Rethinking Post-Mao China’s educational record – and its lessons for elsewhere

Rethinking Post-Mao China’s educational record – and its lessons for elsewhere

Presenter: Edward Vickers, Professor of Comparative Education, Kyushu University
Venue: Meeting room 1 , 1st floor, Center Zone 1, Kyushu University (Ito Campus)
九州大学伊都キャンパスセンター１号館, 第１会議室
Time: 1230-1430
Date: 20th June 2017

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed mingled alarm and envy in the West at the supposed excellence of China’s education system – epitomized by Shanghai’s PISA success. But much public discussion of the context for that success, and of the nature of the education system that has produced it, remains worryingly superficial. Drawing on a new monograph, Education and Society in Post-Mao China (Routledge 2017), this talk re-examines the educational record of China during the four decades of ‘Reform and Opening’. It argues that evaluation of this record depends very much on the evaluator’s comparative perspective and ethical assumptions. Notwithstanding its impressive performance on many counts, education in Post-Mao China has played a key role in fostering radical social stratification – a role that is not accidental, but intrinsic to the system’s design. At the same time, the role assigned to education in political socialization – aimed partly at legitimating the system’s radical shift away from egalitarianism – carries potential threats for the country’s stability.

I look forward to discussing with those from other disciplines or fields who share an interest in contemporary China.

Please register here  https://goo.gl/forms/pMA6MJmzkB9snIfZ2

Center Zone 1, Kyushu University Ito Campus 九州大学伊都キャンパスセンター１号館