Frontiers of Education in China

ISSN 1673-341X

ISSN 1673-3533(Online)

CN 11-5741/G4

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, Volume 2 Issue 1

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What kind of modern school system do we need?
CHU Hongqi
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 1-12.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0001-3

Abstract   PDF (260KB)
The marketization of education cannot serve as the guiding principle in constructing the modern school system, nor can it be directly transplanted from modern enterprise system. Because the modern school system is a kind of educational institution  rather than an economical institution , what it should focus on is not the ownership of property or the distinction of property, but on the core educational issue, that is, the students  development. Such a kind of modern school system requires that the government delegates power to schools to realize academic autonomy in schools (selfgovernance).
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Educational philosophy in China: a centennial retrospect and prospect
LU Youquan, CHI Yanjie
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 13-29.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0002-2

Abstract   PDF (274KB)
Educational philosophy in China during the 20th century started with the introduction of John Dewey s educational philosophy thoughts, followed by the dissemination of Marxism thoughts of education, and initially established the framework of educational philosophy as an academic discipline. After the foundation of the People s Republic of China in 1949, especially during the 1980s, under the guidance of Marxism, the discipline of educational philosophy has been maturing. While exploring China s history of educational philosophy, this article also covers contemporary Western development. Future trends of this discipline include extending specific fields of research, increasing internationalization of research, enhancing the functions of both critique and guiding ideals of educational philosophy.
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Returns to education in rural China
ZHAO Litao
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 30-47.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0003-1

Abstract   PDF (318KB)
Based on one of the most widely used datasets by foreign-based sociologists, this paper examines the rate of returns to education in rural China. Compared with the previous studies that showed rather low rates in rural areas throughout the 1980s, this study finds a considerably higher rate in 1996. A chief contributor is the rapid non-agricultural development, which creates enormous upward mobility opportunities, particularly for the more educated. Due to the uneven economic development nationwide, the rate of returns to education varies widely across regions. In areas with less developed non-agricultural sectors, it remains low. In contrast, where off-farm employment is widespread, it is much higher. In addition, the labor market is functioning to allocate the more educated to better-paid jobs, but has yet to produce higher returns to education in non-agricultural sectors than in the agricultural sector. However, changes may be occurring in coastal regions.
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Power restriction and policy overview in educational fairness
MA Weina
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 48-62.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0004-0

Abstract   PDF (269KB)
Different historical contexts endow educational fairness with different historical missions. The operation of resource allocation powers, the introduction of new elements into strata polarization, and the authoritative allocation of public policies all add to the complexity of interpreting educational fairness. The key problem, however, does not lie in the complexity itself, but in the straight bluntness and the collective unawareness incurred by it. Therefore, only by clarifying the complexity involved in educational fairness and arousing certain awareness of research can educational fairness and its public education policies undertake the double missions of both academic and practical significance.
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Education: a discipline or a field?
WANG Hongcai
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 63-73.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0005-z

Abstract   PDF (259KB)
Historically, scholars have made unfailing efforts to position education as a standard science, but no solid success has been achieved regardless of the positivistic paradigm, quantitative approaches, or value-free neutral stances they adopted. In China, scholars have set up a so-called three independency  standard for the scientific study of education, but it has been finally proved invalid in practice. As interdisciplines permeate the field of education, education experiences a crisis of being colonized. After serious rethinking, interdisciplines were widely believed to do more good than harm to education. Therefore, education is beginning to transform from a colony  to an empire . In this transformation, education finds it necessary to break the traditional disciplinary boundaries and make it a field in which interdisciplinary communication is contributory to the enrichment of scholarship.
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A comparative analysis on models of higher education massification
PAN Maoyuan , LUO Dan
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 64-66.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-008-0004-8

Abstract   PDF (270KB)
Four financial models of massification of higher education are discussed in this essay. They are American model, Western European model, Southeast Asian and Latin American model and the transition countrie’s model. The comparison of the four models comes to the conclusion that taking advantage of nongovernmental funding is fundamental to dealing with financial difficulty faced by higher education. As a result, it can be argued that the declining of higher education quality does not necessarily have to do with schooling system. On the contrary, the development of private higher education helps the activation mechanism of competition so as to cultivate talents needed by the society.
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On the discrepancy of access to higher education in a province with a large ethnic minority population
DONG Yunchuan, ZHANG Jianxin
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 74-88.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0006-y

Abstract   PDF (448KB)
Based on a survey of students from different social strata, different family backgrounds and different levels of access to higher education in 10 higher education institutions (HEIs) in Yunnan, an ethnic minority (EM) province, this essay tries to find out the discrepancy in the enrollment opportunity of higher education for children from different strata in the EM province in order to find a breakthrough to narrow the gap.
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The internal efficiency in higher education: An analysis based on economies of scope
CHENG Gang , WU Keming
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 79-97.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-008-0005-7

