学术论文翻译范例


城市居民子女教育问题研究
 
Studies on Education among Urban Residents’ Children


  

  课题摘要 教育是强国之本。二十一世纪是知识经济的时代,“经济增长—知识进步—教育发展”这种内在逻辑决定了教育是事关全局的先导性产业,是经济发展的“根基”。教育对经济发展的影响不可低估,它不仅能缓解就业压力,带支相关产业的发展,而且能有效控制人口生育率水平,对提高全社会的劳动生产率有极大的效力,是提高综合国力的关键所在。

 

  教育供给不足现象依然存在,教育用属于为数不多的买方市场,同时我国居民尤其是城市居民的教育愿望却日益高涨,教育需求尤其是高等教育需求潜力巨大,因此,从满足居民教育需求出发,应大力发展我国教育业。

 

  21世纪是知识经济朝代,在国力竞争日趋激烈、人力资本观念日益深入的今天,接受教育,提高个人素质更加为人们所重视,人民群众接受教育的意愿更加高涨。然而长期以来,由于我国政府财力限制及教育体制方面的原因,巨大的教育需求没有得到满足,形成对当今及未来经济发展的瓶颈制约。如何突破教育供给制约,最大限度的满足人民群众日益增长的物质文化需要是摆在众人面前亟待解决的问题。为此,本文试以我国城市居民子女教育问题为视角,运用1999年全国城市住户基本情况调查的资料,分析城市居民教育消费现状及潜力的基础上,从不同层面阐述了发展教育的必要性,并对突破教育供给制约途径予以探讨,旨在为大力发展教育、满足居民教育需求提供科学决策依据。

 

一、我国教育发展概况及存在的问题

  (一)总体发展水平
新中国的教育是经济落后、教育水平极低的情况下发展起来的。旧中国,有近80%的人口不能入学接受教育,小学适龄人口入学率仅占20%。新中国成立后,发展教育被提到了重要议事日程,被确定为长期战略方针,党和国家把教育摆到了优先发展的战略位置。

 

  1、教育规模迅速壮大。截止到1998年底,全国有73%的人口普及了义务教育,义务教育的普及程序已接近中等收入国家的水平;92%的人口地区普及了小学教育。青壮年文盲率已下降到5.5%,基本扭转了我国文盲、半文盲大国的局面,国民素质有了明显的提高。小学、初中学龄人口的入学率1998年分别提高到98.8%和87.3%;中小学的升学机会有所提高,小学和初中毕业生的升学率分别从1995年的90.8%、48.3%提高到94.3%和50.7%。1998年小学在校生数达13953.8万人,初中在校学生达5363万人,高中在校生数达938万人,分别比1952年提高1.73倍、23倍和26倍。

 

  义务教育后的各级各类教育也有较大发展。高中阶段教育毛入学率提高到34.4%。普通高中毕业生升学率达到46.1%。高等教育迅速发展,变通高校和成人高等学校本专科在校生达到623万人,加上自学高考等其它形式的高等教育,我国高等教育总人口已超过800万人,高等教育毛入学率提高到9.1%。按现有教育结构和规模计算,从1996年到1998年,我国6岁儿童一生人均期望受教育年限从6.85年提高到10年。

 

  2、教育体制改革有重大突破。在教育体系方面,我国已初步形成了以九年义务教育为基础、以高等教育为龙头、职业教育和民办教育共同发展的新的教育体系框架。在办学体制方面,逐步打破了政府包揽办学的格局,初步形成了以政府办学为主和社会各界共同办学的体制。在教育管理体制方面,义务教育管理已下放到了地方,这极大地调动了地方政府办学的积极性,促进了义务教育的发展。在毕业生分配方面初实行了大中专毕业生“双向选择”、自主择业的新体制。

 

(二)存在的突出问题

1、教育供给严重不足,结构性供需矛盾异常尖锐

   据统计,全国每年报考大学人数达300万人,而普通高等学校实际录取人数只有100万人,只有很少比例的同年龄人口上大学,尽管我国已进入世界下中等收入水平,部分城市已达到世界中等收入水平,但是我国大学生入学率低于中等收入国家水平,享有高等教育服务的排队现象相当突出,千军万马过“独木桥”的情形没有根本改变,很多有志者因达不到统一规定分数线被堵在高校门外,不能继续接受高一层次的教育。且看山东的实际,1996年,山东229971人参加高考,132993人落榜;1997年,255272人参加高考,173097人落榜;1998年,296655人参加高考,196666人落榜。在这些“一锤定乾坤”、“一考定终身”的落败的人中,就因为没有足够的教育供给能力而使60%人的教育需求得不到满足,致使一部分有实力的家长把眼光投向国外,在我国珠江三角洲地区已悄然兴起国外读中学甚至读小学的热潮,据估计,每年从我国广东流向国外的教育资金至少在十亿元以上。其流失程序已相当严重。

 

  2、高等教育发展缓慢,教育层次低重心

  按国际可以口径的公共教育经费统计,我国年底公共教育经费按美元折算为170亿美元,世界各国公共教育经费总数为11500亿美元;目前,我国全日制在校生有2.4亿人,占全球教育总人口的20%。也就是说,中国以占世界公共教育经费总数1.5%的财力,支持着占世界学教育总人口20%的庞大教育体系,其艰辛程度可想而知,这一基本国情决定我国只能把教育发展的重点基础放在普及义务教育这一低重心上,以有限的财力、物力优先保证普及九年义务教育目标的实现。因此,我国高等教育长期以来一直处于较为迟缓的发展水平,表现之一就是我国大学在校生人数不仅大大低于发达国家,且远远低于世界平均水平。据联合国的统计数字,1995年,我国每10万人中有在校大学生461人,而世界每10万人中在校大学生平均数为1434人,发达国家平均高达4110人,我们比世界平均水平低2.1倍,仅是发达国家的11%。表现之二就是受教育的层次低下,我国具有中学和小学学力的人的比重相当高,大学文化程度的人却相当低,文盲率居各国首位。

 

