Perceived Discrimination And Cognitive Ability Of Migrant Children

In recent years,with the change in the migration mode of migrant workers,the number of children of migrant workers living with their parents has been constantly expanding.According to the Statistical Communique on the Development of National Education in 2020,the total number of children of migrant workers receiving compulsory education in China reached 14.2973 million,an increase of 27,700 over 2019,accounting for 9.16 percent of all students receiving compulsory education in China.The expansion of the scale of migrant children has caused the academic circle and the government to pay attention to their education.With the further advancement of the national educational policy,our current education has basically completed the primary educational equity,and almost every student has a fair chance to enter the compulsory education stage.The negative impact of institutional discrimination on the educational results of children living with them has decreased,but the social status of children living with them is still in a marginal position,and the stigma of children living with them still exists.Therefore,it is necessary to investigate the influence and mechanism of non-institutional discrimination on the growth of children living with them.In this paper,the mixed research method is used to systematically study the discrimination perception of migrant children.The quantitative part mainly adopts the empirical analysis method,based on the baseline data of China Education Tracing Survey(CEPS),to consider the current status of the cognitive ability of the children of the migrated children,and adopts the fixed effect OLS model and ordered probit model to analyze the impact of discrimination perception on cognitive ability and the mechanism of action.In the part of qualitative research,this paper selects 7 children of migrant workers from two junior high schools in Taizhou,Jiangsu Province,to conduct questionnaire interviews.On the basis of in-depth interviews,narrative research is adopted.On the basis of inductive analysis,the influence of discrimination perception on migrant workers’ children is summarized,and the construction process of discrimination perception under different fields is analyzed.The study found that: 1.Forms of discrimination include verbal ridicule,behavioral exclusion and fighting.Discrimination is not based solely on out-of-towner status;other factors,including academic performance,family circumstances and norms of behavior,also play an important role.In the field of family and school,the children of the accompanying families are affected by the weak status of the family and the weak support system of the school,which jointly construct the perception of discrimination.2.After controlling the influence of other factors,the influence of the variable perceived discrimination passed the significance test at the 1% level and the sign was negative,indicating that the perceived discrimination had a statistically significant negative impact on the cognitive ability of the children living with them.3.The perception of discrimination affects cognitive ability mainly through two mechanisms: social interaction(family and school)and students’ subjective initiative.The decrease of family interaction,the deterioration of school environment,and the decrease of their own educational expectations and academic efficacy are the main reasons for the cognitive decline of their children.4.Based on the influence mechanism and construction dimension of discrimination perception,this paper tries to put forward solutions from the aspects of family,school and policy,so as to dissolve the perception of discrimination and make the children of migrant workers better integrate into urban life.Finally,this paper argues that it is necessary to build an equal and inclusive environment for the children of migrant workers from the perspectives of family,school and government policies.At the family level,build a harmonious family atmosphere,shape the family affection and humanistic care;At the school level,play the home role of the school,multi-dimensional guidance and solution;At the government level,we will improve the enrollment policy for children of migrant workers and promote fairness in compulsory education.