With Hope
the previous post titled, "bi jiao" was a weak attempt at showing the contrast between the greatest gap in china...the gap between the extremely rich and the extremely poor. and in truth, the poorest of the poor in rural china would not be able to learn eng. much less anything close to resembling what is being taught their fortunate counterparts.
in an extremely interesting and insightful paper from the economics dept. of dalhousie university, three students show the alarming trends of the poor (and the poorly educated) in china:
"Between 1991 and 2000...income inequality grew rapidly in China. The disappearance in the 1990s of subsidized food coupons in China has increased the importance of money income poverty in enabling consumption of basic foods by poor families. Chinese society has experienced both rapid growth in average incomes and rising economic inequality. Greater inequality in money incomes and reduced social protection can both be expected to increase the real economic deprivation of the least well-off." (http://economics.dal.ca/RePEc/dal/wparch/WIDER_Nov_18_2007.pdf)
in other words, those with little or no means of any self-support lost the little that they had (which, at least, had been given to them by the government). for those who live in dire poverty, it truly is a vicious cycle. they have no money, so they have no means to receive education, and therefore have little hope of bettering themselves or their children.
on a more positive note, "'China is scheduled to offer nine year compulsory education free to children in rural areas starting from 2006.' Premier Wen Jiabao announced (in 2005) addressing the 'Fifth High Level Group Meeting on Education For All' sponsored by UNESCO." however, the same govt. article later states that "China plans to offer nine-year education free to children in its rural areas by 2010 and nationwide by 2015." so, as is the case with many things in china, it's unclear as to exactly when stated policy will become an observable reality. but, as they say, the great wall wasn't built in a day.
in an extremely interesting and insightful paper from the economics dept. of dalhousie university, three students show the alarming trends of the poor (and the poorly educated) in china:
"Between 1991 and 2000...income inequality grew rapidly in China. The disappearance in the 1990s of subsidized food coupons in China has increased the importance of money income poverty in enabling consumption of basic foods by poor families. Chinese society has experienced both rapid growth in average incomes and rising economic inequality. Greater inequality in money incomes and reduced social protection can both be expected to increase the real economic deprivation of the least well-off." (http://economics.dal.ca/RePEc/dal/wparch/WIDER_Nov_18_2007.pdf)
in other words, those with little or no means of any self-support lost the little that they had (which, at least, had been given to them by the government). for those who live in dire poverty, it truly is a vicious cycle. they have no money, so they have no means to receive education, and therefore have little hope of bettering themselves or their children.
on a more positive note, "'China is scheduled to offer nine year compulsory education free to children in rural areas starting from 2006.' Premier Wen Jiabao announced (in 2005) addressing the 'Fifth High Level Group Meeting on Education For All' sponsored by UNESCO." however, the same govt. article later states that "China plans to offer nine-year education free to children in its rural areas by 2010 and nationwide by 2015." so, as is the case with many things in china, it's unclear as to exactly when stated policy will become an observable reality. but, as they say, the great wall wasn't built in a day.
posted by Prague at 6:33 PM
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