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Towards Meritocratic Apartheid? Points Systems and Migrant Access to China's Urban Public Schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2021

Yi Wan Open the ORCID record for Yi Wan [Opens in a new window]  and
Edward Vickers Open the ORCID record for Edward Vickers [Opens in a new window]
Yi Wan
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. Email: wan.yi.023@s.kyushu-u.ac.jp.
Edward Vickers
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. Email: vickers.edward.645@m.kyushu-u.ac.jp (corresponding author).
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Abstract

This paper analyses rural migrant children's access to public schools in urban China, focusing on the implications of the recent introduction of points systems for apportioning school places. This approach, first piloted by Zhongshan city in Guangdong province from 2009, has steadily been extended nationwide. Here, we analyse the reasons for its spread and for divergence in its implementation in various urban districts. Notwithstanding rhetorical claims that points systems promote “fairness” or “equality” in the treatment of migrants, our analysis suggests that they maintain or even exacerbate the stratification of urban society, lending new legitimation to the hierarchical differentiation of entitlements. This is consistent with the aim of the 2014 “New national urbanization plan” to divert urban growth from megacities towards smaller cities. However, we argue that the use of points systems should also be seen in the context of an evolving bureaucratic-ideological project aimed at more rigorously monitoring and assessing China's entire population, invoking the logic of meritocracy for the purpose of control.

摘要

摘要

本文分析了中国城市中农民工随迁子女进入公立学校的入学门槛，重点关注了近年来引入的积分制对其教育机会均等的影响。该方法于 2009 年在广东省中山市首次试行，现已稳步推广到全国多个省市。我们考察了其被广泛推行的原因以及在各个省市区具体实施中的差异。尽管有言论声称积分制在对待国内移民方面促进了“公平”或“平等”，但分析表明，这项制度维持甚至加剧了城市社会的阶层分化，为权利的等级划分提供了新的正当性支持。这与 2014 年《国家新型城市化规划（2014–2020）》旨在将城市发展重心从大城市转移到中小城市的目标是一致的。我们认为，当将积分制的应用放在不断发展的官僚和意识形态体系的背景下讨论时，它旨在更严格地监控和评价中国的整个人口，反映了其背后采用精英体制以达到控制目的的深层管理逻辑。

Keywords

Chinaurbanizationeducationequitysegregationpoints systemmeritocracymigrant childrenurban public schoolssuzhi中国教育公平隔离城市化积分制精英主义农民工随迁子女城市公立学校素质
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 249 , March 2022 , pp. 210 - 238
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of SOAS University of London

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