Abstract   PDF (364KB)
Among the studies of the internal efficiency in higher education, most have focused on the scale of university (the economies of scale), but little on internal operating efficiency in higher education, especially on the combined efficiency of outputs (the economies of scope). There are few theoretical discussions or experimental research on whether teaching resources are complementary with research resources, or whether resources in undergraduate cultivation are shared with those in postgraduate training. In the background of the resource scarcity, it is significant to study the economies of scope in higher education to realize intensive development of higher education. Based on the multiproduct cost function and the data of universities attached to the Ministry of Education, this paper attempts to deal with the complementarities of resources used in undergraduate cultivation, postgraduate training and research to find that universities produce these outputs without sufficient resource sharing, the diseconomies of scope in postgraduate training is highest. As far as the quality of teaching and research are concerned, diseconomies of scope of the outputs are great. The main reasons are as follows: poor distribution of facilities, teachers and books, overlapping internal management systems, and the current postgraduate cultivation model. Therefore, relative departments should take internal resource sharing in higher education into account when making the administration policy of higher education.
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On the development of postdoctoral education in China
YAO Yun
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 89-102.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0007-x

Abstract   PDF (410KB)
Having experienced three stages of preliminary establishment , rapid and comprehensive development  and steady development  for twenty years, China s postdoctoral system is moving towards a new one, the stage of quality improvement and innovation development.  Remarkable achievements in the system include cultivating talented personnel, promoting the construction and development of disciplines, integrating production, learning and research, as well as scientific research achievements. However, some problems still exist in its managerial system, the science funds subsidized as well as the relationship between the mobile station and the workstation.1 Based on the above analysis, the author suggests that the postdoctoral system in the new era should be innovative in its systems of management, cultivation, funds collection, subvention and evaluation.
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On financial support system for compulsory education in China’s Western minority areas
QI Jinyu
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 97-115.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-008-0006-6

Abstract   PDF (322KB)
China’s Western Development is a policy adopted to boost its less developed Western regions, that is, a systematic project and a longterm and arduous task. The development of compulsory education in China’s minority areas is the key to it. This paper attempts to use the beneficial experience of developing compulsory education support system of other countries for reference so as to explore financial support system suitable for the situation of China’s compulsory education in minority areas.
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On the bankruptcy of private higher education institutions in China
ZHOU Guoping, XIE Zuoxu
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 103-118.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0008-9

Abstract   PDF (347KB)
In recent years, closing down private higher education institutions (HEIs) has become a serious problem in China. It seems that doubt is cast on the rationality of private HEIs and severe competition contributes a lot to their development. Many problems in the process of self-development are caused by both internal and external factors. From the perspective of sustainable development and the healthy development of students, priority should be given to the evolution of an idea to provide a positive environment for the development of private HEIs. This paper is an effort to deal with the statement that higher education in China is a seller s market and aims to do an objective estimate of the development space for private HEIs. In addition, it shows a clear understanding of establishing the prediction system for relevant issues of private higher education to guarantee the sound development of private HEIs.
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Educational wisdom and intellectual teachers are called on by the times
TIAN Huisheng
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 119-132.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0009-8

Abstract   PDF (266KB)
Currently, there is lack of educational wisdom in classroom teaching. Educational wisdom is a kind of quality of good education, representing a free, harmonious, open and creative status of education. The educational wisdom of intel
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The impact of overeducation on earnings in China
WU Xiangrong
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 123-154.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-008-0008-4

Abstract   PDF (262KB)
The paper estimates the returns to overeducation by the Over-Required and Undereducation (ORU) model. The estimated results indicate that the returns to overeducation are positive, but lower than the returns to required education, which suggests that while overeducated employees’ earnings are diminished, they still can benefit from it. The paper also attempts to estimate the returns to overeducation by occupations, industries and regions. The result shows that in the field where educational level has much to do with the skills required by employers, education-job match has a greater effect on one’s earnings, such as professionals and skilled persons. On the contrary, education-job mismatch has little effect on one’s earnings, such as non-skilled employees, administrative and clerical employees. In addition, the returns to overeducation are lower or insignificant for those working in competitive but lower paid industries and areas. Conversely, the returns to overeducation are higher for those working in the highly monopolized and highly paid industry and area. It can be argued that regardless of the incidence of overeducation, those with higher level of education prefer to choose the lower level of job in these industries and areas.
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A research on the professional moral conducts of teachers in China
FENG Li
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 133-139.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0010-2

Abstract   PDF (270KB)
Developing a professional ethics is crucial towards amassing the ranks of high-quality teachers, which contributes to the improvement of national education. This study bases its analysis on the survey of humanistic qualities of Ch
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Parental expectation of early childhood education: comparison between China, Japan, and Korea
ZHOU Aibao, MA Xiaofeng, Aoyagi Hajime
Front. Educ. China. 2007, 2 (1): 140-147.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-007-0011-1

Abstract   PDF (272KB)
This study investigates 727 parents from China, Japan, and Korea by a self-devised scale and compares the differences in their expectation of early childhood education in cross-cultural backgrounds. The result shows that parents from
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15 articles