A Study On The Evolution Of Curriculum Discourse In Rural Schools In China Since The Reform And Opening Up

At present,the problem of rural education has become the focus of educational research.As the basic elements of rural educational activities and the main carrier for the realization of goals,rural school curriculum is undoubtedly the most important part.The discourse of education scholars on the curriculum of rural schools is not only related to the construction of the curriculum discourse system,but also has an important impact on curriculum practice.This research takes the discourse of educational scholars directly or indirectly about the rural school curriculum as the research object,uses research methods such as literature,historical and discourse analysis to sort out the academic discourse of rural school curriculum since the reform and opening-up and analyzes the discourse of each period from the perspectives of discourse text,discourse production strategy and social context.It can not only present the research process of Chinese educational scholars on rural school curriculum issues,but also show their discourse position,speech strategies and thinking mode fundamentally and finally enhance the reflection on rural education research.Since the beginning of reform and opening-up,the evolution of curriculum academic discourse in rural schools in China has shown three stages and three kinds of discourse: the discourse of “nurturing farmers”which is from reform and opening-up to the early 1990s;the discourse of“leaving home” which is from the Mid-1990 s to the beginning of the new century;the discourse of “returning home” which is from the new century to the present.Specifically,the three discourses have their own characteristics in terms of discourse text,discourse production and social context.The discourse of “nurturing farmers” emphasizes the economic benefits of the rural school curriculum,showing an obvious characteristic of instrumentalism based on the national standpoint.The speaker realizes the discourse production by fusing academic discourse with political discourse and actively presenting oneself and passively presenting the other.And the fate of students staying in rural areas under the control of population mobility,the fact of agricultural transformation and the lack of talents and the restoration of the enrollment system of college entrance examination under the tradition of imperial examination have promoted the emergence of the discourse.The discourse of “leaving home” pays attention to the curriculum requirements of rural people to realize class mobility through,showing the characteristics of instrumentalism orientation based on the standpoint of the people.The speaker realizes the discourse production by re-contextualizing the discourse of “nurturing farmers”,integrating academic discourse with the public discourse and presenting the weak image of self and a strong image of others.During this period,the emergence of surplus labor force and the loosening of population mobility control made it inevitable for students to enter the city,and the introduction of educational equity theory and population migration theory provided theoretical resources for its emergence.The discourse of “returning home” which is based on the intellectuals' nostalgia for rural and rural education in the past and calling for the reconstruction of rural culture through rural school curriculum is romanticism.The speaker realizes the discourse production through the presuppositional description of the modernity crisis of rural culture and the re-contextualization of the "leaving home" discourse.During this period,the political ideology of cultural confidence and the policy concern of local culture provided guidance for the transformation of educational discourse to local culture.the movement of school closure and merger led to the departure of students and the objective historical facts of local culture which is loaded with farming culture and traditional culture further promoted the thinking of the relationship between rural school curriculum and local culture.Throughout the evolution of curriculum discourse,it is found that the curriculum discourse of rural schools presents problems such as a single speaking position,pendulum development of content and influenced by social and historical background.In this regard,researchers mustpaying attention to multiple needs,avoiding a single standpoint;transcending binary opposing thinking,move towards systematic thinking of curriculum values;insisting on academic autonomy and correctly dealing with the relationship between curriculum and society are the ideals for the development of curriculum discourse in rural schools.