Living Frozen： The Temporal Struggles of Gaokao Repeaters in China

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Educational Uncertainty, Liminal Space and Black Futures

Abstract

This study examines the temporal disjunctures experienced by Gaokao repeaters in China. Through interviews and digital ethnography, it analyzes how deviation from institutionalized educational timelines generates moral strain, identity disruption, and prolonged misalignment with the social clock, highlighting the stratifying effects of temporal norms in meritocratic schooling systems.

Authors

• Yang Chen, Zhejiang University

• Chang Liu, Zhejiang University