Educational Equality and Equity in China: Moving Beyond Multicultural Education

• In Event: Highlighted session: Inclusion, representation, and education

Proposal

In contrast to the current political climate that portrays diversity as a new and unique threat to the US and other nations, there has developed many diversity and equity policies in higher education in all parts of the world. Particularly in China, a population with 56 established ethnic nationalities and a nation of various geographic regions accommodating different cultures and religions, there has been huge influences from the concept of education equality for marginalized groups, like ethnic minorities. Scholars have explored two prominent approaches to develop diversity and equity in education systems: multicultural education and intercultural education. Applying UNESCO’s definition, “multicultural education uses learning about other cultures in order to produce acceptance...intercultural education aims to go beyond passive coexistence,” (UNESCO, 2006, p.18). Based on cultural and historical context, China has implemented multicultural reforms and policies such as implementing of bilingual education and language policies (Rong, 2014), creating educational programs for multi-marginalized identities (Xing, Hong, and Qixue, 2014), and establishing Neidi schools for ethnic minorities as a pathway to educational and economic mobility (Yangbin, 2014; Postiglione et al., 2009). This particular paper then raises the question to what degree the current multicultural education model in China has reached its goals in equality and equity for marginalized groups from Chinese university students’ perspectives.

The long-standing debate between multicultural education and intercultural education discusses which approach effectively increases students’ awareness of cultural, religious, linguistic, and socio-economic dynamics among intergroups. Just like the United States and other multi-ethnic nations, China has also incorporated their own adaptation of multicultural education reform (i.e., multilingual education policies and educational integration of Chinese Uyghurs). Scholars and practitioners in Europe adopted the term intercultural education, to emphasize the equitable interaction of diverse cultures which develops meaningful dialogue and mutual respect (Zilliacus, 2009; Allemann-Ghionda, 2014). Comparatively, multicultural education focus on the condition, situation, or position while intercultural education refers to the action and interaction in an educational-social environment (Zilliacus, 2009). Although multicultural education in China has made positive contributions to ethnic minorities in China, (i.e., preferential policies in college admissions), there still exists areas for improvement in the educational system (i.e., disparities between rural and urban, low college enrollment, and the challenges in integrating into mainstream society for ethnic minorities). The purpose of this study is to contribute meaningful knowledge and raise awareness on the current multicultural education model in China and its’ effectiveness and limitation.

The research process entailed an exploratory investigation of the social and educational issues for various marginalized groups in China through a collaborative investigation with Faculty of Education at the Southwest University in Chongqing. The study’s research methods include focus group interviews and questionnaires. In the preliminary phase, we conduct focus group interviews with Han Chinese (the ethnic majority) college students, and ethnic minority students. In the second phase, we develop the questionnaire based on the themes emerged from the interview data. The questionnaire which consists of 20 ranking questions and open-ended questions is distributed to a larger student population to confirm or converge the preliminary findings from the interview data. In the final phase, the follow-up interviews are conducted for further clarification and verification of the findings.

The preliminary findings based on the 35 questionnaires and focus group interviews are firstly, there are conflicting views on China’s preferential policies lowering the bar on college admission exams for ethnic minorities between Chinese majority students and Chinese minority students; and secondly, there is a correlation between the geographical location of participants and their perceptions of education equality. In terms of the conflicting views on China’s preferential policies, Han Chinese repeatedly discussed the preferential policies are favorable for ethnic minority students during the college admission in China. Contrarily, many Chinese ethnic minorities discussed how preferential policies aren’t sufficient enough due to the lack of quality educational resources in autonomous regions where many ethnic minorities reside. Both Chinese majority and minority students in urban areas are perceived as the population comparatively to receive more educational resources and opportunities than those in rural areas. These results raise the question whether the differences in geographical regions plays a more crucial role in social and academic attainment compared to ethnic background or gender. These findings demonstrate there is a lack of meaningful dialogue on education equity between groups.

The findings indicate that we should reconsider the current multicultural education model in China and possibly explore the intercultural education model as an alternative framework to increase the understanding and dialogue between Han Chinese and ethnic minorities. As a researcher and scholar in the field of international education, we hope to explore how education abroad programs can facilitate an intercultural education model, which will help create dialogue and awareness across intergroups within and outside of the host country. Education abroad can provide a platform for students to explore beyond the minimum standard of cultural competency and actively engage with different cultural communities. This cultural immersion experience will enable students to become aware and develop a deeper understanding about the cultural dynamics between groups within a nation. This unique education abroad experience can contribute to changing students’ perceptions and develop a more informative perspective on the diversity issues in the U.S.

Authors

• Ana Esther Garner, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Wei Liu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign