| Whether the current compulsory education system in China is too long has always been a controversial issue.Those in favor of shortening the educational system believe that the long years of study at the compulsory education stage in China will reduce the number of years for students to contribute to society when they grow up.At the same time,the long time of school education will also increase the pressure of social aging.On the contrary,if students graduate early or get employment,they can increase the number of workers and alleviate the aging.Chemical pressure.However,in today’s knowledge-based economy era,the key to coping with the disappearance of the demographic dividend depends more on the improvement of the quality of labor force.Therefore,the reform of school system in compulsory education stage should be beneficial to,rather than weakening,the quality of labor force such as education level.It is against this background that this paper examines the short-term and long-term effects of the compulsory education system in China,measured by the level of education access and income,to answer the question whether the 6-3 compulsory education system is too long.Firstly,by combing the historical changes and current situation of primary and secondary school system in China,and comparing with other countries’ school system,we can preliminarily judge that the 6-3 compulsory education system in China is not too long.Secondly,in the analysis of theoretical mechanism,when studying the influence of different school systems on individual education,this paper finds that the positive impact of 6-3 compulsory education system on individual education level is greater than that of 5-3 compulsory education system through the perspective of curriculum arrangement,cognitive development stage theory,educational diversion and age opportunity cost analysis.In the end,with the help of human capital theory,it is found that the positive impact of the 6-3 compulsory education system on individual income level is also greater than that of the 5-3 compulsory education system.However,according to the screening theory,the signal effect of the 6-3 compulsory education system may not be strong enough to have a little positive impact on income,especially in urban areas.The empirical research in this paper also supports the results of theoretical analysis.Empirical research using the data of China Labor Force Dynamic Survey(CLDS)in 2012 shows that,firstly,the 6-3 compulsory education system promotes the improvement of individual education.After controlling the quality of schools and other characteristics,the probability of individuals receiving 6-3 compulsory education system in high school is about 7.0 percentage points higher than that of 5-3 compulsory education system,and the probability of receiving higher education is about 5.9 percentage points higher than that of 5-3 compulsory education system.Secondly,the 6-3 compulsory education system promotes the increase of personal income.Although the 6-3 compulsory education system delays the time for individuals to enter the labor market and thus reduces their income,it increases their income by increasing their education level.The results show that the overall income effect of the 6-3 compulsory education system is positive,reaching 9.7%.Thirdly,in rural areas,the 6-3 compulsory education system plays a greater role in promoting education and income level than in urban areas,which is conducive to reducing intergenerational transmission and narrowing the gap between rich and poor.Based on the above analysis results,this study puts forward the following policy recommendations: First,to shorten the school system should be carefully implemented.Secondly,rural areas should continue to adhere to the 6-3 compulsory education system unchanged,and the government should increase educational support for poor rural families.Thirdly,the experiment of shortening the educational system can be carried out in some economically developed areas. |
