The Relationship Of Family Capital And Cognitive Ability Of Migrant Children

With the continuous improvement of national policies,the problem of attending school of migrant children has been greatly improved.According to data released by the Ministry of Education,since 2011,the proportion of migrant children entering public schools has reached 80%.Therefore,the discussion on the education of migrant children is also transferred to the education of migrant children in different schools(such as public schools,private schools,migrant children’s schools)to the adaptability of migrant children in public schools and the effect of school resources on migrant children.Although the problem of enrolling migrant children has been improved,in view of the fact that the policies for the high school entrance examinations and the college entrance examinations have not been improved,the opportunities for migrant children to achieve upward mobility through education remain slim.Under this realistic situation,it is more meaningful to think about the cultivation of the cognitive abilities of the migrant children,regardless of the migrant children themselves,the families of migrant children or the stability of the whole society.There are two ways to cultivate the cognitive ability of migrant children.One is the influence caused by the subtle influence of parents in the original family,and the other is the conscious creation of school education.However,the school where the migrant children are enrolled is ultimately the result of family self-selection.Therefore,in the construction of the full-text research framework,this paper incorporates the school as part of the family capital into the model for analysis.Through in-depth discussion of parental cultural capital,economic capital,social capital on the path of migrant children’ own capital construction,find out the role of family capital on the cognitive ability of migrant children.On this basis,the differences in cognitive ability caused by the primary family factors are compared and analyzed.Considering the cultivation of cognitive skills of migrant children as public goods,not only should the government level further increase efforts to improve the education status of migrant children,but also encourage all sectors of society to intervene.Using the classical Bourdieu family capital theory as the guiding theory to analyze the cultivation path and results of cognitive ability of the migrant children.On the one hand,it is aim to achieve the purpose of guiding the practice using theory,and on the other hand,it is the re-examined of the Bourdieu family capital theory which is rooted in the Western society,in the specific field of the Chinese migrant workers group.In different fields,the mechanism of family capital theory plays a different role.The seeking of mechanism of family capital theory in the field of migrant workers’ families is the theoretical innovation of this paper,although it has only stepped a small step forward on the basis of predecessors.It analyzes the law of the family’s effect on the cognitive ability of migrant children.On this basis,it is of great practical significance to adopt the policy and practice of making up and replacing measures to promote the children of migrant workers to become better adults.Bourdieu’s family capital theory holds that family resources play a decisive role in the education of children.The influence of primary families on their children’s education is played through three ways: family cultural capital,social capital,and economic capital.Three kinds of capital can be transformed into each other.Cultural capital is the most important and core part of the three kinds of capital.The theory extracted by Coleman’s report complements Bourdieu’s family capital theory.It believes that family resources fundamentally determine the academic performance of children.Families with strong family capital,even in schools with poor teachers,can achieve good marks,and family capital makes up for the shortage of schools.In contrast,the children’s academic performance in families with limited family resources is largely determined by school resources,and school resources make up for the lack of family.This paper uses quantitative and qualitative methods to study the cognitive ability of migrant children.Quantitative research is the mainstay,supplemented by qualitative research.Based on the data of 2013-2014 of CEPS(China Education Panel Survey),with the interview of migrant workers’ families,this paper analyzes the path and factors that influence the development of cognitive skills of migrant children from two aspects of family capital(including family cultural capital,family economic capital,family social capital)and school quality.And further explores whether school resources can become an important supplement to the lack of family resources during the growth of migrant children.It is found that parental cultural capital plays an irreplaceable role in shaping the cultural capital of migrant children.The nature of the school and the ranking of the school cannot cross the family to cultivate the good cultural habits and cultural behaviors of migrant children.In the aspect of cultivating the cognitive ability of migrant children,parents’ cultural capital and the cultural capital of migrant children themselves play a significant role.The high-quality teaching resources will further promote the cognitive ability of migrant children and become an important supplement to the lack of cultural capital of farmer workers’ families.The study of the influence of family social capital on the cognitive ability of migrant children has been designed three sets of variables: family internal social capital,external social closed network,and children’s school quality.The results show that the biggest influence on the cognitive ability of migrant children is the social capital variables within the family,including the number of brothers and sisters,parent-child exchange activities,and parents’ educational expectations.As for the nature of the school and the school rank two variables,only the local ranking variables of the school have a weak promotion effect on the cognitive ability scores of migrant children.It shows that in the game of family social capital and school resources,family social capital plays a decisive role in the cognitive ability of migrant children.In contrast,the role of school resource factors is relatively small,even can be neglected.Family economic capital can directly improve the cognitive ability of migrant children.In the case of a prosperous family economy,migrant parents will spend more time and energy on their children’s study,and are more willing to make economic investments to improve their children’s academic performance.In the two indirect paths in which family economic capital plays a role as the dependent variable,the indirect effect through the family cultural capital as hidden variable is not significant,and it only exerts an indirect influence through the family social capital variable.It shows that family economic capital not only directly plays an important role in cultivating the cognitive ability of migrant children,but also plays a significant indirect role through family social capital.It also proves once again that the family economic capital plays an important role in the self-selection process of the quality of the schools.In general,school resources have indeed played a role in making up for the lack of family capital to boost the cognitive ability of migrant children.Migrant children who enjoy high teaching quality have significantly higher cognitive abilities than those who are enrolled in other schools.However,the family background of the migrant children studying in the same school environment is still the main factor in the gap of cognitive ability.Whether it is family education or school choice,the original reason is the difference in the education level of migrant parents.The difference in academic qualifications,on the surface,is the difference in human capital and the resulting gap in income and occupational status.The deeper reason is the difference in concept,consciousness and mode of thinking among different academic populations.This study still stays within the research framework of the impact of family resources on the education of migrant children.The next step should be extended to the extra-family environment.It is of great significance to enter the public school to adapt to the adaptability of migrant children,and to study the construction and function of the communication network between public schools and farmer workers’ families.Further research and discussion are needed.