Reflections on the right to equality in education

In terms of the right to equality of educational content

Some scholars have said that the categorization of vocational secondary schools in China into general secondary schools constitutes discrimination against vocational secondary school students, who are not provided with the same content of education as general secondary school students. Moreover, the premature separation of arts and sciences classes and differential education at the high school level, especially the method of dividing students into "taking the college entrance examination" and "not taking the college entrance examination", constitutes discrimination against those who do not take the entrance examination.

Whether or not it constitutes discrimination should be determined by whether or not it has a legitimate purpose and is in the substantial public **** interest, rather than simply whether or not it produces a negative effect; after all, there are two sides to the coin. The legitimate purpose of the distinction between vocational and general secondary schools is to teach students according to their aptitude and to differentiate between different students according to their level of learning and receptive ability; the purpose is not to make students with poor grades even worse, but to enable them to give full play to their potential and to develop vocational ability. Otherwise, it would not be effective to follow them to learn deeper theoretical knowledge. In terms of public **** interest, it is also more reasonable for ordinary secondary schools to continue to provide students with the opportunity to pursue further studies, while vocational secondary schools have sent a large number of practical talents to the community. As for the problem of premature separation of arts and science classes, the separation of arts and science classes itself has its own rationality, everyone's field of interest and development of ideas are different after all. However, the problem lies in the word "premature", and to what extent a solid and comprehensive basic knowledge should be acquired. I am afraid that this is related to the mainstream social consciousness and national education policy, it is not easy to decide. Besides, whether or not to take the college entrance examination as a criterion for distinguishing between education, it is contrary to the legitimate purpose, and not for the public interest in the public mind of the public **** tolerated, does constitute discrimination.

In terms of the right to equality of opportunity in education

The right to equality of opportunity in education is in some ways linked to the right to equality of content in education. For example, the difference in content between vocational and general secondary schools means that different students have different opportunities to receive the same education. But this "difference" is not inequality, or only formal inequality of opportunity. In contrast to formal inequality of opportunity, there is substantive inequality of opportunity. The practice of awarding extra points or preferential scores on college entrance examinations constitutes discrimination against other people without any special and reasonable reasons. For example, the children of doctoral students are given extra points in the college entrance examination, and the children of government officials are given implicit preferences in the college entrance examination. Some scholars say that scores should be standardized across the college entrance examination, and there is some truth in this. In our country, a system of score discrimination is practiced: candidates from different regions have different grades in the score line, and for those who can also get into Tsinghua University, there is a huge difference between the scores of Beijing candidates and those of foreign candidates. Similarly, local universities have higher and lower requirements for local enrollment. And the current regulations constitute double discrimination: discrimination in the enjoyment of equal conditions of education and discrimination in violation of equal opportunities. This has led to the unresolved problem of college entrance exam migration for many years: students from small localities, with the status and money of their parents, have traveled to big cities to take the entrance exams.

But exceptions cannot be ruled out. Equality before the score is not absolute, should be relative, that is, substantive equality. The so-called substantive equality principle, mainly refers to in order to correct to a certain extent due to the guarantee of formal equality of factual inequality incurred, according to the different attributes of each person to take different ways, as the development of the personality of each person must be the prerequisite for the substantive equality of the guarantee. It is sufficient that the disadvantaged are favored and that all are benefited. For example, it is reasonable to give preferential treatment to candidates from ethnic minorities because they have many disadvantages (regional differences, cultural differences, etc.), and if they are not given factually equal opportunities, they have little chance to learn advanced ideas from their classmates in other more developed places, which is detrimental to the development of ethnic minority regions. Therefore, it is reasonable to consider factual or substantive equality on the basis of equal opportunity and give moderate preferences to ethnic minority candidates.

Besides the issue of the college entrance examination, there is also the issue of the enrollment of children of migrant workers, the issue of status affecting promotion and enrollment, and the issue of equal access to education for men and women. Although the new compulsory education law pays attention to these issues, some inequities remain. The enrollment of children of migrant workers is plagued by the problem of household registration, and they have to pay sponsorship fees and other costs in order to attend school, so that many of their children have to attend the so-called migrant schools. Unbeknownst to them, the very establishment of migrant schools is discriminatory in nature. The status of the students and their family backgrounds are still affecting those who are not objectively well off enough to attend the schools. "In all parts of society there should be approximately equal prospects of education and achievement for everyone with similar motives and endowments. The expectations of those of like ability and ambition should not be affected by their social origin." The various statuses should not only be open in a formal sense, but all should have an equal opportunity to attain them. When filling out the forms related to the college entrance examination and promotion, one vaguely sees the column of family origin. And under the impact of the market economy, more problems now lie in the power and money or status, powerful people have money his children are more likely to go to a good school, there is no advantage in this area of the student even if the results of his school will be very difficult. The good thing is that society now sees this problem more, the birth of national student loans, CCTV's Dream Action has also been opened. Equality between men and women has always been an issue, and so has the right to education. In ancient China, there was the erroneous and radical view that "a woman's lack of talent is a virtue", and it was thought that it would be better to learn the Four Books and Five Classics than to learn women's embroidery at home. In modern times, when the feminist movement is widespread and women are half of the sky, female students still encounter difficulties in accessing education; in 2005, when Peking University enrolled students in small languages, the score line for female students was considerably higher than that for male students, on the grounds that the proportion of female students was too high in the past. This is clearly contrary to formal equality of opportunity and substantive equality of opportunity. Because the original low percentage of male students does not indicate that they were treated unequally, both male and female students were admitted to the University through the same selection methods and procedures, and the fact that there were fewer male students only indicates that their conditions were not adequate. Unless certain majors have gender requirements.

Equal access to educational resources

There are many gaps in educational facilities between urban and rural areas, between the central and western regions and the eastern seaboard, between mountainous areas and plains, and between impoverished and affluent areas, and there are even gaps in educational facilities and overall educational resources in the same place and even in the same school. Key schools, key classes, experimental schools, experimental classes and other titles have long been universally recognized in China, parents are willing to pay more money to send their children to such schools, the state is also willing to allocate more money to such schools. So, is this recognized phenomenon justified? I think, if in "does not involve power and money relations, hardware conditions do not specialize" this form of equality conditions, but completely by virtue of the individual ability of students and within a certain range of uniform distinction "key", then will achieve substantive equality. This has a legitimate purpose, but also to meet the interests of the public ****, and therefore does not constitute discrimination.

To achieve a balanced allocation of educational resources, some places have made useful attempts. For example, in 2004, Xuzhou City adopted five measures to promote "non-discriminatory education", while Guangdong Province implemented a "balanced input policy". The Guangdong provincial government also issued the "Opinions on the Implementation of the Outline for the Modernization of Education in Guangdong Province (2004-2010)", which stipulates that the government should make balanced inputs into all schools, and that by 2007, the current school grading standards of "provincial and municipal level" will be replaced by "standardized schools". standardized schools".