Supporting data for "The Idea of “Useless Education” in the University Massification Era: Educational Aspiration and Rational Choice in Rural China "

Global evidence has consistently documented persistent inequalities after the expansion of higher education (Hutchings & Archer, 2001; Shavit & Blossfeld, 1993). China, with its higher education system reached the “massification” level, is no exception. The expansion has positioned rural students to a more challenging situation in the higher education arena and labor market (Mok & Wu, 2016; Wu & Treiman, 2007). Scholars argue that the third wave of “useless education” (“讀書無用論”) has returned to rural China. Given that most students in the Chinese educational system are from rural districts, this is an increasing social concern with substantial consequences for national stability and legitimacy (Shi et al., 2015). Therefore, rural families’ educational orientation warrants a more updated understanding. However, it has received scant scholarly attention from the stratification literature (Yu, 2020). In this respect, this study explores rural Chinese families’ educational aspiration and their rational choice of higher education.

Following a qualitative-driven mixed method approach, this study targets 96 purposefully selected rural families as the main research subjects for in-depth semi-structured interview. Meanwhile, 1,321 students from a targeted rural middle school filled the survey. This study adopts Rational
Choice Theory (RCT) as the thinking tool to unpack rural Chinese families’ university-going decision mechanism.
In general, there are mainly three propositions formed from the findings. The first and major one is: rural families adopted the overcompensating strategy to react to the structural change of university massification, thus hardly leaving room for the idea of “useless education” (“讀書無用 論”) to exist in the local community. Specifically, they treat a university degree a basic threshold, and aimed for a higher level of educational degree. The second proposition is that: the “usefulness” of higher education is perceived by more of its instrumental value, with its bottom line be free from unstable manual labor work, such as “more money” and “better jobs”. However, when money is at the cost of instability or a nature of manual labor, their quest for high salaries give way to their quest for stability and non-manual work nature. The last proposition is that: most of the rural families’ “anti-school behaviors” are caused by a number of structural reasons, NOT because they believe in the idea of “useless education”.
This study fills research gaps in understanding rural Chinese educational aspiration and their rational choice for higher education faced university massification. By providing an agent-based perspective, it offers perspectives that largely different from the dominant interpretation. It also explains the third wave of “useless education” (“讀書無用論”) by removing assumptions that are taken for granted. Theoretically, it enrichs the RCT by examining a context where purely economic constrains might not be sufficient to explain human agency’s educational decision-making. In practice, with an updated understanding on current rural Chinese educational orientation, it can also shed light on how Chinese government and the higher educational system can provide targeted support for rural families to realize their higher education opportunities.

全球研究证据持续表明，高等教育扩张之后，不平等现象依然持续存在（Hutchings & Archer, 2001；Shavit & Blossfeld, 1993）。我国高等教育体系已步入“大众化”阶段，亦不例外。教育扩张使得农村学生面临着高等教育领域及劳动力市场的更大挑战（Mok & Wu, 2016；Wu & Treiman, 2007）。学者们认为，第三波“读书无用论”已重新在农村中国出现。鉴于我国教育体系中大部分学生来自农村地区，这已成为一个日益增长的社会关注点，对社会稳定和合法性产生重大影响（Shi et al., 2015）。因此，农村家庭的教育取向亟待更新理解。然而，这一领域在分层文献中的学术关注度却甚少（Yu, 2020）。鉴于此，本研究旨在探究农村中国家庭的教育期望及其对高等教育的理性选择。研究采用定性驱动的混合方法，以96个有意选取的农村家庭为主要研究对象，进行深入半结构化访谈。同时，来自目标农村中学的1,321名学生参与了问卷调查。本研究采用理性选择理论（RCT）作为分析工具，以揭示农村中国家庭选择大学的教育决策机制。总体而言，研究发现主要有三个命题。首先是：农村家庭采取过度补偿策略以应对大学大众化结构的转变，从而在当地社区中几乎不存在“读书无用论”的思想。具体而言，他们将大学学位视为基本门槛，并追求更高层次的教育水平。第二个命题是：高等教育被视为更具工具性的“有用性”，其底线是摆脱不稳定的手工劳动工作，如“更多金钱”和“更好的工作”。然而，当金钱以不稳定或手工劳动的性质为代价时，他们对高薪的追求让步于对稳定和非手工劳动性质的追求。最后一个命题是：大多数农村家庭的“反学校行为”是由一系列结构性原因造成的，而非因为他们相信“读书无用论”的思想。本研究填补了理解农村中国教育期望及其在大学大众化面前理性选择高等教育的研究空白。通过提供基于智能体的视角，本研究提供了与主导解释截然不同的观点。它还通过摒弃被普遍接受的假设来解释“读书无用论”的第三波。在理论上，它通过考察一个纯粹的经济约束可能不足以解释人类代理教育决策的情境，丰富了RCT。在实践中，通过对当前农村中国教育取向的更新理解，它还可以阐明中国政府及高等教育体系如何为农村家庭提供有针对性的支持，以实现他们的高等教育机会。