Chinese Higher Education in Moks Works - Article Example

ARTICLE REVIEW By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Riding over Socialism and global Capitalism: Changing Education Governance and Social Policy Paradigms in Post-Mao China – Review Introduction Mok (2005) in his article has selected the theme riding over global capitalism and socialism so as to examine how the government of China has reinvented the delivery of its social policy through espousal of novel strategies of governance with the intention of managing the increasing globalization impacts. With specific focus on higher education, Mok concentrates on how numerous facets of university governance, specifically, financing, regulation, and provision have transformed from late 1970s on the onset of economic restructuring. Mok questions whether the new reform strategies as well as introduction of new strategies of governance in education have enfeebled the state ability. In this case, the article analyses how the urban China social policy platform have been reformed by the post-Mao leaders, particularly on how new strategies of governance are espoused in regulating, financing, and providing higher education. Body Summary According to Mok, due to the suspension of nation-wide borders together with the increasing interconnectedness as well as interdependence of numerous countries, the political, economic, and social issues have turn out to be progressively more multifaceted and have led to concerns about the satisfactory and effective application of the conventional national-focussed approach with the intention of managing them. In setting that is more and more globalised, it appears that not any contemporary state has the ability to totally escape from the globalization challenges. As mentioned by Mok, so as to go after national growth as well as survival, contemporary states must strive for multinational investment resources, on one hand, and consequently they must surrender a number of state independence in return for a higher spot in the international market. Modern states subsequently, can experience market failure because of superior international capital mobility that makes management of the economy nationally more challenging. In quest of effectiveness, efficiency as well as economy, Mok asserts that ideas fundamental to such prevailing philosophies, contemporary countries seek to develop into competitive countries by espousing ideologies and market approaches so as to improve the economy, effectiveness and efficiency. It is in contradiction of such a broader these activities: de-regulation, privatization, liberalization, new public management, scale back or privatise welfare and social services, bringing the society back in, and marketization of public/social policies, writes Mok. Mok article talks about how globalisation has hastened restructuring processes and changes in modern societies, consequently resulting in central changes to social policy and developments of welfare all together as well as reform in education, especially in post-Mao China. With regard to change in social policy in post-reform China, Mok has established that the Chinese state capacity to manage economic and social issues under the mounting effects of globalization has weakened. In his wisdom, Mok claim that the reform strategies, which the government of China has espoused in changing its societal welfare sectors must be comprehended as state-implemented strategies so as to deepen the governmental reform as well as to reinvent its bureaucracy. Mok further states that fundamental restructuring and reforms in health and education sectors carried out in China should reduce the state’s economic burden in providing and supporting education. Critique Mok analyses changes of education policy in China, and conclude that the role of the state should not be discarded in determining options of the policy and there is need to be sensitive to the exclusive institutional and constitutional context wherein the choice as well as the mix of policy instruments are defined. The above assertion lacks empirical evidence, and is merely a theoretical assumption that lacks substantial support. If Mok has conducted an empirical study, he could have easily established how the government of China could understand its legalised need for carrying out reorganisation of education with the globalization validations. It is not clear how Mok established that the shift in paradigm to the accelerationist national paradigm from the interventionist national model, which is seen as instrumental as well as pragmatic approaches instead of a genuine shift in ideology. Due to lack of empirical evidence, the study does not capture complexity and contextual data about espousal of new governance strategies, and fails to identify and learn from others’ collective experience in the field of education. Besides that, Mok article has managed to identify and explore theoretical concepts, but has failed to advance the concepts because its lacks further improved educational design and the study is not combined with detailed case study. Mok supports his work by citing a number of previous studies and is no way biased, but his ideas are somewhat difficult to grasp. Conclusion In conclusion, as evidenced in Mok article, through reforming of sectors tasked with social policy, the post-Mao regime may become accustomed as well as carry out changes with the purpose of handle the increasing global capitalism impact as well as to reaffirm its power over other systems through relationships redefinition between the existing sectors. The article is crucial because it reflects upon how and whether the introduction of novel strategies for governance in improving universities has destabilised the country’s ability in governing China’s social policy. "Dancing in a Cage": Changing Autonomy in Chinese Higher Education – Review Introduction In Yang et al. (2007) paper they focus mainly on the new relations of power developing from varying independence policies as well as accountability in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China positioned in a wider milieu of globalisation, and how it affects the higher education. Premise of the study is rooted in the opinion that globalisation, which basically, is typified by continuing rigidities between context-specific differences as well as global commonalities, and the significance of not glossing over the multifaceted and frequently inconsistent local and national mediations of global policy trends. The authors through their empirical study findings report on the shifting higher education autonomy in China in addition to the impacts of such crucial developments of the policy in the universities that have been used as case study. For this reason, the authors try