The Explores Into The Differences In Access To Henan Senior Secondary Education Among Children From Social Strata

Secondary education, which is a transition period in the educational system, is an important phase in the whole career of education. As China is undergoing a profound change in social class structure and hierarchy system, study on access to secondary education is of both theoretical and practical significance.Choosing the perspective of sociology, this thesis is aimed at an empirical discussion on the internal and external reasons for the differences in access to secondary education based on a survey of students'family background. The purpose of this thesis is to put forward a suggestion on the policy of narrowing the differences in access to secondary education.This thesis comprises four parts. Part One is an introduction of the problem in discussion and an analysis of the significance of the study. Part Two offers an analysis of the survey made on the differences in access to secondary education in Henan province. Part Three focuses on the discussion of the elements affecting the differences. The final part is mainly concerned with the suggestion of the policy of narrowing the differences.The following is the main point of this thesis: Firstly, different students from different families have different chances of enrolling in the four types of schools, namely provincial model high school, municipal model high school, secondary profession training school, and ordinary high school. The difference is most conspicuous in the first type and least remarkable in the last one. Bearing this in mind, ordinary high school should be developed so that the access to secondary education can be balanced between different families.Secondly, among the three elements that affect access to secondary education, cultural background of the family is more influential than the other two---social and economic background of the family. Thirdly, the differences of school types still remain in spite of the fact that the urban and rural differences in access to secondary education are reduced with the high school and university enrollment scale being enlarged.