3、教育投入长期低水平

  教育的适当超前发展是要靠相应的教育投入教育实现的。在我国,教育的超大规模和教育投入的严重不足是较长时期以来存在的一尖锐矛盾。据联合国教科文组织的统计,1991年世界平均公共教育支出占GNP(国民生产总值)的比重为5.1%,其中发达国家的比例为5.3%,发展中国家比例为4.1%,最不发达国家比例为3.3%,而我国到1998年仍不足3%

 

  按国际可比口径计算,我国人均年教育经费仅12.3美元,即使到2000年国家的财政性教育经费点GDP的比重达到4%的预定目标,全国教育经费额约在3200亿元左右,约人口385.5亿美元,按13亿人口计,人均29.7美元,远低于90年代初发达国家的水平。因此,中国教育支出水平低下是不容争辩的事实,它是制约我国教育业发展的迟缓、供给不足的一个重要原因。

 

二、城市居民子女受教育及教育消费情况

 

  以下从就学情况和子女教育花费两个指标分析目前我国城镇居民的教育消费现状,以期为国家实施“科教兴国”的战略目标提供科学决策依据。


  (一)城市居民子女受教育情况

  就全国而言,城市居民子女受教育的特点是就读子女家庭覆盖面广,地区差异明显。在被调查的137145户城市居民家庭中,有就学子女的家庭户数为724246户,占总户数比重达54.03%;共有83034人在读,在读学占总调查人数的比重约为20%。

  从在读子女接受各种层次的教育看,初中以前在读生居多,比例为71.6%;高中在读生次之,比例为14.4%;大专及以上在读生比例仅为 8.4%。说明我国城市居民就读子女多数处于低龄化阶段,目前接受初级教育者居多。

  分地区看,全国东、西、中三地城市居民子女就学情况存在明显差异。东部地区就学子女比重达到39.9%,为最高。表明我国城镇居民子女就学率随经济发达而增加,支持子女接受教育需有一定的经济收入作坚强后盾。


(二)教育消费情况


  在调查中,我们将教育消费支出项目分成学杂费(包括书本费)、补习兴趣费、住宿费、住校生活费、家教支出。调查结果显示。在有子女就读的家庭中,1999年上学期户均学杂费支出904.32元,占教育消费的67.3%,其余依次是住校生活费占17.5%、补习班班占9.1%、家教支出占3.6%、住宿费2.5%。

 

  从在读子女受教育层次看,学杂费比重随教育层次的提高而降低。大学生的学杂费比重占58.5%,为最低;小学生的学杂费占73.3%,为最高。高中以下学生补习班费所占比重较高,中专以上学生四分之一多的教育消费用于住校生活费支出;家教支出则是高中以下学生占较大比重。详见下表:

 

2、不同收入家庭教育消费有差别
  1999年上学期,全国城镇居民家庭用于教育方面的费用户均1344.75元,具体到不同收入家庭看,教育消费存在较大悬殊。1998年家庭总收入1万元以下的低收入户,1999年上学期户均教育消费为1063.2元,比平均水平低33.6,低收入户学杂费支出占教育消费67.2%,补习兴趣费和家庭支出费却较低,占教育消费比例分别为9.1%和3.6%,显示出低收入户的教育消费仅满足于学费的“硬性”支出为主;1998年家庭总收入在1-7万元的中等收入户,1999年上学期户均教育消费额为1561.2元,比平均水平高16.1%,学杂费支出占教育消费比重为64.6%,补习兴趣费和家教支出费占教育消费比例占一定程序,显示出中等收入户的教育消费比较注重全面发展;7万元以上的高收入户,1999年上学期户均教育消费4001.4元,比平均水平高2倍,是低收入户的2.8,学杂费支出占教育消费比重为47.8%,高收入教育消费方面更注重兴趣培养,注重请家庭教师,1999年高收入户家庭补习均351元,是低收入户的3.4倍,家教支出费为408.9元,是低收入户的7.5倍。可见,教育消费结构在我国随着收入差距的扩大呈现出明显的差异。这一点择校费支出方面表现的更加强烈,1999年上学期户均择校费为365.9元,其中高收入户为1612.6元,低收入户223.9,高收入户是低收入户的6.2倍。因此,高收入户家庭子女在择校方面存在更多的优势。

 

  3、不同地区家庭教育消费差异明显
  沿海东部地区是我国经济最发达的地区,中部地区的经济发展居中游水平,西部地区则是经济欠发达区,因此,东、中、西三类地区的教育消费也存在明显差异,呈“倒金字塔形”,东部消费总额最大,中部次之,西部最小。且三地区的教育消费结构也不同,东部地区教育消费结构较之中、西部不仅合理,而且发展全面。除了学杂费支出较大外,补习费兴趣费和家教支出费出发占相当比例;西部地区仅局面限于学杂费支出比例很少。

 

三、城市居民教育消费潜力巨大


(一)教育的潜在需求旺盛

  对于广大居民来说,接受教育的意义不仅是完成人生所赋予的使命,更重要的是进行一项投资,是回报率极高的人才资本投资。随着我国大批独生子女临近上高中、大学的年龄,只要有接受教育的机会,家长会全力以赴,倾囊而出。据中国经济景气监测中心于1999年5月发布的一项调查表明:81%的城市居民认同“再苦不能苦孩子,再穷不能穷教育”的看法;60%的家长表示如需要即使为子女教育举债也在所不惜。而我国每年有近10%的小学毕业生、50%的初中毕业生、75%的高中毕业生不能进入高一级学校学习,与此同时,90%的家长都希望子女能接受高等教育。有限的受教育机会与社会对教育需求的巨大反差,刺激了居民教育投入的强烈愿望,这种愿望甚至超过了对住房的向往。据国家经济景气监测中心对居民储蓄消费意愿抽样调查结果表明,居民储蓄的10%准备用于教育支出,高于准备用于购房支出7%的比例。另外一项调查则表明,在我国有70%的城市居民家庭在孩子出生前就已提前为日后的教育准备好了奖金,其中53%的家长表示,如果建立教育互助基金,他们一定会参加。居民教育需求潜力到底有多大?我们分析,如果未来教育支出的比重能达到居民储蓄的10%,届时全国将增加6000亿元的教育需求。因此。对居民潜在的教育消费愿望不可小视,教育市场大有文章可作。

 