to well comprehend how changing international relations as well as growing economic globalisation between China and other countries is impacting the goals, autonomy, and functions of academics and universities in China at the ground level. Body Summary Globalisation, according to the authors with its distinguishing compression of space and time, is viewed as a key challenge facing higher education in its history. Evidently, systems of higher education have experienced considerable restructuring, and crucial to the changes is the relationships redefinition between the market, the university, and the state. Yang et al mention that neoliberal policies supported an enigmatic combination of regulation and deregulation of higher education as well as place the academics and universities autonomy idea into question in scores of countries globally. In the 50s according to the authors, the national (central) government took the responsibility for creating policies for higher education, exercising managerial controls, allocating resources, recruiting research and teaching staff, choosing textbooks, developing curriculum, enrolling students as well as allocating jobs to university graduates. In this case, as emphasised by the authors the connection between the government as well as university was top down as well as one-way, with universities enjoying insignificant autonomy. The authors posit that autonomy of the university has by no means been an outright idea; rather it has been narrowed historically on how the universities developed. Given that the financial system of China is shifting to a market-based economy from a planned based economy, the authors state that universities in China are as well moving towards exposing themselves to additional liberties. In contrast to the past, the present central government of China has offered substantial universities’ autonomy. By this means, the state-supervised paradigm has been changed from a state-controlled paradigm, and also its academic appointments have gone global. However, as observed by the authors it is still operating in a national market that is restricted for both staff and students; and, in a number of instances, it has been narrowed to a provincial market. Moreover, there is still inadequate mobility for staff as well as students as compared to universities in UK or the USA where staff and students have freedoms. Critique The study has used case study approach, which has allowed for multi-faceted, in-depth, analysis of university autonomy in China. The case study approach was used so as to enable the reader achieve a clear comprehension of university autonomy. Still, the case study research lacked scientific rigour and generated findings that cannot be transferable to other settings. But importantly there was transparency all through the research process, but biasness arise by the fact that the university used in the case study were from a similar city, Nanjing. The main argument of the authors is that globalisation is changing the autonomy in Chinese higher education. The arguments are supported by numerous previous studies that have been largely cited all through the study. Conclusion In conclusion, the issue of autonomy for academics and universities is crucially important considering that universities have at all times served the societies. As established by the authors, the Chinese government has over the last two decades made the decision to grow the sector of higher education in the direction of mass higher education, by first surrendering its higher education controlling role and allowing not-for-profit organisations to be included. Importantly, the study seeks to enlighten the readers that Policies of marketization as well as decentralisation China has been exceedingly influential in rallying up more resources for education and consequently generating more opportunities for learning. So, the study seeks to highlight the significance of autonomy for higher education in the present globalised market. Subjectification and Education for Quality in China, Economy and Society – Review Introduction Kipnis (2011) in his paper analyses educational practice and rhetoric in Chinese suzhi jiaoyu reforms. In the study reference discerns a conflicting combination of subjectifying practice as well as rhetoric in Chinese classrooms and recommends that distinguishing the forms of subjects produced in classrooms in China is not an easy task. Kipnis analyses an instance wherein policy entrepreneurs’ articulated neoliberal and in part flowing in society in general are not actualised amongst the persons to whom the discourse targets. Precisely, Kipnis concentrates on schoolchildren subjectification dependent on the suzhi jiaoyu reforms practices as well as educational rhetoric. Body Summary According to Kipnis, concentrating on the education reform is in theory beneficial wherein Foucauldian subjectification themes are somewhat explicit. Inquiries concerning the type of adult the system of education must produce are articulated directly in Kipnis paper. However, from social analysis perspective, Kipnis posits that the actual subjectivities production in schools is still moderately unclear issue. Furthermore, Kipnis assert that it is uncertain if the subjectifying effects are possessed in any pedagogic practice possesses, as imagined by the educators. As indicated by Kipnis, the social relations’ role in subjectification processes is particularly challenging for neoliberal governmentality discussions. Without a doubt, self-reliant, autonomous subjects are not existent, and whatsoever policies are warranted for the sake of neoliberalism, they will all the time lead to some type of social relations. According to Kipnis, such social relations will every time produce subjectivities, which are social, interactive as well as relational. Citing one experimental junior high school he visited, to Kipnis posits that the walls of the school were covered with students’ projects, essays, and artwork. There was no any portrait of a famous scientist or socialist leader in the walls of the school, with the principal claiming the principles of suzhi of promoting learner creativity, pursuing an approach that is oriented to learning, as well as illustrating to the students that their initiatives as well as efforts were significant in shaping the world was being followed. The apparent overlap between neoliberal governmentality and suzhi discourse as mentioned by Kipnis is supported but as well problematical when one views at the Chinese authors’ works who are relating suzhi to political liberalism rather than just economic entrepreneurship. So as to allow emergence of liberalism, Sizhong had suggested that the suzhi of the people of China had to be raised through cultivation of numerous