After the School Bell Rings: How Shadow Education Serves as a Pathway to Classroom Recognition

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 27. Students, Teachers, and Organizations in Conversation

Abstract

In post-“double reduction” China, academic shadow education (private tutoring) has been subject to strict policy restrictions, prompting families to reorient their educational strategies. Shadow education has long extended beyond the boundaries of formal schooling, with families mobilizing both subject-based tutoring and interest-based enrichment to secure anadvantage. Drawing on data from the 2013-2015 China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), we examine how distinct forms of supplementary education influence students’ classroom recognition, operationalized as teacher feedback. Using multiple linear regression and threshold effect modelling, we find that compared to subject-based tutoring, interest-based tutoring is significantly stronger and positively associated with teacher recognition. Moreover, the relationship is nonlinear: teacher feedback peaks when students complete approximately 2.5 tutoring programs, after which the marginal benefit declines. We interpret this pattern through the lens of burnout theory, suggesting that excessive accumulation of human capital may undermine symbolic returns. These findings reveal how families strategically reconfigure capital investments in response to institutional constraints and illuminate how educational advantage persists and transforms within formal schooling. By juxtaposing mechanisms of human and cultural capital, this study contributes to a sociological understanding of formal classroom recognition, educational stratification, and family strategies within regulated policy regimes.

Authors

• Yourong Yao, Nanyang Technological University

• Yifei Wang, Columbia University

• Yingzhu Pu, Trinity College