  (二)高等教育消费承受力界定
  当今世界,普遍的观点变为,只有具备了大学以上学历程者才称得上真正的人才,家长们众望所归的也正是让子女接受高等教育,因为接受高等教育与不接受高等教育无论是对社会还是对个人,其效益是迥然不同的。经济学家研究证明,小学毕业的劳动者比小学没毕业的劳动者的劳动生产率要提高43%;从个人收益看,在我国城市群中的小学、初中、高中、大学不同学历劳动者的收入比为:1:1.17:1.26:1.8,高学历者的收入明显高于低学历者。因此,享受教育的层次越高,得到的回报就越高,“脑体倒挂”现象已逐渐成为历史,基于这种认识,我国大多数城市居民的教育消费观念已定位在高等教育上,视子女接受高等教育为理想目标,并为将来子女自费上大学做好了充分的准备。据全国城市住房一次性调查资料显示,在我国城市居民家庭中,有60.6%的家长表示愿意让子女自费上一个满意的大学。从城市居民家庭每年可以随自费上大学的费用看,有53.1%的家庭表示在5千元可以随;35.7%的家庭表示在5千万元可以接受;9.1%的家庭表示在1-2万元以内可以接受;2.1%的家庭表示在2万元以上可以接受。

 

1、不同地区家庭教育消费承受力差距较大

2、不同收入家庭教育消费承受力迥异

 

  综上所述,不同收入、不同地区家庭高等教育消费随力虽有所差异,但教育消费潜力巨大却是基本事实,因此,从满足居民教育消费需求角度出发,大力发展教育尤为必要。

 

四、教育对经济发展的影响

  劳动生产率即一定时期内劳动成果与劳动消耗的比率,其水平的高低是经济发展水平高低的主要标志,教育对劳动生产率的影响主要体现为:教育影响掌握新工种、新技术的速度。通常,新工种的出现,新技术的应用,可以使一定时期内平均每人创造的价值量增加,从而大大提高劳动生产率,而掌握和熟练运用新的工种和技术与劳动者的受教育程序有直接联系,工人掌握新技术所需时间与其受教育程序成反比。同时教育还为各行各业提供高水平的管理决策人员。在同样技术装备条件下,经济效益的好坏,很大程度上取决于管理决策人员的水平,教育可以为各行各业培养掌握现代化管理知识的管理决策人员,通过岗位技术管理决策科学的链式效应,促进生产更快发展和经济提高。

 


(二)教育能缓解就业压力

  目前我国15-19岁人口就业比重过高,他们的知识结构、职业技能与我国的产业结构调整目标存在诸多的不适应。据资料,1996年日本18-19岁人口就业占适龄人口比重为32.4%,而我国同期18-19岁人口就业比重占73.3,比日本高出40.9个百分点。劳动力参与率(指劳动力占劳动年龄人口的百分比)较之其它国家也高出许多。这不仅反映在15-65岁男、女劳动年龄人口上,更反映在10-19岁青少年人口上。目前中国10-19岁年龄组,男性劳动力参加与率为45%,女性为43%,同一年龄组劳动力参与率韩国为14%和16%,印度为30%和16%,日本为10%和10%,美国为24%和20%,德国为27%和24%。中国过高的青少年劳动参与率意味着大批没有接受多少教育的年轻人过早地形成劳动力供给。直接导致过多的青少年因为文化素质太低而不能满足日益发展的经济对劳动力质量的需求,进而出现大量结构性失业。据测算,从目前至2010年我国每年要有1450万年轻人口达到就业年龄,如果不增加对他们的教育、延缓他们进入求职队伍的时间,全社会的就业形势将变得更为严峻。如果能够通过发展教育以延长青少年受教育的时间,并通过多方引导来增加他们对教育的需求,那么就能较大幅度地降低青少年的劳动力参与率,减少劳动力供给进而减缓就业压力。据测自,适当延长15-19岁青少年受教育时间,使其就业人数占全国总就业人口比重由目前的6.37%下降一倍,那么全国劳动就业供给量可望减少2300万人,其中城镇可减少500万人,这样不仅可缓解就业压力,还可大大提高青少年的文化素质,形成高质量的人力资本,为我国的可持续发展战略提供动力和源泉。

 

(四)教育可控制人口生育率水平

 

  人类历史的发展证明,世界各国人口出生率的发展趋势随着人类的进步,社会的发展和经济发达程度,由高出生率向低出生率演变。1995年,我国人口出生率为17.1‰,较1970年降低16.3个千分点;同期,美国人口出生稿费为14.8‰,较1970年降低3.5个千分点;法国为12.5‰,较1970年降低4.3个千分点;日本为9.6‰,较1970年低9.4个千分点;韩车为22‰,较1970年降低13.6个千分点。

 

  它表明二者之间存在高度负相关关系,即随受教育程序的增加,育龄妇女的生育率逐渐降低。因此,提高全社会的文化教育水平,对于控制生育率水平有战略意义,同时对经济增长也将产生积极的影响。

 

  归纳以下观点,教育对经济发展的影响是不可低估的,随着国际间竞争日趋激烈,教育的基础性、先导性地位将更加突出。因此,从提高综合国力角度出发,大力发展教育极为重要。

 

五、大力发展教育产业,突破教育供给制约

 

(一)正确认识教育的产业属性

 

  长期以来,我国一直把教育单纯地看成是一种“事宜”,甚至看万里一种“福利”,这是我国教育长期供不应求的重要原因。早在20世纪70年代,世界上许多国家和地区的教育就开始由事业型转变为产业型。在我国,目前已明确将教育列入“对国民经济发展具有全局性先导性影响的第三产业的重点”。这一观念的变化,必将触发我国教育的重大变革,对我国教育和国民经济的发展产生巨大而深远的推动作用,以市场为导向加速教育产业化进程是突破我国教育供给制约的重要途径。

 

(二)增加教育投入,拓宽教育投资渠道

 

 

  根据世界各国发展规律,实施教育优先发展战略,必须加大对教育的投资力度。韩国从60年代中期开始,大幅度增加教育投资,使教育占GNP的比例不断上升,从1976年至1996年,其教育经费平均占GNP的比例高达8.8%。经费投入不足限制了我国教育的发展,必须加大教育投入,逐步理顺政府-居民-社会力量的投资比例关系,吸纳社会资金促进教育发展。

 

  首先应加大政府对教育的投入力度,改变财政性教育经费支出占GDP比重低水平徘徊局面,切实保证2005年前中央财政教育经费支出所占比例每年提高1个百分点,在2020年,力争这一比例达到当时发展中国家的中等偏上水平。

 

  其次,采取各种措施,鼓励社会各界教育进行投入,拓宽教育投资渠道。纵观世界各发达国家,都十分重视通过多渠道筹集教育经费。美国是世界上最发达的国家之一,在政府大规模拨款资助高等教育的同时,还广开财源,多渠道筹资,社会和个人对教育投入的比例与其联邦政府投入比重大体相当。我国1994年的教育经费来源构成中,国家财政性教育经费占79%,社会团体投入仅占0.72%,学杂费占9.9%。教育投资渠道不畅,社会办学潜力没得到充分的挖掘。因此,国家应实行各种优惠政策,鼓励各界投资教育,如对校办产业实行退税返还等优惠政策,对企业兴办或资助社会各类教育的经费,按国际惯例实行税前列支等奖励性措施,以此鼓励社会各主体投资为学、集资办学、合作办学,逐渐形成投资主体多元化、投资渠道多样化。

 

(四)大力促进教育形式多样化

 

  纵观当今世界各国,无论是西方发达国家,还是经济发展中国家都十分重视发展高等教育,注意培养一流的大学,通过一流大学培养一流的人才,借鉴国外做法并结合我国实际,近期发展高等教育应把握以下几点:一是在现有高校基础上,继续扩大高校招生规模,争取到下世纪初期,使我国高等教育同龄人口入学率达到15%左右,为我国下世纪的长远发展奠定坚实的知识和人才基础;二是高校要加大研究生、博士生的招生力度,努力培养我国高级技术人才,特别是增加与经济发展密切相关的工科类研究生、博士生的招生;三是到2010年左右,建成一所位居全世界前十名的综合性大学,重点培育8-10所大学,使我国高校的事例水平达到世界一流水平;四是加强规划,对于高校正在进行的改建扩建工程,政府应该统筹规划,把高等院校建设与新的经济技术开发区和产业园建设紧密联系起来。以教育促经济,以经济带动教育发展。

 

2、积极发展职业教育

 

  当今世界经济发展日新月展,知识老化问题显突出,终身教育已成为知识经济时代的明显特征,职业教育和专业培训将与普通教育并列成为重要的教育形式,不脱产或短期培训将是企业获得新生劳动力的重要方法。目前世界一些发达国家已将职业教育列入再发展的组成部分,在美国,每年接受继续工程教育的工程师人数约占全美工程总人数的15%,该国100家最大工业企业用于科技人员更新、拓展专业知识的经费平均每年增长25%,前10名大公司的增长幅度超过40%;在日本,一些大企业实际用10-15%的工资作为继续教育的费用。目前,我国现有职工1.2亿人,35岁以下的青年职工约8000万,其中初级工占80%,中级工不足20%,高级工仅为1%,大量初级工的存在,影响了企业掌握新技术的能力,制约了企业发展的后劲和参与国际市场竞争能力。因此,必须大力发展职业技术教育,不断提高劳动技能,逐步建立终身教育体系。

 

  一是战略高度认识职业教育特别是企业教育的重要性,企业发展和社会进步是百年大计,必须以拥有高科技人才为核心,通过发展高科技产品占领市场,要明确市场-高科技产品人才教育的相互关系。

 


  二是统筹规划,健全职业教育系统,提高职业教育的级别,协调好普通教育的关系。职业教育不能只局限在大中专业水平上,要向更高层次上发展,在高级职业培训中,充分吸收高等教育的知识结构,扩大职业教育的知识面,兼顾宽和精的关系,突出职业教育的短快和高效率,要培养具有全面素质,直接面对生产、服务和管理第一线的技术型、应用型人才,并制定专门的职业教育和专业教育发展规划。

 

3、适当发展远程教育

 

  中国是个人口大国,教育形式仅拘于班级面授是无法满足大多数居民的教育愿望的,尤其是进入高等院校接受面对面教育的条件并不是每个都能得到的,比如高考成绩不理想没有被录取;不具备入大学学习的经济条件;所从事的工作不允许脱产进学样学习等。远程教育是解决教育供需不足的一个行之有效的途径之一。

 

  我国远程教育始于50年代初普通高校举办的函授教育,改革开放以来,现代远程教育有了很大的发展。但与发达国家相比,办学层还较低,专科层次较为普遍,本科和专长本的数量较小,研究生教育几乎为“零”。不能充分满足不同层次成员接受继续教育的要求。为此应大力发展远程教育:

 

  一是高等院校应利用现有的教学资源,利用校园网开设校内或校际间的远程教育。二是在原有的远程教育系统和模式的基础上,积极就用最新的科技成果,如卫星电视、数字视频、计算机网络等探索开发新的远程教育系统和教学模式。

 

Abstracts of the subject: Education is the basis of national rejuvenation. The 21st century is an era of knowledge economy. The inner logic of “Economic growth --- advancement in knowledge --- educational development” has determined that education is a leading industry that has a bearing on the whole situation and the “cornerstone” of economic development. The impact of education on economic development must not be underestimated. Educationcan not only alleviate the pressure of unemployment and bring along the development of related industries, but can also effectively control the rate of population growth. Highly effective in upgrading the total social labor productivity, it is the key to enhancing the comprehensive national strength

 

Inadequate education supply remains, but education belongs to a few buyers’ market. Meanwhile, Chinese residents, especially city residents have an ever-stronger aspiration for education. There is a great potential demand for education, especially higher education. To satisfy residents’ demand for education, it is necessary to develop education vigorously.

