Ancillary #9

I am interested in exploring the education inequality in China, precisely the education inequality after the nine-year compulsory education. After graduating from middle school, students immediately face the pressure from Zhong Kao (high-school entrance exam), determining if they are eligible for a high school education or going to vocational schools, fifty to fifty ratio. Going to vocational schools signifies the end of your education in China, and you are forced to participate in society. On the other hand, wealthy families may save their children from such fierce competition, sending them directly to international schools and exposing them to international education to prepare them to apply to colleges and universities in the western world.

I am specifically interested in analyzing the education inequality in international education. Even though many families are wealthy to send their children aboard, there are still considerable differences in destinations and programs depending on their wealth and willingness to spend on their children. Since middle school, families can send their children abroad to the United States, expenditures near a million dollars when they finish their bachelor’s degrees. Families can also send their children to Malaysia or Thailand, gaining a master’s degree for under ten thousand dollars. The vast education inequality already existed in traditional education paths in China, and even international education has such disparities.

Also, I am trying to know how families decide if they should send their children abroad instead of receiving Chinese college educations. I plan to compare and contrast the scene with that in South Korea, which had a going-aboard bloom in the early 2010s but has declined dramatically in recent years. The more prominent topic will be how international education inequalities address wealth differences in China and worldwide, as wealthy people generally have influences globally. The disparity in international education, in a broader context, will be to investigate wealth and status differences.