qualities: an autonomous character, a resilient sense of self-consciousness, individuating attributes liberation, self-respect, self-actualization, a spirit of freedom, broad-mindedness, equality, law, democracy, and law, and consciousness of human rights and citizenship. Critique Kipnis does not indicate how the contradictions as well as gaps in this suzhi discourse, gives room for change. Without empirical evidence it is hard to comprehend how the governing agents at various social levels can connect concerns by raising the people quality to those with creativity, entrepreneurialism, capacity to work productively in teams, faithfulness to the Party or country, or traditional roles of the gender. Further Kipnis does not indicate which governing discourses is a combination of contradictory elements, and which discourses eases the spread of governmentalities. Comprehending the study is not an easy task, and although there is no biasness that materialises in the study, inadequate empirical evidence makes it harder for the reader to totally understand the main argument. The study concentrates mainly on education and subjectification for quality in china, and how strictly the suzhi-raising education principles are followed by Chinese schools. Conclusion In conclusion, Kipnis has analysed various subjectification with regard discourses governance in the education’s quality reforms. Such discourses consist of various contradictory features that have unevenly converted into real practice. Therefore, whereas policy certainly impacts the social relations’ flow and ebb, Kipnis established that it never converts into subjectivity. Governing the middle-class family in urban China: educational reform and questions of choice – Review Introduction Crabb (2010) in her article claims that the practice as well as idea of selecting school for urban middle-class families is a constituent of Chinese naturalised entrepreneurial dynamism wherein the education transformation into a commodity supplied in the market is animated and legitimated in a neo-liberal discourse of self-determination, competition, as well as meritocracy. Family decision as well as life, even though apparently got a new autonomy degree from state intervention, are not external of the official power workings, but closely connected to state agendas as well as policies. Crabb analyses how educational reform practices as well as discourses reflect a shifting style of Chinese governance where the market is hypothesised as a depoliticised area of freedom and autonomy. As stated by Crabb, people are forced to decide in line with what they believe is best for their ‘enterprise. Body Summary According to Crabb, in spite of the ostensible routine family life depoliticization in contrast to ideologically permeated Maoist era, China is still closely engaged in families’ lives. Imperatively, the policies of family planning in the past thirty years have inhibited the generative choice of Chinese couples and successfully formed the nuclear, single-child family as a norm in the urban areas. Amongst the Beijing-based middle-class families that were familiar to Crabb, this policy was largely a disregarded aspect of contemporary family life: a normal state decree that, although possibly not perfect, was acknowledged as an essential condition for development of China. It was frequently considered as an even-handed lifestyle choice, considering the stressors as well as demand of modern urban China’s life, which reveals the greasy imbrication of state mandate and individual choice. The restructuring of economy in the last thirty years has resulted in a dramatic move in the Chinese social welfare paradigm. Concentration on the effective as well as efficient fostering of China’s human capital enough for meeting the demands of global capitalism has been essential in every key policy for education reform during the post-Mao period; this according to Crabb can be evidenced by the famous declaration by Deng Xiaoping in the 80s that learning has to face modernization, the future, as well as the world and also in favourite slogan of Jiang Semin revitalizing China through education and science. In the article, Crabb has analysed how educational reform practices as well as policies based on consumption, privatization, and choice in the novel system of augmented competition in the market are leading methods, which are as well ‘self’ methods. Crabb further states that a meritocracy ideology integrates with a popular as well as official discourse on ‘quality’ so as to idealise and create an identity for middle-class urban. Critique It is exceedingly hard to comprehend how Crabb came up with the conclusion that quality education promotes problem-based, less rote education as well as facilitates the wide-ranging growth of student who is independent, knowledgeable, and creative without empirical evidence. Crabb supports her main argument that ‘education reform is exceedingly crucial for middle-class families in urban China’ by citing a number of previous studies such as Anagnost (1997) and Murphy (2004). Quality education discourses in addition to the factors making a quality person or population involve in policy and the day to day life as an issue of a competitiveness is less understandable, and so further studies should be carried out to ascertain the relationship between quality education and competiveness. The methodology that Crabb uses to analyse his study is also less comprehensible. Still biasness, emerges by the fact that Crabb only examines the middle-class families, making it hard for the reader to understand the relationship between Chines educational reform and low-class families living in urban China Conclusion In conclusion, Crabb enlightens us on the increasing commodification as well as privatization of education, expressed with a dominant popular and official discourse on quality education as well as how a consumer culture explosion, result in a hegemonic cultural paradigm of value and merit. This model naturalises developing social structures and Crabb has laid out the practice and context of marketization as well as educational reform in Beijing. Bibliography Crabb, Mary W. "Governing the middle-class family in urban China: educational reform and questions of choice." Economy and Society 39, no. 7 (2010): 385-402. Kipnis, Andrew B. "Subjectification and education for quality in China." Economy and Society 40, no. 2 (2011): 289-306. Mok, Ka Ho. "Riding over Socialism and global Capitalism: Changing Education Governance and Social PolicyParadigms in Post-Mao China." Comparative Education 41, no. 2 (2005): 217-242. Yang, Rui, Lesley Vidovich, and Jan Currie. ""Dancing in a Cage": Changing Autonomy in Chinese Higher Education." Higher Education 54, no. 4 (2007): 575-592. Read More