Meritocracy and Its Discontent: Anxiety and the National College Entrance Exam in China by Zachary M.Howlett, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press, 2021, xiv + 266 pp.

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
College Entrance ◽  
College Entrance Exam ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
Cornell University

Talking ‘Bout My Generation: Defining “First-Generation College Students” in Higher Education Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Robert K. Toutkoushian ◽  
Robert A. Stollberg ◽  
Kelly A. Slaton
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
College Students ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation College Students ◽  
College Entrance ◽  
College Entrance Exam ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
First Generation College Student ◽  
First Generation College ◽  
College Educated

Background/Context There have been numerous studies conducted in the higher education literature to determine whether parental education is related to the academic plans and success of their children. Within this literature, particular emphasis is often given to children who are “first-generation college students.” However, researchers and policy makers have not reached agreement on what constitutes a first-generation college student and whether the definition affects the findings from their studies. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In this study, we examined whether the way in which first-generation college status was defined affected its association with the likelihood of a student going to college. We used data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:02), which is a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 10th-grade students in 2002 who were followed up in 2004, 2006, and 2012. Research Design We used binary and multinomial logistic regression analysis to examine how first-generation college status, as well as other personal, family, and school characteristics, were associated with whether a student took a college entrance exam, applied to college, and enrolled in college. For this study, we constructed eight different definitions of a first-generation college student. The definitions varied with regard to the level of education needed for a parent to be considered “college educated” and the number of parents meeting the education criteria. Conclusions/Recommendations Our results showed that the connection between first-generation college status and these three outcomes varied depending on how first-generation college status was defined. In general, we found larger deficits for first-generation college students when neither parent was college educated and when college educated was defined as earning a bachelor's degree or higher. First-generation college students faced the largest deficits for enrolling in college, and smaller (but often significant) deficits for taking a college entrance exam and applying to college. The results imply that researchers should be very specific about how they are defining first-generation college status and should determine whether their findings are sensitive to how the variable was defined.

Meritocracy and Its Discontents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary M. Howlett
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
College Admission ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Rite Of Passage ◽  
College Entrance ◽  
College Entrance Exam ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
The Social

This book investigates the wider social, political, religious, and economic dimensions of the Gaokao, China's national college entrance exam, as well as the complications that arise from its existence. Each year, some nine million high-school seniors in China take the Gaokao, which determines college admission and provides a direct but difficult route to an urban lifestyle for China's hundreds of millions of rural residents. But with college graduates struggling to find good jobs, some are questioning the exam's legitimacy — and, by extension, the fairness of Chinese society. Chronicling the experiences of underprivileged youth, the book illuminates how people remain captivated by the exam because they regard it as fateful — an event both consequential and undetermined. The book finds that the exam enables people both to rebel against the social hierarchy and to achieve recognition within it. It contends that the Gaokao serves as a pivotal rite of passage in which people strive to personify cultural virtues such as diligence, composure, filial devotion, and divine favor.

A Bias for Science: Institutions, Pedagogy, and the Reality of Student Choice Across Subjects in China's NCEE Reforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 105678792110622
Author(s):  
Mei Lan Frame
Keyword(s):  
Fine Arts ◽  
National Development ◽  
Student Choice ◽  
College Entrance ◽  
College Entrance Exam ◽  
Entrance Exam ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Government Reforms ◽  
Recent Government

This paper examines the issue of student choice across subject streams in recent government reforms to China’s National College Entrance Exam (NCEE). Utilizing data from a case study of an urban high school in Beijing, it argues that student choice of subjects across previous streams of science or fine arts runs counter to existing institutional structures at the secondary and higher education level, consideration of pedagogical techniques that differ by streams, and a “bias” for science grounded in sociohistorical concerns of national development.

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