 

The 21st century is the era of knowledge economy. Today, when national strength competition is increasingly intense and the concept of human resources is increasingly popular, people are paying ever-greater attention to receiving education and raising personal qualities. The masses of the people cherish an ever-stronger aspiration to receive education. But due to limited governmental financial resources and educational system reasons, we have failed to meet the enormous educational demand over a long period of time. Education has thus become a bottleneck restraining our present and future economic development. How to break through the restraint of educational supply and meet the daily increasing material and cultural needs of the people has become an issue crying out for an urgent solution. To this end this article attempts to make an exposition of the necessity of developing education at different levels and probe for a channel to make a breakthrough in the educational supply restraint. Adopting an angle from the children of Chinese cityresidents, the article will apply the data from the 1999 nationwide survey of city residents and analyze the status quo and latent capacity of Chinese city residents. The purpose is to vigorously develop education and provide scientific basis for making the decision to meet the demands of urban residents for education.

 

I. General Information on Education in China and Existing Problems

 

1. General development level
Education in New China was developed in the context of economic backwardness and very low educational levels. In old China nearly 80 percent of the population was denied access to education. Only 20% of school-age children went to school. After the birth of New China, education was put on the agenda as an important item. It was defined as a long-term strategic principle. The Party and state placed education in a strategic position for priority development.

 

(1) Rapid expansion of education in scale. By the end of 1998, compulsory education had been popularized among 73% of the population nationwide, approaching the popularization level in medium income countries. Primary school education had been popularized in areas inhabited by 90% of the population. The rate of illiteracy among youths and adults had dropped to 5.5%, basically reversing the situation in China as a big nation dominated by illiteracy and semi-illiteracy. The qualities of nationals had been obviously enhanced. The rate of entrants into primary and junior middle schools had reached 98.8% and 87.3% respectively. . Access into primary and secondary school education had been improved. The rates had risen from 90.8% and 48.3% in 1955 to 94.3% and 50.7% in 1998 respectively. By 1998 the enrollments in primary, junior and senior middle schools had hit 139. 380 million, 53.63 million and 9.38 million respectively, up by 1.73 times, 23 times and 26 times respectively as compared with 1952.

 

Great progress has been made in education at different levels and in different categories after compulsory education. By 1998, the gross entrance rate of senior middle schools had reached 34.4%; the rate of senior middle school graduates entering higher institutes had reached 46.1%. Higher education had developed rapidly with a total enrollment of 6.23 million in ordinary and adult colleges and universities. Plus the higher education in the form of self-education, the actual enrollment in higher education had exceeded 8 million, the gross entrance rate being 9.1%. Calculated on the basis of the current educational structure and scope, from 1996 to 1998, the expected per capita duration of education for Chinese six year-olds had risen from 6.85 years to 10 years.

 

(2) An important breakthrough in the reform of the educational system: In terms of educational system, China has initially formed the framework of a new educational system based on nine-year compulsory education featuring a common development of vocationaland private-run school education with higher education as the leading factor. In terms of school operations, we have gradually broken down the pattern of government-monopolized school operations, and have initially formed a system of developing education run by all social circles with government-run education as the main. In terms of educational management, we have transferred the compulsory school management down to the localities, thus enormously mobilizing the enthusiasm of local governments in running education and promoting the development of compulsory education. In terms of work assignment for graduates, we have initially implemented the new system of two-way choice and independent option among the secondary school and college graduates.

 

2. Existing problems for urgent solution

 

(1) Acute shortage of education supply and very sharp contradictions between structural supply and demand

 

Statistics show that 3 million apply for college and university entrance examinations every year while the practical number of admission into ordinary institutes of higher education is only 1 million. Only a small percentage of the contemporaries enter university. Despite the fact that China has reached the level of the world’s lower and medium income countries, and some of our cites have reached the level of the world’s intermediate income countries, the higher education access rate is lower than in the intermediate income countries. Queuing for higher education services is prominent. The phenomenon of multitudes of entrants expecting to enter government-run colleges and universities remains radically unchanged. Many aspiring students are barred from college and university education because of failure to reach the line of marks defined for entrance in a unified manner. Just look at the picture in Shandong Province. In 1996, 132993 out of the 229971 who took part in college and university entrance examinations failed. In 1997, 173097 out of 255272 failed. In 1998, 196666 out of 296655 failed. “A single exam failure decides your fate once and for all.” This was the very result of inadequate education supply, causing 60% of the aspiring examinees to lose the chance. Thus, some wealthy parents turned their hopes to education abroad. In the Pearl Delta, a hot wave of sending children abroad to attend high or even elementary school is emerging stealthily. An estimated educational fund of at least more than one billion-yuan is pouring out of China’s Guangdong Province every year. The rate of loss is quite serious indeed.

 

(2) Sluggish development of higher education with emphasis laid on low center of gravity

 

According to public education expenditure statistics based on comparable international norms, China’s year-end public educational expenditure amounted to USD 17 billion while the world’s figure came up to USD 1150 billion. Presently, China’s enrollment of full time students totaled 240 million, accounting for 20 % of the world’s total. That is to say, China is supporting a huge educational system accounting for 20% of the world’s population under education with merely 1.5% of the world’s public education expenditures. Such being the case, the difficulty can well be imagined. Such a basic national condition has decided that we can only place the focus of educational development on the low center of gravity when popularizing compulsory education to guarantee the priority realization of the goal of popularizing nine-year compulsory education with our limited financial and material resources. China’s higher education has been developing sluggishly over the years. One of the manifestations was that the university student enrollment has been far lower not only than the developed countries, but also the average world level. UN statistics showed that China in 1995 had 461 university undergraduates out of every 100000, 2.1 times lower than the average figure of 1434 in the world and only 11% of the average figure of 4110 in the developed countries. Another manifestation was low-grade education. China has quite a high rate of people who have received secondary and primary school education, but quite a low rate of people who have received higher education.

 

3) Low input in education over a long period of time

 

Development of education moderately ahead of the times can be realized through corresponding inputs. The super large scale of education and the serious shortage of educational inputs are an acute contradiction that has existed for a long period of time. UNESCO statistics showed that the 1991 world average expenditure on public education was 5.1% of the GNP. The percentages in the developed, developing and the least developed countries were 5.3%, 4.1% and 3.3% respectively. The percentage in China, however, was less than 3% in 1998.

