Ethnic Minority Education in China: The Challenge of Inclusion in Citizenship Education

• In Event: The Citizenship Education Dilemma: Implications for Civic Education Reform in Multicultural Nations

Abstract

The People’s Republic of China has more ethnic minority students than any other nation-state (Cheng, 2000). It has more than 50 officially recognized ethnic groups. Framed within a communist ideology that promotes cohesion and conformity (Postiglione, 2007)—but enticed by a global market that rewards diversification and entrepreneurship – the central government has attempted to balance the doctrine of unity with the opportunities of diversity. Balancing unity and diversity has resulted in several national educational policies that have theoretically progressive and egalitarian implications. Among these policies are (1) the 1986 Law of Compulsory Education, (2) offering bilingual education for ethnic minority students, and (3) the transfer of control of the academic curriculum to local governments and schools. This paper will describe the educational experiences of ethnic minority student groups in China within these reforms, focusing on how these national policies have been conceptualized and implemented. While ethnic minority groups have made improvements in school attendance and achievement, most groups still fair more poorly than the Han majority due to both the ideological orientation of the national education system as well as some practical obstacles of educating students in the remote locations where a majority of the ethnic minority groups reside. Education policies such as the 1986 Law of Compulsory Education – requiring all children to attend at least nine years of school – and the 1995 Education Law, which announced a national commitment to educational equality for all students regardless of personal or family characteristics, – such as race, sex, or religion have – increased school participation and improved achievement among ethnic minority students (Hannum, Park, & Cheng, 2007).
In addition to a discussion of national education policies, this paper will provide a contextual understanding of diversity in China where ethnicity intersects with geography, economics, religion, and gender (Hannum, 2002). Ethnicity alone has accounted for a degree of school disenfranchisement, but a more complex picture is created when attention is given to these additional factors. Those factors in addition to ethnicity are necessary to fully understanding how diversity is conceptualized in China, and how a wide gap exists between Marxist ideals of equality and educational practices related to citizenship.

Author

• Taylor D. Richman, University of Washington