection on the issue of educational equity;the other is the reflection on the contradiction between aesthetics and instrumentality of art examination.This study proposes the following countermeasures to further promote the reform of the art examination in China: firstly,the state,localities and colleges should take fairness and efficiency as value orientations and refine the art examination admission system;secondly,the government should increase the supervision of the art examination training market to provide better educational services for art candidates.Finally,parents and students should take a rational view of the art examination and respond positively to the normalization of art education.