 

Calculated on comparable international norms, China’s per capita annual educational expenditure was USD 12.3. Even in 2000 when the proportion of the national financial educational expenditure to the GDP reached the expected goal of 4%, the amount of nationwide educational expenditure was only about 320 billion yuan, or USD 38.5 billion. Calculated on the basis of 1.3 billion people, the per capita expenditure was USD 29.7, which was by far lower than that in the developed countries in the 1990s. Therefore the low expenditure on education in China was beyond dispute. It was one of the most important reasons for the sluggish development and acute shortage of education in our country.

 

 

 

 

 

二. Education among city residents’ children and their educational consumption

 

Following is an analysis of the status quo of Chinese urban residents’ educational consumption according to the schooling and children’s education indexes so as to provide scientific decision making data for the country’s implementation of the strategy of national rejuvenation through science and education.

 

1. Education among city residents’ children

 

 

As far as the whole nation is concerned, ECRC features wide coverage of families and remarkable regional difference. Of the 137145(?) families surveyed, 724246 families were sending children to school, accounting for 54.03%, 83034 were attending school, accounting for some 20% of children surveyed.

 

 

As far as the layer of education received is concerned, 71.6% were students prior to junior middle school education, then came senior middle school education, 14.4%. Students of college and above accounted for only 8.4%. This demonstrated that most Chinese city residents’ children were young and most received junior education.

 

Viewed by region, there is an obvious gap between the eastern, western and middle regions in the percentage of children sent to school. The eastern region registered 39%, the highest. This demonstrated that the rate of urban residents’ children sent to school increased with the degree of economic development. Sending children to school required strong support from solid economic income.

 

 

 

 

2. Educational consumption

 

In the survey we found education consumption expenses were divided into school tuition and miscellaneous fees (including book expenses), supplementary hobby fees, boarding fees, life expenses on board and tutor expenses. The survey found that families that had children at school spent 904.32 yuan in tuition and miscellaneous fees in the first half of 1999, accounting for 67.3% of education consumption. The remainders came as 17.5% for living expenses on board, 9.1% for supplementary studies, 3.8% for tutoring and 2.5% for boarding.

 

Viewed from the layers of education received, the proportion of tuition and miscellaneous fees presented a picture as follows: the higher the stradtum, the lower the proportion. 58% for university students, the lowest; 73% for primary school pupils, the highest. A relatively high proportion of supplementary-class study expenses for students below senior middle school education. More than one fourth of educational consumption for secondary professional and above students was spent on living expenses on board. Tutoring accounted for a big proportion for students below senior middle school education.

 

 

2) Gaps between families with different incomes in educational consumption

In the first semester of 1999, the average nationwide urban household educational expenditure was 1344.75 yuan. But there was a big gap between families of different incomes. In low-income families with a total family income of less than 10000 yuan in 1998, the per-family educational consumption was 1063.2 yuan in the first semester of 1999, 33.6yuan lower than the average. The tuition and miscellaneous fees accounted for 67.2% of the consumption in low-income families while the supplementary hobby fees and private tutoring expenses were rather low, accounting for merely 9.1% and 3.6% respectively. This demonstrated that low-income families only concentrated on meeting the “rigid” demand for tuition fees In families with a total income of 170000 yuan, the figure was 1561,2 yuan , 16.1% higher than the average. The proportion of tuition and miscellaneous expenses accounted for 64.6%, and supplementary hobby and tutoring expenses accounted for a considerable percentage. This demonstrated that medium-income families paid attention to comprehensive development in educational consumption. For over 70000-yuan high-income families, the figure was 4001.4 yuan, double the average level, and 2.8 times the low-income families. Tuition and miscellaneous expenses accounted for 57,8%. High-income families paid greater attention to hobby training and private tutoring. In the first semester, family supplementary study expenses for high-income families averaged 351 yuan, 3.4 times the low-income families. Their tutoring fees stood at 408.9 yuan, 7.5 times the low-income families. From this we can see an obvious gap in educational consumption structure appeared as the income gap expanded. This was all the more remarkable in the expenses on school selection. In the first semester of 1999 the average per household fee for school option was 365.9 yuan. For high-come families, it was 1612. 6 yuan, and for low-income families, 223.9 yuan, the gap being 6.2 times. Hence, the former had greater advantages over the latter in school option.

 

 

 

 

 

(3) Remarkable regional gap in family educational consumption
The eastern coastal, the central and the western regions are economically the most developed, medium developed and underdeveloped regions respectively in China. Among them, there also existed an obvious gap in educational consumption in the form of a reversed pyramid. The consumption in the eastern region was the highest, then came the central and the western the lowest. There was also a gap in educational consumption structure among them. The structure in the eastern was not only more reasonable, but also more comprehensively developed than in the central and western regions. In the eastern region, apart from larger expenses for tuition and miscellaneous fees, supplementary and hobby fees and private tutoring fees accounted for quite a big proportion while in the western region the educational expenses were confined to tuition and miscellaneous fees and other expenses accounted only for a very small percentage.

 

III. Great Potentials of Educational Consumption among City Residents

 

1. Strong potential demand for education

 

