Fei Yi: Strengthening Rural Family Education through Collaborative Efforts
Recently, the China Foundation for Rural Development (CFRD) [1] and the 21st Century Education Research Institute jointly released the "2022 Rural Education Development Report." The report points out that the insufficiency of rural family education remains a "short board" [2] constraining the current development of rural education.
Since ancient times, the Chinese people have attached great importance to family education. For the Chinese, family education is not merely a matter for an individual nuclear family; rather, it is the starting point for "bringing order to the country after regulating the family" [3], concerning the prosperity of the entire clan and the long-term peace and stability of the nation. Entering the New Era, under the concern and attention of the entire society, China’s family education has made significant progress. The promulgation and implementation of the Family Education Promotion Law, in particular, has provided a legal basis for "raising children according to the law." However, it must also be recognized that problems still persist in China's family education, with rural areas remaining the weakest link.
The weakness of family education for rural children is caused by multiple factors. The quality of family education for rural children is affected by relatively backward educational philosophies, insufficient links between schools and homes, and inadequate support for family education within rural communities. For family education, economy and time are the two types of resources that require the most investment. Yet, in both areas, rural families are at a disadvantage. On one hand, limited educational investment restricts the possibility of children obtaining more and better learning and educational resources. More importantly, there is an insufficient investment of time and energy. For rural families, the opportunity cost of time is no easier to manage than the economic cost. This is particularly prominent among the group of "left-behind children" [4]. Because parents work away from home for long periods, these left-behind children are forced to endure prolonged separation from them, leaving very limited time for parent-child companionship.
The author’s research found that 60.04% of caregivers for rural children have an education level of "junior middle school or below," while those with a senior middle school education account for 21.17%. Most urban parents value family education and are even willing to spend heavy sums on it. In the countryside, however, the upbringing of children still remains at the stage of "clothing and food" and "basic subsistence" [5]. Beyond a limited number of toys, the enlightenment education [6] received by rural children during infancy and early childhood is relatively scarce. Whether in terms of knowledge structure, feeding methods, temperament cultivation, or cultural enlightenment, the educational methods of rural families are relatively backward and lack sound guidance for children's growth.
Furthermore, the phenomena of "merging schools and centralizing teaching points" (cedian bingxiao) [7] and "dissolving townships and merging towns" are currently widespread across China's vast rural areas. Some rural families have also taken the initiative to let their children "enter the city" for schooling to provide them with better school education. To resolve practical difficulties such as excessive commuting distances and the inconvenience of picking up and dropping off students, rural primary and secondary schools generally adopt a boarding system. These factors have led to a significant reduction in the time rural children spend in the home, greatly weakening the educational function of the rural family.
In response, it is necessary for us to leverage the power of various institutions and organizations—such as grassroots governments, rural schools, non-profit organizations, and community parent schools—to provide rural parents with relevant educational guidance and train them to become "adults with supportive capabilities."
First, various institutions and organizations must earnestly fulfill the relevant requirements of the "Family Education Promotion Law of the People's Republic of China," promote the construction of rural public cultural spaces, shape a favorable rural socio-cultural atmosphere, and strive to improve the "soil" of rural children’s family education. On the basis of enhancing the rural cultural atmosphere, they should rely on rural community public service facilities to establish family education guidance service stations, such as community parent schools. These should promote family education knowledge to rural parents and help them establish scientific concepts and methods of family education. In this process, educational guidance for the parents of left-behind children is particularly important; they must be made to understand that even if they are not by their children's side, they need to maintain timely educational guidance over the phone. Second, primary and secondary schools and kindergartens should also incorporate family education guidance services into their work plans and include them as content for rural teacher professional training. This allows schools to become the "second home" for children, using the strength of rural teachers to guide rural parents in learning and understanding advanced family education concepts. Additionally, news media and other outlets can develop more diverse and vivid educational formats to provide high-quality family education resources for rural parents.
The family education of rural children is not just a matter for a single household, but for the entire society; it relates to the cultivation of rural talent and the revitalization of education. Promoting the High-quality Development of family education during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period requires us to attach great importance to the family education of rural children. While further improving urban family education, we must shore up the "short board" of rural family education to lay a solid foundation for the great cause of China’s rural revitalization.