For the residents, the significance of receiving education is not only confined to fulfilling the mission bestowed by life. More importantly, it is an investment, a highly remunerative human-resource investment. With large numbers of only children approaching the age of entering senior middle schools and universities, their parents are ready to put in the investment so long as the chance of education is available. A survey released by China Economic Prosperity Monitoring Center (CEPMC) in May 1999 indicated that 81% of the city residents accepted the viewpoint that children’s schooling was the first and foremost priority. 60% of the parents expressed readiness to send their children to school even if they had to borrow a loan. On the other hand, every year in China, nearly 10% , 50% and 75% of primary, junior and senior middle school graduates could not enter schools of a higher grade while 90% of their parents desired access for their children to higher education. The tremendous gap between limited education opportunities and social education demand triggered a strong desire among residents for educational inputs, a desire even stronger than the yearnings for housing. A CEPMC random survey showed 10% of the residents’ savings deposits were meant for educational expenses, higher than the 7% meant for housing purchase. Another survey showed 70% Chinese city residents had prepared scholarships for their expected children. Of this total, 50% assured participation in establishing any educational mutual-aid fund. What is the size of residents’ education latent demand? According to our analysis, it may hit 10% of the residents’ saving deposits. By then, the national education demand will increase by 600 billion yuan. Therefore we must never underscore the desire of residents for educational consumption. We have plenty of room for expanding the educational market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Definition on the capacity of higher education consumption
In the world of today, it is generally held that only people with a university education background can be considered as talents in the real sense of the word. It is the common desire of all parents to let their children receive higher education. This is so because the benefits are essentially different for people who have received higher education and those who have not, no matter they concern the society or the individuals. Economist studies verified that the labor productivity of a primary school graduate is 43% higher than that of a non-graduate. Judging from personal benefits, the income ratio among laborers with primary, junior and senior middle school and university education backgrounds was 1:1.17:1.26: 1.8. The income for those with higher academic records was obviously higher than that with lower ones. Hence, the higher the schooling, the higher the remuneration. The so-called reversal of remuneration between laborers and brain workers has become something of the past. Basing themselves on such a concept, most city residents have positioned their educational consumption in higher education, aiming at sending their children to colleges and universities. They are fully prepared to do so even at their own expense. A nationwide city housing survey indicated that 60.6% of the parents in Chinese city resident families said they were ready to send their children to a satisfactory university at their own expense. Viewed from education expenses acceptable to city resident families, 53.1% said 5000 yuan was acceptable; 35.7% said 5000 to 10000 yuan were acceptable; and 9.1% said 10000 – 20000 yuan were acceptable; and 2.1% said over 20000 yuan were acceptable.

 

 

 

 

 

(1) Regional big gap in family capacity of educational consumption

 

(2) Enormous difference in educational consumption capacity for families of different incomes

 

 

 

To sum up, despite the difference in educational consumption capacity for families of different incomes and in different regions, it is a fundamental fact that there is a tremendous latent capacity of educational consumption. Hence it is of particular importance to develop education vigorously from the angle of meeting residents’ demand.

 

IV. Impact of Education on Economic Development

 

1. Education promoting labor productivity
Labor productivity is the rate of labor result to labor consumption within a given period. It is the main hallmark signifying the level of economic development. The impact of education on labor productivity is mainly manifested in its effects on the speed of mastering new jobs and new technologies. The emergence of a new job and the application of a new technology usually increases the average per capita values created within a certain period , thus enhancing labor productivity tremendously. On the other hand, the grasp and skillful application of a new job and technology is directly related to the education degree of the laborer. The time needed for a worker to grasp a new technology is inversely proportional to the degree of education. Meanwhile, education also provides high-level management and decision-making personnel for all trades and sectors. Given the same technical and equipment conditions, economic benefits hinge to a large degree on the qualifications of the management and decision-making personnel. Education may train management and decision-making personnel with modern management knowledge. It may spur production and economic advancement through the chain effects in the decision-making science in work-post technical management

 

2. Education reducing pressure of employment

 

Presently, China has an overly high proportion of 15-19-year-olds employed. They are ill adapted to many of our industrial restructuring readjustment goals in terms of knowledge structure and professional skills. According to data, in 1996, the employment rate of 18 – 19 year-olds in Japan was 32.4%, while the rate in China was 73.3%., 40.9 percentage points higher. The Chinese labor participation rate (referring to the proportion of labor force to the labor age population) was also much higher than in other countries. This was not only reflected in the 15 – 65 year-old male and female labor age population, but even more so in the 10-19 youngsters population. Presently in China, for the 10 – 19-year-olds group, male and female labor participation rates were 45% and 43% respectively. For the same age group, the rates in the Republic of Korea, India, Japan, the United States and Germany were 14% and 16%, 30% and 16%, 10% and 10%, 24% and 20% and 27% and 24%, respectively. Overly high youngsters’ labor participation rates in China implied that large numbers of youngsters prematurely served as labor force without having received much education. This directly led to the failure of many youngsters to meet the ever-higher labor quality requirements because of inadequate cultural quality; hence, the emergence of large-scale structural unemployment. According to estimate, from now to 2010, China will have 14.5 million young people reaching the age of employment every year. The entire society will be confronted with a graver employment problem unless they are given more time for education to postpone their hunting for jobs. If we manage to lengthen the time of youngsters’ education through developing education and increase their demand for education, then we shall be able to drastically reduce their labor participation rate as well as labor supply, thus reducing the pressure of employment. According to self-estimate, appropriately lengthening the time of education for 15- 19 year-olds to halve the 6.37% proportion of employment to the national total, we shall be able to cut the nationwide jobs by 23 million, of which 5 million were jobs in cities and towns. This would not only alleviate the pressure of employment, but also raise the cultural quality of the youngsters and rear high-quality human resources, providing motive force and fountains for the sustainable development strategy of our country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Education Promoting Birth Control

 

Development of human history proves that the birth rate of world populations evolves from high to low along with human progress, social development and economic development levels. The 1995 birth rate in China was 17.1/1000, a drop of 16.3 thousandths from 1970. In the same period, the corresponding figures were 14.8 / 1000, a drop of 4.3 / 1000 in the USA; 12.5 / 1000, a drop of 4.3 / 1000 in France; 9.6 /1000, a drop of 9.4 / 1000 in Japan; and 22 / 1000, a drop of 13.6 / 1000 in the Republic of Korea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This indicated that there is a highly negative relation between the two. That is to say, the higher the educational level, the lower the childbearing rate. Therefore, enhancing the cultural and educational level of the whole society will be of strategic significance to birth control and of positive influence to economic growth as well.

 

 

 

Summing up, we can arrive at the following viewpoints: The impact of education on economic development must not be underestimated. With the increasing intensity of international competitions, the fundamental and leading role of education will be increasingly important. Therefore, from the point of view of enhancing comprehensive national strength, it is of great importance to vigorously develop education.

 

V. Vigorously develop educational industry and break down the restraint of educational supply

 

1. Correctly understand the industrial character of education

 

Over a long period of time China has regarded education as purely an undertaking, or even a kind of welfare. This is an important reason why education has been in short supply in China. As early as in the 1970s, education in many countries and regions was changed from undertaking career into an industrial career. Presently China has definitely listed education as “a key tertiary industry of leading impact on national economic development as a whole.” This will certainly touch off a major reform in China’s education and play a tremendous and far-reaching role in pushing China’s education and national economic development. The process of accelerating the market-oriented educational industrialization will be an important channel in breaking down the restraint of education supply.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Increase inputs in education and widen the channel of education investments

 

According to the laws governing development in all countries, to implement the strategy of education priority development, we must increase investment inputs in education. Starting in the mid-1960s, ROK increased education investment by wide margins, so the proportion of education to GNP upped continuously. From 1976 through 19996, in the ROK, the average rate of educational expenditure to GNP was as high as 8.8%. Shortage of fund input restrained China’s educational development. We must increase educational inputs, gradually smooth out the ratios of investment between government --- residents --- social forces, and absorb social funds to promote educational development.

 

 

 

First of all we must increase government input and change the low proportion of financial input to the GNP. We must practically guarantee that the proportion will increase by 1 percentage point every year before 2005, so it will have reached by 2020 an intermediate level on the higher side for a developing country by that time

 

 

 

 

Secondly, we must adopt all measures to encourage all social circles to make inputs in education and widen the channels of educational investments. An overview of all developed countries in the world shows that they all pay great attention to collecting educational funds through many channels. In the United States, which is the most developed country in the world, the government opened up financial resources extensively and collected funds for higher education through many channels while giving great appropriations to higher education. The proportion of social and personal inputs in education was approximately the same as that of the federal government’s. In China, however, in the 1994 educational expenditure, 79% came from state financial expenditures. Social inputs accounted for only 0.72% and tuition and miscellaneous fees, 9.9%. Educational investment channels being blocked, latent social capacity of running education was not fully tapped. Therefore the government should pursue all preferential policies to encourage social circles to invest in education. The policies may include refunding the tax to school-run factories. Remunerative measures can be taken according to international conventions, for example, enterprises running or financing the expenditures of various social run education can list their expenditures before taxation. All these are intended to encourage all social forces to invest in education, raise money for running education, cooperating in running education so as to gradually pluralize the investors and diversify the investment channels.

 

4. Diversify educational forms vigorously

 

An overview of the various countries in the world shows, both Western developed countries and economically developing countries attach great importance to developing higher education, setting up leading universities and training leading talents through leading universities. Drawing on the practice from abroad and in combination with the Chinese realities, we should grasp the following points in developing higher education in the immediate future: Firstly, continue to expand enrollment on the basis of the present level. Strive to bring the rate of admission to about 15% to the same age group by the beginning of the next century so as to lay a solid knowledge and talent basis for the long-term development of our country in the next century. Secondly, colleges and universities must intensify the enrollment of postgraduate and doctorate students in a bid to train high-grade technical personnel for the country. Special attention should be paid to increasing the enrollment of engineering postgraduates and doctorate students that are closely connected with economic development. Thirdly, build a comprehensive university ranking among the strongest ten in the world by 2010. Set up 8 – 10 key universities so the Chinese higher education will reach the world leading level. In the fourth place, strengthen planning. The government should make a unified plan of the university renovation and expansion projects and closely combine them with the construction of new economic and technical development zones and industrial parks. We should promote economic development through education and utilize economic development to promote educational progress.

 

(2) Actively develop vocational education

 

With rapid economic development in the world of today, a striking phenomenon of knowledge getting outdated comes to the fore. Life-long education has become a remarkable feature in the era of knowledge economy. Vocational education and specialized training will be placed on the same par with ordinary education as an important form of education. On-job or short-term training will be an important method for enterprises to obtain newborn labor force. Presently some developed countries have listed vocational education as an important component of redevelopment. In the United States, 15% of all engineers receive continuing engineering education every year. The expenditure on S&T renovation and specialized knowledge expansion in 100 US largest enterprises increase by 25% every year. The figure is 40% for the top 10 enterprises. In Japan some large enterprises actually spend 10 – 15% of wages for expenditures on continuing education. Presently, China has 120 million workers and staff. Of this total, 80 million are below 35. Among them, 80% are junior workers and less than 20% are intermediate workers, only 1% are senior grade workers. The existence of large amounts of junior workers affects the capacity of enterprise grasping new skills and restrains the aftermath capacity of enterprise development as well as their capacity in taking part in international market competitions. Therefore we must vigorously develop vocational and technical education, consistently enhance labor skills and gradually set up a life-long educational system.

 

First, we must recognize the importance of vocational education especially enterprise education from the strategic height. Enterprise development and social progress are matters of century-long concern It won’t do without high-tech personnel as the core. We must develop high tech products to occupy the market and define the interrelationships among the market, high tech products and talent training.

 

Secondly, we must make an overall plan, make sound the vocational education system, upgrade the levels of vocational education, and coordinate its relations with ordinary education properly. We must not confine vocational education merely to college and secondary professional levels, but have to upgrade its development. We must fully absorb the knowledge structure from higher education, expand the scope of knowledge in vocational education, make a proper handling of the relations between the scope and depth of knowledge, and highlight the efficiency of vocational education. We must train technical and applicable personnel with overall quality, directly geared to the needs of the forefront of production, service and management. We must map out special development plans of vocational and specialized education.

 

(3) Duly develop long-range education
China is a large populous country. It is impossible to meet the desire of most residents to receive education if we confine to class education and face-to-face education. This is especially true in institutes of higher education, where face-to-face education is not absolutely available for all. For example, when examination results are not good enough to be admitted, when no financial conditions are available for entrance and when the job admits of no on-job training. Long-range education is an effective channel to meet the shortage of educational supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In China, long-range education was initiated in the early 1950s when ordinary institutes of higher education launched correspondence education. Since the introduction of reform and opening up policy, modern long-range education has made great headway. But compared with the developed countries, the education has been run at a low grade. There has been popularized college education. Little university and specialized education has been made available. Postgraduate education was practically non-existent. Thus long-range education could not fully satisfy the demand of members of different grades for continuing education. For this reason we should vigorously develop long-range education:

 

Firstly, institutes of higher education should make use of the current teaching resources and campus network to set up campus or inter-college long-range education. Secondly, they should actively utilize the latest S&T findings, such as satellite TV, digital TV frequencies and computer networks, to probe and develop new long-range systems and teaching models on the basis of the original ones.

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